Katie Fforde - Going Dutch

‘It would be quite an effort to drag everything up here, wouldn't it?'

‘Not if everyone helps themselves to what they want and then brings it up,' said Tom. 'I could bring up some sofa cushions.'

‘That sounds lovely!' said Carole. 'I'll just have the vegetables, or salad, whatever it is that hasn't got a face.'

‘The plan is we're going to help ourselves,' said Jo gently, hoping she didn't sound too patronising. 'If you're going to be here, with us all, you have to join in properly.’

Carole and Jo looked at Marcus, both hoping for support for their separate causes. They were both disappointed. He was up the bows with Ed, looking at navigation lights. Jo wished he'd take his girlfriend in hand for all their sakes.

Dora was woken by Ed going to the bathroom. It was the following morning and as Marcus had insisted on every one having a reasonably early night, and not drinking too much, she felt sleepy, but not desperately so. She stood on her bunk and looked out of the window. Another perfect day, the dawn making even the mud flats look rose-tinted and romantic. She decided to take Jo a cup of tea in bed, hoping to find her still there, and not yet up and doing.

The previous evening had been spent playing Monopoly, which Jo had bought specially, 'in case every one's rubbish at making their own entertainment'.

Marcus didn't play. He retired to his cabin with the charts and, presumably, a good book, but everyone else had. It had been fun. Well, Dora insisted to herself that it had been fun, but she was aware of being niggled. Was itbecause Tom was so helpful to Carole, assisting her to win, or was it because Carole was so coy and giggly with him? Now, she pushed it out of her mind. If Tom liked giggly, clingy women, did she want to have anything to do with him? As she pulled on her jeans she reminded herself firmly that they were just friends, and so who he chose to flirt with was nothing to do with her.

Jo was grateful for the tea. 'I was up really early yesterday; today I feel as if my limbs are made of lead.'

‘Well, there's no need for you to get up yet. I'll see the chaps get breakfast.'

‘I suggest you just give them toast and cereal. They can have bacon butties for elevenses.' Jo sank back on to her pillows. 'I should have thought about buying soya milk. Lots of people have allergies to dairy products.'

‘Yes, but they usually tell you about them beforehand. They don't just turn up demanding special food.'

‘Poor Carole,' said Jo, sipping her tea with her eyes closed. 'We mustn't be horrible about her.'

‘Why not?' said Dora and nipped back to the bathroom, having heard Ed leave it.

Everyone was a little quieter that day. The first excitement of being on the move had worn off and maybe people felt daunted by the prospect of crossing the North Sea. Marcus delivered a safety lecture, talking about life jackets, what to do if anyone fell overboard, how to launch the dinghy -which fortunately Tom seemed to know all about – and the importance of everything being tied down in the galley. Dora and Jo confessed their anxiety to each other while they were preparing lunch, having debated fixing the tomatoes with elastic bands before they cut them up. They didn't want to share their worries with anyone else.

‘After all, if Carole's not bothered, we don't want to put ideas into her mind,' said Jo.

‘Yes, ignorance is bliss,' said Dora, 'or it seems to be in her case.'

‘I don't think she's actually that happy,' said Jo.

‘Don't you? She's got Marcus, who she adores, doesn't have to lift a finger, looks like a supermodel, what more can a girl want?'

‘A bit of fulfilment, possibly,' said Jo. 'Although before when I said that about her not being happy, I hadn't really thought it. I'm probably making things up. Take no notice. I just wouldn't fancy being hooked up with Marcus myself.'

‘Really? I think he's very attractive, for an older man.’

‘Oh, he's attractive all right; I just wouldn't fancy being his girlfriend.’

What Jo did fancy being she kept hidden even from herself, throwing herself into domestic activity as a distraction. How could a woman of her age, approaching the menopause with the speed of a flying bullet, have such inappropriate feelings for a man she wasn't sure she even liked? However attractive the cause, it must have some chemical reason. When she got back on dry land, she'd go and see a doctor and sort out some medication. She sighed. She hadn't always disliked Marcus. When he took her for a walk and talked her out of being frightened, she'd liked him very much.

'Well, that's the last we'll see of land for a while.' Dora had delivered Ed his hourly cup of tea. It was about two o'clock in the afternoon. 'Now we've got to miss the Goodwin Sands, all the ships in the shipping lanes, and then we're laughing.'

‘Aren't the Goodwin Sands terribly dangerous?' Dora asked him. 'I think I've heard of them.'

‘They're all right if you keep a good lookout and pay attention. It's not foggy, or windy, and we've got a good crew. Nothing can possibly go wrong. Cheers!' Ed downed half a mug of hot tea in one.

About an hour later Jo decided to confront her mixed feelings about their skipper and join Ed and Marcus in the wheelhouse. Tom had been steering for the past hour and had gone to find Dora. Carole was lying on deck, wearing more than a bikini now they were on the sea and it wasn't quite so warm, and Jo was bored. She realised she hadn't felt sick or terrified and grudgingly put this down to Marcus's ability to calm her nerves. It would be a good idea to find out where they were, where they were going and to practise being normal while close to Marcus – something she found disconcertingly difficult.

‘It's a bit crowded in here,' said Ed when Jo came up. 'I'll go, I just wanted to see where we were, on the chart,' said Jo apologetically, glad to have an excuse to leave, really.

‘No, you're all right. You have a look at the chart and I'll get my head down for a bit, now we're through the shipping lanes. That big container ship on the port side is clear of us now.'

‘Go and get some kip! It'll be your watch in a couple of hours,' Marcus said.

Jo remembered the state of the forepeak before Dora and Tom cleared it out and felt a surge of pride and gratitude towards them both.

‘I'll just take some of these mugs down-’

Suddenly the barge lurched heavily to the right and Ed fell against the door that opened under his weight. The next thing Jo saw was Ed clutching at nothing, and then he was gone.

‘Oh my God!' said Jo.

‘Man overboard,' snapped Marcus, pulling the control lever right back, and then he shot past Jo, lifted the lifebuoy from its cradle and threw it over the side. 'Now I want you to watch that lifebuoy and don't lose sight of it,' he barked. 'I'm going to turn the barge first one way and then the other so I come back to him and can get him aboard. But don't let it out of your sight.'

‘I can see him! His cagoule is holding him up a bit.'

‘Good. Now call Carole and get her to get Tom up here.’

Now the first shock was over, the lecture Marcus had delivered a lifetime before began to come back. Her eyes watered with the effort of staring at the lifebuoy and she called Carole without looking at her.

‘Carole! Get Tom up here. Ed's fallen overboard.’

‘What?' Carole unplugged her headphones.

‘Ed's fallen overboard!' Jo was shouting and her mouth had gone dry. 'Get Tom!’

Fortunately he appeared from the forepeak, Dora behind him. He raced up to Jo. 'What's up? We heard the engine slow. Oh fuck!' he finished as he saw the lifebuoy and near it, Ed.

‘It's Ed,' explained Jo to Dora. 'He's fallen in.’