Although each chapter is a story on its own, you might enjoy it more by starting with chapter 1 as there may be references to characters or events that happened in previous chapters. All characters participating in sexual activity in the stories are 18 or over. This story is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author's imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. The ship's itinerary is purely fictional.
To help you keep track of the different characters in the series, a list can be found on my author's page in order of their appearance in the stories.
Chapter 47: The Christmas party with Grace (part 1).
The day after Sunshine's visit, Jada was at school. She would come back to the shop on Friday, but since Sunshine gave her approval on the men's magazine, I started printing the required copies. I knew that Hellen was getting nervous, fearing they wouldn't be ready for the big day.
I called her, "Hi Hellen, I'm so sorry that we couldn't finish the magazine, as promised, by the 15
th
, but it was only yesterday that Jada's teacher came around to give her approval. I can tell you she did, so today and tomorrow I'll be printing the required copies and you can have them tomorrow evening. I want Jada here when we hand them over, after all, she put most of the work into this thing and I want her to have her glory moment."
"Of course, Jada should be there, and don't worry we still have a few days till Christmas, I'll see you tomorrow evening then, is 7 OK for you?"
"Yes, I'll let Jada know when to be here."
As Jada would probably be in class at this time, I sent her a text message about her glory moment tomorrow evening and started up the printing process. By 7 that evening I had finished printing the required copies so they could set overnight and I could staple them tomorrow. I had foreseen 10 copies in total, the proof copy we used to convince Danielle I intended to keep for myself.
There would be a copy each for Jada, Tanja, Bethany, Dawn, Linda, Astrid, and Jada's teacher Sunshine, leaving 3 copies for Hellen who in the end paid for the whole thing. I sent out an invitation to all parties for the big handover and everyone quickly replied confirming their attendance. I'd better make sure I have enough booze and snacks in the house as this could turn into a small party. Maybe I could call Petra to help me set this up and do some waitressing. She loves these little impromptu parties, particularly when I pay her for them. It always ended up with her enjoying the party as much as the guests did.
Thursday, Petra had already arrived at 5 to prepare the snacks and set up the booze, in this case, festive champagne in a cooler. She couldn't resist vacuuming the studio as well. She reminded me so much of an overprotective housewife sometimes - I should definitely get her a nice present for Christmas. The question was what exactly? Maybe I could ask one of my ladyfriends to try and figure out what would make Petra happy. Women usually confide easier in another woman, maybe I'll ask Bethany. Although she doesn't have kids of her own she is more of a motherly type than Astrid, the others being far too young for such a mission.
At six, Jada burst through the door, with a very sad face. "
Oh my God
," I thought, "
she got bad marks for the project
," I was already contemplating giving Sunshine a serious spanking the next time I saw her.
"What is it dear, did Sunshine give you bad marks for the project after all?"
She looked at me and I saw her face change while she burst out laughing, "she gave me 9.5, the highest mark anybody in my class got."
"You little devil making me believe something was wrong or you got bad marks. Well congratulations, you earned every point she gave you.
"God Lew you should have seen your face when I came in, sorry for teasing you, and thank you for helping me with this project."
I grabbed her in my arms and gave her a bear hug, the girl deserved a break after the life she had led before coming to Belgium with her sister Elisa. I could feel that this evening was going to be a huge success.
At six-thirty, not surprisingly, Hellen arrived as the first guest.
"Hello, Lew, sorry I'm early but I'm so curious, I couldn't wait any longer, can I see it please?"
"Should I keep her on tenterhooks for another half hour or should I show her? Maybe I'll show her the proof-print?"
"I can't hand you an official copy yet Hellen before the other guests are here, but I can show you the proof-print we made for Jada's teacher. It's almost the same as the final version but a few tweaks were made to it based on Miss Brooks' remarks."
"Who's Miss Brooks?"
"I never mentioned her real name to you didn't I, well she's Jada's teacher, nicknamed Sunshine. She's an overaged hippy, who had to approve it to count for Jada's grades at school, she'll be here tonight as well to receive her copy of the magazine."
"So how many do you distribute and how many are left for me?"
"You get 3 copies, the other copies go to all the people that contributed to the project, and I'll keep the proof-print copy for myself."
"Sounds good, and they'll all be here tonight?"
"Yes."
"I can't wait to meet this Sunshine woman, an overaged hippy is she?"
"Yes, attire, attitude, you know free love and everything."
"Oh, you had sex with her?"