Chapter 33

Then I said, “Herb’s cat always hated the vacuum cleaner,” as if that explained everything

There was a full moon. We kissed. We leaned against each other as if we’d been doing it all our lives. I couldn’t be grateful for everything that had brought me to this point, much of it had been terribly painful and rocky, but I was so glad that I hadn’t given up on life.

Critic Al would have said, “It ain’t over till the fat lady sings,” and by all that’s Holy, there are enough fat ladies on this ship to do the Hallelujah Chorus.

“Let’s go upstairs,” I said. And we did.

Lest you think we fell immediately into bed and made whoopee, we did not. That was later.

Anyhow, our steward, Sam, was walking by right then, and as the cruise was almost over, he said, “Enjoy your last days.”

I swear my heart skipped several beats when I thought of the irony. Herb and I were both laughing as we went inside.