Maggie on the Bounty Read Online Free

family."
    We left
the ballroom and took the elevator up to the promenade deck.  It was this
indoor/outdoor stretch of dark-planked wood that went
the entire length of the boat.  The place was so huge, you could totally play a
game of football.  A very, very narrow game of football.  It was covered, but
the walls were open to the outside so that passengers could go get some fresh
air without the sun beating down upon their heads.  There were deck chairs and
little shops, a couple of displays showing off pictures of what the boat used
to look like and the celebrities who once sailed upon her. 
    Her story
morphed into her days as the Ghost Spirit army ship.  There were pictures of
thousands of army troops smooshed shoulder-to-shoulder on her decks.  I looked
at the photograph of all the soldiers stacked into their bunks like sardines
and my breath stopped.  I recognized one of the guys.
    "Hey, look!  It is Rex
Turner!" I said, laughing.
    "Who is that?" Mindy
asked.
    Dad elbowed his way forward and
squinted through the Plexiglas. "So it is!"
    "Vampire we hauled in last
Christmas.  He got a job playing Santa at the mall.  Whenever the grownups
would come sit on his lap, he'd get himself a little Christmas cheer, too.  The
CDC thought it was an outbreak of the bird flu.  Folks were blaming the bites
on monster mosquitoes or something."
    "Ho ho ho," said Mindy
sardonically as she looked closer at the picture.
    "And to think we're walking
the very same planks he walked.  Wonder what other vampires used this boat to
cross the Atlantic?"
    "No telling," said my
dad, wrapping his arm around Mom's shoulder.  "Who knows... there could be
one here right now."  He bit her neck playfully and she squealed like a
thirteen- year-old girl. 
    I covered Killian's eyes.
"You're not ready for this horror, elf." 
    We headed topside and got a chance
to look into the bridge and Captain's quarters.  They still had some of the old
guns that the military mounted on the front deck.  They were big enough to take
down an airplane, but covered in so many layers of lead-based paint, it was
pretty clear their days of service were long since over.  Up near the
smokestacks was a shuffleboard deck and a great view of the city.  More towards
the back was an old infirmary with a list of all the folks that died on the
ship.  It totally gave me the creeps, but Mom acted as if it was nothing but an
empty old room, so I chalked it up to champagne and general paranoia.  Folks
started pooping out about the time we hit the poop deck, so we decided to call
it quits.
    "Aren't you heading out with
us?" asked Mom as she gave me a hug.
    "I'm going to hit the little
girls’ room first," I said.  The drive to The Other Side was a bit more of
a slog than their jaunt up to Pasadena.
    Mindy gave me a squeeze. 
"We'll see you next week!"
    "Thanks
for breakfast.  And congratulations, sis."
    "This
little one is going to have the safest babysitter on the planet," Austin
laughed.  "No monsters in the closet this time around!"
    Mindy gave
me a smile.  "You're going to be a great auntie."
    "Aw! 
Get out of here, you crazy kids, before Mindy gestates and has
this baby right here on the boat!"
    They
laughed, pretending I said something far wittier than what actually came
out of my mouth, and headed on out.  I jerked my head towards
the indoor direction and said, "I'll be right back, Killian."
    "I
shall wait for you here," he replied, leaning against the railing and
relaxing, all zen and happy.
    Famous last words.

Chapter Two
    I walked over to the sink to wash
my hands.  Despite the ship being a floating museum of days gone by, the loo
was a wonderland of modern touchless technology.  There was an automatic soap
dispenser over the sink, but someone got the timer all mixed up.  Every time I
moved my hands close, it would sit there staring dumbly at me.  When I moved
them away, it squirted.  I ran my hand beneath it and nada.  FINALLY I hit the
automatic