A Vessel of Collaborative Magic

I was completely hypnotized by the aqua-blue ocean, which I gazed out at during our Caribbean getaway. The soft wake left by the cruise ship was mesmerizing to me. Between the sun now and the blend of colors in the sky above, it looked like a screensaver on a computer.

It was our family’s fifteenth cruise for our Christmas vacation. I remembered that, since I was five, we started going on cruises. We sailed out to the Caribbean for the island sun to get away from the harsh winters of New York. The lure of the waters that went on beyond my imagination, being so little, I imagined a million things that lived and crawled underneath us as we floated on by in this ginormous vessel of collaborative magic.

“I wonder if mermaids live down there, Mom,” I asked her one year, when I was twelve and extremely into mermaids—my Mom gave me these zentangle books with an ocean theme: mermaids wrapped in seaweed, treasure chests dripping with golden coins, and chains on the seafloor. And dolphins and fish, I colored in rapidly to make the pictures pop. My Mom gave me these coloring books to keep me busy and entertained, while my sister made friends and socialized with anybody who walked by us. That was her entertainment. My sister, Lola, was seventeen and ready for a boyfriend. She was indeed on a mission to get one this year. I saw the look of desperation in her eyes for any boy to talk to her. I was happy with my art books.

Now that it was our fifteenth cruise, we became golden members of the KingLantic’s Cruise Line club. As a family, we, the Sparrows, loved these cruises for so many reasons. My father, especially. Clinton Sparrow was obsessed with the magic that cruises created for our family of four. My Mother, Lydia Sparrow, on the other hand, couldn’t stand to leave our house. She had so many phobias- it was a miracle she even stepped one single foot out of our home to go on these cruises. These cruises were the only thing that my Mother had left the house for.

My art shows, my sister’s dance shows, those? She never came to. The anxiety crippled her. But the cruises? Nobody really knew her, or her weaknesses, so she was able to shine a tiny bit more brightly. That was why I loved these cruises too. It brightened up our family.

Every time, my father insisted we needed this time together as a family. We needed to bond, he would say with such enthusiasm that it was impossible not to feel his warmth. I watched my Mother cringe, but somehow these cruises were magic for her. They let her live life - maybe it was about being away from her own depressive state at home. She was set free on the ocean. The ocean was her hero, compelling her to live.

The name of this ship was ‘Hero of the Seas.’ Which was a perfect fit for her. Right now, we were on the lounge deck, tanning and laughing, and eating lunch while we looked out at the big blue ocean through the glass that surrounded the deck.

“Pass me the curly fries, yo!” Lola shouted at me; her AirPods must have been blasting Coldplay in her ears, because she screamed so loudly that my poor Mother jumped three feet in the air.

“Ugh, Lola, please!” My Mother said, as she gritted her teeth.

“Okay, okay, everyone calm down, jeeze,” I said.

“Libby, please pass the curly fries? Was that better, Mom?” Lola said.

“Don’t be rude, Lola,” I said.

“I’m not! I just want the curly fries!” Lola shouted, ripped the yellow cup out of my hand, and most of its contents fell onto the wooden deck flooring, covered in water. Good. Ha. Karma. She deserved that.

After the curly fries debacle, I decided to take a break from my family and took my coloring books to the deck above. I was fourteen now, and I could tear myself away from the drama of Lola when I needed to. My Mother and Father knew that. She was such a dramatic human being. And a bossy older sister.

I walked around the pools; there were two of them on this deck, one for adults and the other for kids. The one for the kids was so loud, it gave me a giant headache. I needed peace.

The deck above this floor was the library. My favorite place. It was so cozy, and had amazingly comfy brown leather chairs. I walked towards the elevators, and about a hundred people hovered around them, heading to the Bingo game taking place one floor below us. The prize was huge: $3,000. Everybody was lined up for this one. I, on the other hand, wanted my quiet and deserved it.

I weaved through the crowd of families, couples, singles, and little children that looked too hyper to play Bingo. They were all bouncing off the walls. The children held little bags full of prizes from the scavenger hunt morning for candy on board.

The elevators were way, way too slow. I became extremely impatient.

“Please, excuse me! Excuse me!” I shouted, I shoved my way through this family of five, and they took up so much space that I couldn’t breathe.

“Oh, Honey, Darling, are we in your way?” The Mom said to me, so confused and, frankly, unaware that she stood that close to me, that she popped my personal bubble.

“Yes, I’m just trying to get upstairs, ugh, fine, whatever, I’ll just take the stairs! This is ridiculous.” I said impatiently.

I turned around and tried my hardest to get through even more people. This was impossible, I just wanted peace!

After a few minutes, all of the elevators arrived at the same time, and most of the crowd piled into them. Finally.

I was able to make my way upstairs. It was only a floor up.

I reached the library's glass doors, which had a brown wooden design engraved on them, and I admired the artistic floral design created for the cruise. I opened the door, struggled through because it was heavy, and a boy who snuck up behind me grabbed the handle to help open it.

“These doors are hefty, aren’t they?” He said in a very charming voice. I turned around to glance at him. Oh boy, he was cute. His blonde hair was gelled up, and he had bright cerulean eyes that looked like the Caribbean Sea.

“Oh, um, yeah,” I replied, nervous and shaky.

“Going in?” He asked, politely.

“Um, uh,” I stammered, and stared at him. His face looked good enough to be on a magazine cover; he seemed to be about my age, too.

I was way too nervous that he was talking to me. I had to calm down. He was just a boy, but a very, very, cute boy.

“Yeah, I’m going in. I needed to get away for a little bit,” I said.

“Oh? Get away from who? A boyfriend?” He asked me, so subtly. Ha. I didn’t want a boyfriend —not me; that was all Lola. I had no time for boyfriends; I focused on schoolwork and my art.

“No, no, ha, nothing like that,” I replied.

“Oh? Well, I’m interested in hearing about it, if you wouldn’t mind. I need to take my mind off of something, too,” he said.

“Oh? What happened to you?” I asked.

“Well, let’s take a seat over there. It’s a story,” he sighed as he replied.

We walked over to the brown leather couch; he sat at one end, and I sat at the other, our bodies facing each other. Maybe he just needed a friend.

We lucked out because the library was empty, thanks to that Bingo game downstairs.

“Well, like I said, I had to hide today from someone in particular, basically. There was this girl. Two years older than me, and highly, highly annoying,” he said. He relaxed on the couch, had one arm propped up on the armrest, his hand under his perfect jaw.

“Oh, yeah?” I said, and politely listened.

“Last night in the club for teens, she was just, so, so aggravating, trying to steal my phone, my AirPods I bought for myself, and my badge from me. She almost ripped the badge out of my pants pocket, he said. He sounded defeated and exhausted by this unruly girl.

“Hm, I’m sorry about that. She didn’t like, keep your stuff, did she?” I asked.

“No, no, I wouldn’t let her. She was like a snatcher. Snatching my things right and left every two seconds, desperate for my attention. But I kept taking my things back. It was like a game to her, but torture for me,” the boy said.

“Yeah, I have an older sibling just like that. She is so impatient that’s who I had to get away from. She is so demanding and rude. I was just trying to chill, and color, and relax with my parents, but she ripped fries out of my hand,” I said.

“Hm, yeah, it was so irritating. I was just trying to be polite to her earlier last night, like I opened the door for her, just like I did for you, but she was vulgar to me afterward. But like I said, desperate for my attention,” he explained and shook his head.

“What’s your name, again?” I asked him.

“Logan, Logan Closfield.”

“Oh, I’m Libby,” I said, and smiled.

“Nice to meet you, grateful for this calming atmosphere right now, and thank you for listening to me,” he said, taking a deep breath.

“Yeah, believe me, I get it, like this is supposed to be our vacation, right? Like, why can’t we just chill?” I said.

“Exactly! Exactly, you have the right idea, I wish that girl did too, but I am staying far away from her!” He said.

The two of us sat on the couch, relaxed, and I started coloring in my art books. He got up and walked over to the enormous selection of books. This library contained shelves that covered each wall of this room. He grabbed a book from the shelf closest to me and flipped through the pages of an antique-looking novel.

“Oh, The Wizard of Oz, love this one.” He said, smiling at me, as he sat back down.

“Oh, the Wizard of Oz, yes, agreed!” I said brightly.

We were both so relaxed; we let time slip past us. It was already three o’clock, and I had to get ready for dinner at five. Knowing how my sister operated, I bet she was on her way to take a long, long shower.

I was so distracted by my coloring, Logan engrossed in his novel, when we both got startled as the library’s door opened abruptly.

“Libby! There you are!” A voice squealed so loud, we both jumped. Logan’s face transitioned from being happy as a clam to anger as Lola approached us.

“Oh, Lola, ugh, what do you want?” I said, upset at her presence.

“I was actually trying to be nice and give you time to shower before dinner, so I don’t use up all the hours in the day, as you put it. I came here to be nice and to make up for the curly fries debacle.” Lola explained.

“I don’t need you to be nice now, I needed you to be nice then,” I said.

“Lola? Lola was the fries girl in your story?” Logan asked me. He had a look of uncertainty on his face. I couldn’t read him.

“Oh, Logan, didn’t see you sitting there, hi," she said, innocently.

“Lola, hello again,” he replied.

Oh boy, I felt like laughing. Of course, the girl who was the snatcher in Logan’s story was the same snatcher in my story! That was why Logan and I clicked immediately. We both shared Lola problems.

“Oh, please, Lola, did you just happen to find us up here to torture us some more?” Logan asked. Clearly upset.

“No, like I said, trying to make nice with my sister. Not my idea, it was my Dad’s,” Lola replied.

Of course, it wasn’t her idea. She never thought about her actions much or how they clearly affected people.

“Yes, our Father is big on bonding,” I said, with a sigh.

“Okay, well, now that I found you and told you, it’s your choice to take the shower now or to waste your time talking with that jerk sitting next to you.”

“He hasn’t been a jerk to me this entire time, Lola,” I said.

“You just met him, Bibby,” Lola smirked and said it with a nasty tone in her voice. Ugh, she used my nickname when I was a baby, and she couldn’t pronounce L’s! Ugh, way to make me feel so small, Sis. I was so angry at her.

“Just wait, you’ll see what I mean.” She said it with such a scathing tone that I felt upset for Logan. Logan and I looked at each other. He grimaced.

“Lola, please, we aren’t the problems here- the problem has always and will always be you!” I said, and I was proud of myself. I actually responded to her harsh treatment of me for years. That felt good.

“Yeah!” Logan said in return. He sat back down on the couch, crossed his arms and legs, and I did the same on the opposite side of the sofa.

“Fine, you both do you, l’ll do me!” Lola yelled at us.

“Yeah, you’re nickname is the snatcher now, Lola, how do you like that? Being called the snatcher?” I said to my spoiled sister.

“See if I care, See ya, don’t wanna be ya,” she replied to me. She whipped open the library door and stormed out. The dark cloud left us. It was back to just Logan and me.

“Phew,” he said.

“Phew, it's right, I thought she wouldn’t leave. But, I do actually have to shower. I do have to go, unfortunately- not that I want to go back to the room, to see her, after that.”

“Oh, okay, maybe I’ll catch ya on another day. We still have five days left, thank goodness. I really needed a break from home.

“Oh, yeah? That stressful huh?” I asked Logan.

Between the two of us in the library, it was so lovely and cozy, this was the last place I wanted to leave.

“Yeah, you really don’t know who I am, do you?” He asked me.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Libby, I’m that Logan Closfield, you know- the show, Vampires Don’t Ever Hide,” Logan said. Oh, I kind of am recalling something I read about that —now I realized how handsome he was —he did look like television material.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I read a lot, not big on TV,” I said.

“Oh, ha, that explains it! I thought I was losing fame there for a second, between you not knowing who I am, along with your sister,” he said.

“Yeah, my Mom really prefers us to read and do other things than watch TV,” I replied.

“That explains it, it is also refreshing, however, that you both didn’t know who I am, and treated me like I was everybody else,” Logan said, with a sigh.

“Except the part of your sister being the snatcher, that is, that part I could have easily lived without,” Logan told me.

We both laughed, and it was refreshing talking to him. He was incredibly kind and thoughtful. Lola had no idea what she was talking about.

Both of us stood up and walked out of the library. I really needed to get ready for dinner.

“I’ll see ya, I gotta go, Logan, sorry,” I said.

“Okay, I’ll catch ya on the flip side,” he said.

I turned around to glance at him one more time, and he smiled and waved, and even winked at me. I got so nervous, and had butterflies in my stomach at the same time. He was cute. Maybe I’ll watch Vampires Don’t Ever Hide when we get home. My Mom would have to understand. I mean, he was a real heartthrob. It was Logan Closfield. I was an A-plus student after all.