Take a Cruise for
Christmas by Andrew Grey
A number of years ago, I was looking forward to going on my
first cruise vacation with my partner. I
also had to write a Christmas story and the two things melded into A Cruise for
Christmas. Writing this story was a
great deal of fun. Granted the actual
cruise was even more fun, but writing this story was like taking a vacation
without leaving my computer. I hope you
enjoy the excerpt and decide to read the entire story and take a warm December
vacation with Kyle and Tim.
Blurb: When Henry Gilmore is given a
private stateroom on a gay cruise for a Christmas present, he has
visions of cute party boys,
hunky muscle gods, and breaking his run of bad luck when it comes
to love. Things don't turn out quite as he planned, but sometimes Santa knows
best and two out of three ain't bad.
Excerpt:
“It’s a cruise!!” Jim and Paul squealed together as I opened
the envelope they’d handed me as my Christmas gift. “We know we agreed that we wouldn’t go
overboard, but we just couldn’t help it.”
Jim gushed with excitement as he pulled me into a hug.
Paul held back, he was always the
more reserved of the two, but even he was excited, “You’ve helped us so much
this year, we just wanted to say thank you.”
I looked down at the ticket in my
hand, unable to believe my eyes, “Thank you, but…” I had so many questions.
Jim started gushing again, “We
already called your boss and arranged for the time off from work. So you’re all set, you leave in 5 days.” I was hugged to within an inch of my life…
and it felt good. These two men were as
close to a family as I had, hell they were the understanding parents I never
had. I met Jim and Paul years ago when I
got my first job and my first apartment.
They still lived in the same apartment while I had moved to another part
of the city, but I could never leave them behind. I spent holidays, birthdays, both theirs and
mine, with them. We laughed together,
joked together, and we loved each other.
“If you check the ticket, you’ll see that we got you your own cabin so
you can have some fun.”
Their apartment was decorated to
the max with a huge tree and lights galore.
“Thank you so much.” I hugged
both of them, unable to believe their generosity. “I haven’t gotten your gifts yet.” It was only the first week of December and I
had just stopped over to see if they wanted to go shopping. Both Jim and Paul were approaching 70 and
neither of them drove, so I stopped by regularly to take them shopping and to
help with things they couldn’t do anymore.
“Just bring us something from the
cruise.” Paul hugged him again before
sitting back on the sofa.
Jim quipped as he headed into the
kitchen, “Yeah, preferably someone tall, handsome, and just your size.” They both laughed and I joined in as
well. We all knew my dating history,
unlucky at best. Jim returned with a
tray of his famous cocktails and treats, setting the tray on the coffee
table. But instead of passing out the
drinks, he went to the huge Christmas tree and started pulling out packages,
before handing them to me. “Before you
say anything, we know we sprang the cruise on you and with your work, you won’t
have time to shop, so we got you a few things.”
Jim plopped half a dozen wrapped boxes on my lap. “Open, open, open!” Jim was like a kid on Christmas morning as I
did as he asked.
The boxes contained a nearly
complete cruise wardrobe with shorts, fashionable t-shirts, tank tops, and even
light dress pants and shirt. They had
great taste and while I’d never spring for such fashionable clothes myself, my
wardrobe consists mainly of work clothes and jeans, I knew what they’d bought
would look good on me. “I don’t know
what to say, this too much.”
It was Paul’s turn at the tree,
“Nonsense, you do so much for us,” he
handed me a small package, “This is just our way of saying thank you, besides
you know we love you, you’re the son neither of us ever had.” Paul started laughing, “besides we got to
spend an evening with the International Male catalog.” I opened this last small box to find two
bathing suits, small bathing suits. One
was a blue square cut with anchor buttons and the other was a very brief
bikini. “We couldn’t send you on a
cruise and let you wear those huge board shorts that go down to your
knees. Yuk!!” They both laughed. “Okay, go try one on, we want to see
you.” I looked at both men, giving them
my best, “You’ve got to be kidding look,”
but they wouldn’t be put off, so I found myself in the bathroom,
changing into a the blue square-cut suit.
I came out of the bathroom, feeling
a little shy, but as soon as they saw me, they started gushing again, “You’ll
be beating them off with sticks.”
“Honey, they’re gonna love
you.” I twirled around for their
enjoyment and then went back into the bathroom to get dressed again. When I came out, they passed out drinks, and
Jim made a toast, “Here’s hoping you get harpooned on the high seas.” All three of us cracked up, particularly
since that wouldn’t be surprising.
Up to this point, my love life had
been one disaster after another. There
was Julio, who was very sensual and a lot of fun both in and out of bed, but he
refused to move away from home. Stavros
was gorgeous… tall, dark, handsome… and married. A fact he neglected to mention for two
months. Irving
was delightful, a shy, quiet, intellectual man that I dated for almost six
months. We had a great time, until he
told me his ultimate fantasy involved me naked on all fours with me calling him
master and him calling me puppy.
Everyone has to draw the line somewhere, and mine is eating with my
fingers out of a doggy dish. I’m sorry
but utensils are absolutely necessary.
“Henry, you’re a wonderful man who
deserves to be happy and maybe, just maybe… you’ll find him on the
cruise.” It was Paul, the eternal
romantic, who’d said he never gave up on finding true love. He and Jim hadn’t met until both of them were
in their 50s. They’ve been happy
together for 20 years.
We spent the rest of the evening
laughing together like we always did in their warm, homey, and utterly charming
apartment. When I got up to leave, they
both hugged the stuffing out of me and wished me bon voyage. “I’ll call you before I leave,” They both
hugged me again, told me they loved me, and got me a bag for the gifts before
seeing me to the door.
For the next week, I worked during
the day and get things ready for the cruise at night. My boss, an institution at my company, and
one of the sweetest people I’d ever met, though if she heard me say that, she’s
probably hit me, was almost as excited as I was about the upcoming cruise. She made sure that everything was done before
I left and spent the week running interference.
I added her to the list of people I needed to shop for. On Friday at about three, she stopped by my
desk and told me to get out here before somebody decided they needed something
else.
“Thanks Judy.”
“You’re welcome, Hun… have a good
time.” She smiled and tootled her way
back to her office as I shut down my PC and high tailed it to the exit.
As soon as I got home, I completed
the last of my packing and called Jim and Paul.
They were both so excited for me I thought they’d bust a gut. “Have a good time and take plenty of
pictures.”
I heard Jim pick up the other
phone, “Yeah, take plenty of pictures of the scenery… preferable in
Speedos.” Jim laughed as they both said
goodbye still as excited as if they were going on the cruise with me. Before bed, my suitcase was packed, the alarm
set for a god awful hour, and I climbed in bed with visions of palm trees and
pretty boys dancing in my head.
I got up before the alarm and
caught the first morning shuttle to O’Hare.
The bus took almost two hours, but it saved a fortune in parking
fees. The flight to San
Juan was on time and we landed just after noon. I
retrieved my luggage and a porter from the cruise line was on hand telling me
that it would all be taken care of and not to worry. A shuttle bus picked me up and drove me to
the dock where a huge, gleaming white ship awaited. As I stepped out of the bus, another cruise
line employee asked to see my boarding information. I handed it over and he motioned to someone
else.
“Please show Mr. Gilmore to the
forward gangway.” My ticket was viewed
again and then I was led away from the crowd of people to the front of the
ship, where two people waited behind a table.
My ticket was passed to someone else.
I provided a credit card for my onboard expenses, my passport was
checked, and I filled out a few forms, signing where they indicated. “Thank you, Mr. Gilmore, Jose will show you
to your stateroom.”
A little confused, I followed Jose
as he took the carry-on bag I was carrying and led me up the gangway, “Is this
your first cruise, sir?” His English was
impeccable and his tone very welcoming as he led me onto the ship. I was lead up a few decks and down a hallway
to a door, “This is your room and here are your key cards.” He opened and held the door for me as I
entered the room.”
“Jesus…” I was expecting a small room on the inside of
the ship. What I was in was a huge suite
with what looked like a balcony and a separate bedroom. “Is this right?” Jesus, Jim and Paul must have broken the bank.
“Yes sir. As I said before, I’m Jose and I’ll be your
cabin steward for your voyage. If you
need anything, please press the steward’s button on the phone.” He showed me through the suite and then
quietly left the room. The table had a
large basket filled with chocolates and even a bottle of Champagne. I plucked out the card, “Have a great trip
and find someone to share the champagne with.
It was signed, Jim and Paul.” I
smiled as I set down the card. A brief
knock, the door opened, and then a porter entered, with my luggage. He quickly placed it in the bedroom, bid me a
wonderful trip and quietly exited the cabin.
I unpacked quickly, picked up my key and the map of the ship on the
table, and ventured out to explore the ship.
The shopping arcade and atrium were
decorated with huge Christmas trees and waterfalls of twinkling lights. As I wandered through, I heard the ship’s
whistle indicating that we were leaving port.
Walking briskly, I joined the other passengers at the rails to wave and
celebrate our departure. It was there
that I got the shock of my life.
As I looked around at the other
passengers, I realized that everyone I could see was of retirement age. I’d checked the brochure so I knew that was a
gay cruise, but this was not what I was expecting. As we pulled away from the dock, I heard an
announcement, “Welcome to the Caribbean Star for our annual Gay Maturity
Cruise.” I was floored, but that
explained what was going on, I’d been booked on a gay retiree cruise. Gone were my visions of cute party boys,
strapping boys next door, and hunky muscle gods. Instead I was looking at a week of canes,
wheelchairs, and canasta. Then I noticed
the number of people looking at me and whispering to one another. God, they thought I was some sort of toy boy
with a grandpa complex. Taking a deep
breath, I stepped away from the rail and followed the crew instructions as they
conducted the required lifeboat drill.
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