This story was written in conjunction with 
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“Cheers mates!”
“Cheers Earnest! Happy Birthday, old man!”
Today Earnest was celebrating his 45th birthday and he was celebrating it with Tommy and Lance who were his childhood friends. Three of them were the same age, all single and desperate. Yesterday they landed on the East London Airport in Eastern Cape prepared for an exciting journey on the MTS Oceanos cruise.
It was the night of August 3 a bit after 9 p.m. in the evening. They were trying to calculate what is the percentage of all single women out of all 571 passengers on the ship. Seems like it wasn’t the best occasion for meeting new people as most of the passengers were already lying in their beds.
Moss Hills and his wife Tracy were entertaining the audience at the restaurant. There were not more than 30 people including Earnest, Tommy and Lance applauding them after each song.
It was almost 9.30.
The beer was over and Earnest, who was already half drunk decided to buy one more beer for three of them. He approached the bar with a big smile on his face staring at Stacey who’s blue eyes made him melt everytime he was staring at her.
A soft and gentle voice whispered over his shoulder, “this one is on me.”
Earnest slowly looked over his shoulder. There she was: tall, dark brown hair with slight hints of gray sweeping through. Completely speechless, he forgot where he was and what he was doing.
“Hi, I’m Jennifer,” she said as she waived the bartender over.
“Earnest,” he said shaking her hand.
Earnest, though single and desperate, couldn’t seem to form any words whatsoever. After what seemed like an eternity he finally muttered, “So what brings you aboard this big ole boat?”
The two conversed for about an hour and learned so much about one another. They even discovered they had the same taste in music.
The night began to wind down and the entertainment provided in the bar was coming to a close. Jennifer and Earnest said their goodnight to one another and departed for their rooms. Earnest had never quite felt this way before. It was as if he was floating over the water like a leaf that had been detached from its branch. He made his way to his state room where he caught up with his friends who had passed out drunk. With a smile on his face, Earnest shortly drifted off to sleep. Little did he know the next few hours would have that euphoric feeling turned upside down and thrashed about.
The three men rose to what can only be described as the worst noise cure for a hangover. They got dressed and ran out to see what was going on. They exited their room and quickly headed up the staircase. The trouble was, it was like walking up a mountain.
“Gentlemen, “ Earnest stated. “We seem to be having a problem.”
Upon arrival to the deck, panic ensued. People were running from one end of the ship to the other and everywhere in between. Earnest spotted Jennifer across the way in tears and absolute panic. He ran over and attempted to console her. Through her tears she explained what was happening.
“This ship is sinking. They’ve told us that it’s not, but I can feel it. Walking up the stairs felt like the hardest workout I’ve done in my life. I reached the top of the stairs and immediately tried to find some of the crew. They were scurrying around so I had to corner one of them and demand an answer. They finally admitted that we were sinking. They are getting the life boats ready and are prepping everyone to get off this ship.”
Panic was in the air. Earnest tried to keep her focus on him to calm her.
The lifeboats were dropped into the water. There were enough of them to accommodate the amount of people aboard the ship. As Earnest and Jennifer watched them prepare the boats, they noticed two had slipped away. Without those two boats, at least 60 people would not get off this ship. They ran to find the nearest crew member and screamed that they had lost two boats.
The ship was sinking at an alarming rate and Earnest knew that he had no choice. He grabbed a life jacket, strapped it on and jumped into the water. He wasn’t the strongest swimmer, but without those boats he was sure many would be lost.
Jennifer stood back and realized she also needed to do something. She quickly grabbed a rope and tied it to the sinking ship and also dove into the water and swam after Earnest. They reached the first boat and tied the rope to the guard rail. They yelled for someone to pull it back and caught the attention of one of Earnest’s friends. He quickly gathered a few more men to pull the boat in safely. Jennifer and Earnest took off for the second boat.
Earnest pulled himself up onto the boat and turned around to grab Jennifer and pull her onboard as well. They quickly paddled the lifeboat back towards the quickly sinking boat. They assisted the remaining passengers onto the lifeboats.
Each of the lifeboats were full. Every passenger was safe. Jennifer and Earnest sat back and took a deep breath. They turned and looked at each other and let out a sigh. She took his hand in hers and laid her head down on his shoulder. They had barely known each other for 24 hours and yet it had felt like a lifetime.
Hours later, the lifeboats reached shore. Earnest was reunited with his friends and introduced them to Jennifer. The sun began to set on what could have been a horrific day in history. And although the ship was lost at sea and remains there today, all those on board the MTS Oceanos were alive and able to carry on with their respective lives. Although Earnest and Jennifer’s lives were now connected in near tragedy, the were able to remain close friends for years to come.
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Image Links:
https://portelizabethdailyphoto.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-remains-of-oceanos-lifeboat-at.html
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTS_Oceanos