When Sly Calls by Michael Frank

By: Marie Pascual

I’ve been trying to get over my habit of over romanticizing everything; a broken toy found in a park, a pair of empty glasses seen from the outside of a café partnered with empty chairs, finding fresh flowers in the garbage can- it’s just too much clutter in my already un mise-en-placed brain.

But I can’t help falling in love with the push and pull of the wreckage that is the S.S. Chubby Duck. I take it for granted when I’m working service myself: I get lost in making sure everything’s perfect all the time, which causes me to over think and fuck up and just continually get lost in trying to make sure I stop fucking up. I’ve forgotten what had gotten me there to fall in love in the first place.

Fast forward and after a spending short of a year on the ship, the romance had started to fade. I had invited my friend Jay after a mid shift to hang around in the city. He decides after careful consideration with marijuana between his finger tips that he’d love to eat aboard the ship.

We sit down at the bar, with a full view of my crewmates working the barge: “Jin Robot” at the back and “The young FunkMaster” working front. On a Saturday night, as you can imagine, it gets pretty fucked with a crew of 2 working the ship when the patrons that are boarding are west side hipsters usually ordering under the influence from a couple drinks and smokes shared over meaningless exchanges. And my dining companions and I were going to add to that mess.

As a playlist of Jin’s tunes of brass bands and jazzy drums surrounded the entire ship, I had ordered the dishes that I thought Jay would enjoy, one of those being the PBK, the dish that had me hooked to being a pirate again.

After the plates had reached the table I was observing Jay entranced by the movement of the crew. A few beers in, I was laughing at Jays non blinking stare and dropped jaw but then I had the sudden urge to start watching the pair work as well.

The six burners had been firing all at once and our view started to be censored by chits sliding in one at a time. But all you could fixate on was the focus in the Robots eyes as he zoned in on the heat. Pans holding hours of labor and love, under a ship built from the ground up, Jin would understand the assignment and carry the ship every time.

Working the sunset shifts, I’ve been able to train under him and remember why I’d wanted to join in the first place. Over the last few weeks, I’ve come to learn that the robot carried more passion than I’d realized. Working the ships on days off to perfect a delicious snack made with gifts from the sea, he put love into the little things he had done for the crew.

“I fell in love with the sights and sounds , the smells of the kitchen. I just knew I wanted to be a part of that life,” Jin had mentioned to me during the first few days of working together. I learned that the term ‘robot” had a bit of “irony” to it .. (please appreciate the pun.)
I empathize with my love for life aboard the ship as well, and aim to work at least to half the level that Jin does.

6 tickets in and over to the front the Young FunkMaster was supporting his crew mate as the ship started to rock. Funk’s family helped him sail over our side of the world but had been a solitary man since he’d landed. I met Funk aboard the ship during a heartbreak he endured the week I joined the ship’s crew. But through every trial and tribulation, Funk worked through it. Even through the dumb hazing rituals the legacy crew had him endure.”Control the things you’re able to control” I remembered him saying to me during one of my training shifts once. I admired his strength and maturity at the age he was at and wanted to mimic that for myself too.

The pair worked in tandem, and you could see Jin lighting up the engine at the end of the line while Funkmaster tended to the patrons on board while finishing the dishes lined up for the night. The two worked together like a well oiled machine, steering the ship over the waves of orders.

Suddenly, I started to notice the front counter start flooding the shift. I had finished my shift for the night and wanted to jump in to help, but my dinner mates reminded me that I was a guest on the ship, and to just enjoy the Saturday night ride, as we were in the more than capable hands of the Robot and the Young FM.