“I have put bottles of water in the refrigerator,” Phelon, our personal butler, said as he popped the champagne cork and poured our drinks so skillfully that none of the champagne came gushing out over either the floor or the table.

“There is a single serve coffee maker over there,” he said motioning to the coffee corner, set up with sugar packets, creamers, cinnamon, chocolate powder, and more. “Or you can place an order for any flavor or variety of coffee you like. For you, the kitchen will be open 24 hours.”

As we sipped our bubbly, Phelon showed us how to place orders on the television, but he added that we could simply press button 2, and he or the dining room would bring us anything we desired.

“Also, there is a sign on the inner pocket of the door. If you place that sign on the outside of the door, it informs me to come service your suite, or, if you like, you can dial me by pressing 4.

“Your luggage has been taken upstairs,” he continued. “I hope you don’t mind that I placed your items in the drawers and stored the baggage in the closet.”

Really? I hoped Phelon hadn’t fingered my undergarments, if I had any. I had no idea what Simone had packed. Maybe she’d left me without any clothes so I couldn’t leave our room the whole time. But I knew she wouldn’t do that. Queen Moragana might have, but she probably hadn’t dropped into my bedroom during suitcase packing.

“Is there anything else you need right now?” Phelon asked. “Would you like to select a catered meal now, or will you be heading out to a restaurant? I will be happy to make a reservation for whatever time is convenient for you. Anything you want. It’s my job to bring it to you. I am like a genie, you see,” he added with a wide grin that told me he enjoyed the imaginative description.

I thought about demanding a banana tree in the corner of the room just to be a brat. Oh, and a kitten, or something equally wild, but I muzzled my mouth, not sure that Phelon would understand my humor, since nobody else did.

Timothy cracked a smile, obviously, reading my thoughts. Then he shook his head and said, Personally I love your sense of humor. I find it adorable, my darling.

After Phelon left, Timothy and I started to explore the rest of the suite. But my favorite part was the huge bed upstairs. It wasn’t late in the day, but I was exhausted, and Timothy was very agreeable to the idea of snuggling into the bed, which we did immediately and that was the very reason we completely missed seeing the ship’s departure. It would have been fun to watch, but fun and games, followed by sleep prevented us from even taking time to check out our wrap-around balcony with the whirlpool that Timothy had told me about.

***

 

 

 

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