Jeff and Katrina left the pub and began walking towards the wharf when they stopped dead in their tracks. Passengers were leaving the ship in droves and at least eight emergency vehicles were parked near the vessel. Red flashing lights from the vehicles reflected from the ship’s hull. Three were ambulances two were fire trucks and the rest, police cars.

The passengers did not appear panicked but they did seem worried and anxious. Many carried suitcases or bags. Some carried belongings in pillow cases. “What’s happened?” Jeff asked one of the passengers.

“There was a fire in the ship’s electrical system. They told us to abandon ship for tonight while they see if they can fix it or if they need to fly us home in the next day or two. We are to go and find whatever lodging we can for tonight and to report back here tomorrow at noon to find out what is going on.”

“I wonder where my husband and your wife are right now,” Katrina asked.

Jeff called to another passenger, “Do you know if anyone was hurt?”

“The woman replied in her very Bostonian accent, “On the PA they told us that one crewman had serious burns and was in the ship’s hospital, but no passengers and no other crew were injured. As of twenty minutes ago, some cabins had lights, some didn’t and none of the toilet or other water systems are working. We are to keep receipts for any expenses and work everything out with the cruise line once all this is sorted out.”

“Thanks and good luck,” Jeff said to the woman. Turning to Katrina, Jeff said, “I doubt if anyone is going to allow us back on board for clothing and so we may have to buy a few things. First though, I want to call the hotel where we stayed last night and secure a room for us. Hotel rooms are going to be scares with more than four thousand guests and possibly another thousand crew members hit the streets.”

Jeff tried his cell phone but the network was choked by passengers all trying to call whomever. “Let’s go back to the pub, Kat; I saw a pay phone there.” After making the call, Jeff turned and said, “Good news, they have a room for us and as a bonus they are sending their shuttle to pick us up here at the pub.”

“That’s good for us but what about your wife and my husband?”

“You are a better wife than your husband deserves,” Jeff said with genuine admiration for Katrina. “What say we take a seat on the wall right over there? The passengers are walking by it and we can watch for them and figure something out? At the same time, we can try their cell phones every few minutes as long as out batteries hold out. Just be sure to watch for the shuttle van.”

After about ten minutes, Katrina saw her husband and called to him. Jeff thought the guy looked like hell. His gait was unsteady and his eyes rheumy and bloodshot. The man walked up to Katrina and immediately began yelling at her in a very slurred voice. “Wheere the fffuck have you been all phucking day dear wife?” Looking askance at Jeff he added, “And who in phuck is this douchebag?

“John, please do not speak to me or to my friend like that. Are you okay?”

“Am I okay you ask? Are you fucking stupid Katrina? Those morons kicked me out of the bar and then they kick me out of my fucking room! I can’t find my fucking wife and when I do find her she is with some asshole.”

“John do you realize that there was a fire aboard ship? Everyone is evacuated, not just you.”

“For fuck’s sake, don’t you think I know that? Look at all these people!”

“Well what do you want to do about a room tonight John?”

“I don’t need a fucking room, I need a bar and there is one right behind you with a bench in front of it for closing time.”

“John, please don’t do this.”

“Fuck you, fuck whoever this guy is and fuck` em all. I need a goddamned drink.”

“Good night John,” Katrina said sadly.

Jeff said nothing but gave Katrina a sympathetic look. He also felt sorry for the bartenders at the Frog and Onion. Katrina spoke first, “Jeff, I’m sorry you had to see and hear that.”

“Not as sorry as I am that you’ve had to live it. Oh, there’s the resort shuttle Kat, let’s get out of here.”

The shuttle threaded slowly through the mass of evacuating passengers. Many carried blankets and pillows and it appeared that they were going to sleep on lawns in the immediate area. The van driver told them that police were posting themselves to provide security. Arrangements had quickly been made with business in the immediate area of the wharf to provide bathroom facilities and water. A newscast on the van’s radio reported that the second ship at the wharf was from the same cruise line. Reportedly, the Purser had brought over a USB drive with the ship’s manifest so that displaced passengers could access that ship for food, water and the like. Apparently, many were spending the night on deck chairs or seated in the ship’s theater.

Jeff saw something in the crowd and asked the driver to pull over. “Audrey,” he yelled into the crowd; “Audrey!”

Audrey and Donald approached the van and Jeff said, “Thank God you’re okay. Where are you going?”

“We don’t really know Jeff.” Audrey replied. “Where are you going?”

“I, uh, we, we have a room reserved at a hotel near here.”

“We?”

“This is not a discussion for here in this craziness. If you want to go to the hotel with us, we can see what can be arranged. This is my friend Katrina, Katrina this is my wife Audrey and her, uh, her friend Donald.”

Audrey and Donald boarded the van and Jeff asked the driver to radio in to see if another room was available. None was. An awkward silence punctuated the short ride to the resort.

Arriving at the reception desk, Katrina checked them all into a room which the hotel upgraded as a courtesy to the displaced cruise ship passengers. Apparently, the line uses many suites in their hotel for VIPs and their own executives when in port.

The room had a king bed and a queen size pullout sofa and Katrina made a point of sitting on the bed immediately upon entering to silently stake her territory. Audrey gave her a funny look and then sat upon the sofa.

Avoiding the obvious, Jeff said, “Katrina, you and I are in beach clothes, what do you say we visit the resort’s gift shops for a set of clothing to get us through a day or two while the cruise line gets its act together?”

“I think that’s a good idea Jeff.”

Turning to his wife Jeff said, Audrey, Kat and I will be back about a half hour.

Suppose we meet you and Donald at the bar for a nightcap – perhaps two?”

Audrey spoke and looked as though her eyes floated in acid, “Do you mind if you and I have a word in private first?”

“We could use the balcony here…”

Katrina spoke up. “Suppose I head off shopping for now? Donald can wait here for Audrey or he can give you two some privacy and wait at the bar.”

“The bar sounds like a good idea for the moment,” said Donald walking towards the door “Join me there please when you are ready Audrey?”

Jeff dropped easily into the ottoman of a chair opposite his wife and waited.

“Jeffery, who is that woman?

“She is Katrina, a woman I met aboard the ship.”

“And what is she to you?”

“She is a friend.”

“I see… Jeffery I haven’t seen much of you the past day or so, have you been with her?”

“Much of that time, yes.”

“And last night?”

“Last night, uh, yes.”

Audrey’s voice went up half an octave, “Are you sitting there telling me that you have been unfaithful to me?”

“If you put it in those terms, I would have to say, yes, Aud, I have been unfaithful.”

Audrey jumped to her feet, her fists balled tightly at her sides. “How could you do that? How could you do that to me? To Us? You are off somewhere fucking some woman while I-I-I am…”

“Uh, off somewhere fucking Donald? I notice that you are wearing a different collar,” Jeff spoke of this collar, a brown leather one with a padlock on the back and a D-ring on the front for attaching a dog leash.

“Fuck you!”

“Uh, Audrey I love you but really? Fuck me? No sweetie, not tonight.”

“Audrey, I think the best the four of us can hope for tonight is to be happy that we are in a nice hotel instead of fighting for a spot on the lawn at the wharf. While our whole marital situation needs discussion and lots of it, this isn’t the time or place. May I suggest that you snuggle-in as best you can with Donald and I will do the same. I suggest that you and I discuss none of this until we are home and it is just the two of us.”

“How am I supposed to handle seeing my husband in bed with another woman?”

“Trust me, Audrey, you get used to it. I need to go shopping for some clothes now.”

Jeff quietly turned and left the room. His heart was pounding in his chest, his ears rang and he saw spots before his eyes but he pulled off looking calm and serene.

An hour later he wore khaki Bermuda walking shorts and a coral shirt to the bar where he found his wife and Donald engaged in conversation and Kat sitting one seat away from them watching a Cricket match on the TV screen. Taking the seat between Katrina and Donald, Jeff said a cordial,”Good evening ladies, Donald.” Jeff was anything but calm inside but outwardly, he presented himself as coolly as a James Bond character entering a casino.

Jeff was engaged in small talk when Donald interrupted him and said, “Jeff, it feels weird to be in the middle of this but your wife wants to know what is the deal here for tonight?”

“Donald, you are in the middle because you have been in the middle for some time now. Regardless, the deal is this: All of this is just some odd accommodation. I left the two of you alone to… well, to consummate your collaring or whatever and now the two of you are going to have to make an accommodation now. If you or Audrey can’t handle that, then please, go and find other lodging. I know all this is outside the box. Maybe what we are experiencing here is like something out of the play Brigadoon. If you don’t know the play, it’s about a mythical Scottish town that appears for only one day each hundred years. Tonight is our Brigadoon.”

“Brigadoon?”

“Brigadoon.”

Donald turned towards Audrey and he said to her, “He says we are in Brigadoon.”

“Brigadoon? What the hell does that mean?”

“I will tell you later.”

Jeff awoke somewhere around two to hear a rustling in the sheets on the pull-out sofa. He remained silent and still as he focused on the sounds from across the room. The mattress must have been stiff foam instead of springs for there were no bed noises but the pair were clearly fucking. There were sloshing sounds audible and Jeff knew quite well how soaking wet Audrey gets when she fucks.

Most likely, Donald and she were spooned together and he had entered her from behind in that posture. Every ten thrusts or so the sound changed from wet, sloshing to a muffled “mmmmmmff” from Donald or an ‘ooooooooooh’ from Audrey. A long, low sigh from Audrey signaled what must be a new record for the Bermuda quiet orgasm, Jeff thought. Or maybe, he thought, that’s how it’s done in Brigadoon. He spooned tightly with Katrina and cupped her soft breasts as she snuggled back into him.

In the morning Jeff awoke to the soft flushing sound from the bathroom and Katrina reentered the room. “Good morning,” she said, offering Jeff a chaste kiss. Audrey awoke and said, “What shall we do for breakfast?”

Katrina spoke up and said, “I think Jeff and I are going to order-in room service toast and coffee. If you and your friend want something more substantial there is a buffet in the lower lobby level.”

Taking the hint, Audrey woke Donald and the two quickly dressed and headed off to eat.

Katrina said, “Shall I order?”

“Not just yet, Kat. I laid here last night listening to them try to fuck quietly. It is really hard to fuck quietly.”

“Then don’t try to be quiet Jeff, Katrina said, bringing her lips to his. “Wake the dead!”

Katrina had used her beach cover-up as a nightie and it was gone in a flash.

Lips, tongues, legs, genitals, every part of their bodies touched, searched and thrashed on the bed. The pair loved desperately for one another, their drive turbocharged with the notion that this might be their last chance for sexual intimacy. Katrina came first and Jeff was scant seconds behind her as he filled her body with the ropy strands of his ejaculate. “That was nice,” he said.

“Nice?” The creation of the world was nice. This was spectacular!”