The Mask on Cruise Ship by Jackson Melanie;

Author:Jackson, Melanie;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: JUV000000
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2004-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

People are getting married older, if at all. Don’t Madge and Jack read the newspaper?

Dinah, I didn’t know YOU read the newspaper.

I was exchanging comments with Pantelli on an Internet chat line. Well, Pantelli had got me on that one. I’d seen a headline about marriage stats on the back of a newspaper someone was holding up at the breakfast buffet a short while ago. I hadn’t actually read the story.

I hesitated before punching in a reply on one of the computers in the Empress Marie’s dollar-a-minute Internet café. Pantelli would keep me from charging up too many minutes, or rather his schedule would. He had to leave for school in a short while. We’d agreed that each day at breakfast time we’d check in with each other.

I’m going to sabotage Madge and Jack, I wrote. A little time apart would be good for ’em. Sober ’em up.

Yeah? How?

Dunno yet. Meanwhile, today we go into Skagway.We’re booked on the White Pass & Yukon train. Get to see the Klondike, where the Gold Rush was!

Cool McCool.

That was one of Pantelli’s expressions. It occurred to me that I was being kind of mean to tell him about the day’s, er, Cool McCool sightseeing. By contrast, Pantelli would be heading off to boring old Lord Bithersby. I switched topics.

Have met some interesting people on the cruise. There’s Evan, the pianist, who has this amazing tune, dah DAH dah dah DAH dah, that he can’t think of lyrics for. I’m not sure about Evan, though: he might be trying to break into Julie Hébert’s room … Speaking of Julie! You remember her: a cute little thing with spiky hair. Sister of Professor Elaine Hébert, a famous expert on First Nations culture. Well, Elaine may be famous, but she’s nasty. Dumps all over Julie, all the time. Squashes Julie’s self-confidence!

Pantelli’s reply streamed back to me: I should ask The Tone about Elaine. He’s heard her speak. He was telling us about it at breakfast one day. Or was it dinner?

The Tone — that is, Pantelli’s older brother — Tony, was a high school senior.

Must’ve been breakfast. I seem to remember eggs Benedict.

I typed back, My name isn’t Benedict. Anyhow, forget about your family meals, Pantelli. The Raven’s been stolen! The thief, I added, punching the keys extra hard for emphasis, not that Pantelli could tell this, is gooseberry-eyed.

Well, sounds like Jack is starry-eyed over Madge if he’s planning to get hitched to her. HA HA HA.

Scowling at the screen, I bashed the keys loudly for a snide sign-off: Enjoy school.

Clicks echoed in the café. Just how loudly had I been typing? Hold on. I wasn’t the only customer. The top of a head showed over the computer on the other side of mine.

A head of crisp, dark hair — I rose in my seat — with a soulful lock straying over the forehead.

Talbot St. John.

Feeling a pair of wide, displeased eyes on him, Talbot looked up. We gaped at each other.

His face burned brick-red. Punching in a final key, Talbot gave me a pained grimace of a smile and strode out of the café.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.