Title: Maiden Voyage 4

RivermenandRiverboats > Mazie Krebs Introduction > Mazie Krebs

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Fiddlinsue

Rank：none Score：220 Posts：220 From：USA Register：11/11/2008 8:17 AM

Date Posted：12/08/2008 6:09 AMCopy HTML A half hour later, the reserved tables on B deck were full, and Captain Streckfus stood with one hand on a replica of the helm, flanked by his three pretty nieces. A dapper Ray Maxwell knelt one knee, in his tan suit and brown and white wing tips. The young queen posed next to a star of white mums. Dark flowers spelled, "A Great New Star, S.S. Admiral." At the Captain's table, Ray Maxwell had waltzed once around the dance floor when the band kicked into "I'd Like To Get You On A Slow Boat To China." Soon the dance floor was full. When Ray presented the plaque to Mazie, she accepted it with a brief "thank you," brushed past his attempted kiss, and tossed it onto the banquet table. She knew this entire room was her creation. And watching the shore lights through the rounded windows, she knew no movie set could have been more successful. And hers was moving,. Being on the river was liberation from the cares all had left on the levee. She took her glass and a bottle and walked a bit unsteadily on her three-inch heels to the Deanna Room. She sat on a leather covered stool in front of an adjustable mirror. She had done the walls in musical scores, and the notes merged with the sounds from the ballroom. The woman in the mirror belonged on the Left Bank of the Seine, not the Mississippi. She looked like an artist, possibly an actress. Neither an ingénue, nor a vaudevillian, but tonight a quiet, thoughtful star. True, lines were snaking from the corners of her eyes but they could be fixed, perhaps even exploited with the right touch. She opened her compact. Mazie was on the top deck when the Admiral began her turn. It was as though the huge steamer had stopped while the Missouri and Illinois shorelines revolved. Just after the turn, and the Admiral headed toward the Jefferson Barracks Bridge, Mazie saw the lights of a speedboat coming directly at them, very fast. The Admiral let out a warning blast, but began to slow, as the boat approached. Mazie leaned over the rail and saw the Chriscraft come alongside, throwing a line onboard. She pulled off her shoes and flew down the stairs to the main deck. Back near the stern, two men were climbing aboard. Buddy Aufberg's hair was messed up and he had sweated through his suit jacket. As he stepped over the gunwale, he looked past her and said, "I need a drink." They went up to the ballroom where Buddy ordered a double scotch. He looked completely drained. "You made your deadline," she observed. "Yeah. But it is one I wished I hadn't," he said. Buddy looked away toward the dance floor, and back. "Let's dance, before they quit," he said. The Haymakers were playing slow, after midnight tunes. Buddy held her in a way he never had before, and Mazie allowed her head to rest on his shoulder. He was awfully quiet, and she knew something was wrong. "It must have been bad," she whispered. She felt him pull her closer and say, "Yeah, real bad." Mazie looked up at this defeated face. "So tell me." "You don't want to know, Mazie, honest you don't." She froze then. "It's about Paris, isn't it?" His head dropped. "We got it onthe wire service. The Germans march in tomorrow." "In Paris it's tomorrow now, isn't it?" Buddy pulled her to him and held her tight. They were completely still in a vortex of dancers who moved dreamily around the ballroom as the great steamer worked her way upstream, against the powerful, eternal current. No part of this story is to leave this site under any circumstance. It is used with permission from the writer, Al Gowan. Thanks Al.  ©Maiden Voyage. Backgrounds and images created by me (©Fiddlinsue). Background html code was provided by Liz from Beyond the Horizon. Thanks Liz. Image is from ©image-cafe.net.