Friday--August 13^th
Home and Havoc

Friday the 13^th and we were leaving. I've already emphasised my dislike for boats in an earlier chapter so I won't whine any more about that.
We had packed mostly everything the night before, so that wasn't much of a problem. Both cats had been caught and stuffed into the travelling-cages, Rug didn't mind, but Sammy was howling and crying; that is the only cat I've ever met with claustrophobia. Nobody dared let them out though; last year they'd done that, Sammy ran away and they had to leave her behind and go back to get her later in the autumn.
Sunni's mother was stressing about, one hundred percent sure that we'd forgotten something. We had checked everything though; I had my glasses, my socks, my raincoat, my books, my diskettes and my toothbrush. It wasn't until we were on the buss I remembered that I'd left my keys on the stereo, but by then it was too late to go back. Oh--well; it had to be something.

How we managed to drag all that luggage onto the boat I do not know, but we did. Sunni managed to hijack a table, so we didn't have to sit all cramped up in one of those seats. A single dude--reading a book--was already sitting at the table, but we decided to ignore him. After all he didn't need all seven seats for himself, did he?
I actually pity someone who have to sit between Sunni and myself for nearly five hours listening to our insane conversations and watching us try to eat a whole pineapple without peeling it first.

I'd like to tell you a bit about that pineapple: We found it cheap in a grocery-store and it didn't seem to be anything wrong with it so we bought it. I love pineapple--unless you try to put it in my pizza; in which case I'll kill you--it's one of the coolest fruits I can think of. Now--there was some nice serving-tips on a tiny booklet pinned to one of the leaves, but they all involved a knife and a plate; and we had neither. No matter what people tell you; it is not entirely impossible to eat a pineapple without cutting it into pieces first. It's messy--I'll grant you that--but hardly impossible. What you do is; hold the pineapple in one hand, take a big bite, chew and spit out anything too hard to swallow. I'll recommend practising in private, and not like us; on a boat.

I managed to read a bit on the boat--between the crazy conversations and pineapple-eating. The last time I visited Sunni's cabin--in 1996 if I'm not mistaken--I plod trough an entire book-shelf and still had time to be bored, this year however I didn't even manage to finish The Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide. The difference was probably the weather conditions: The summer 1996 it rained continuously while this year we didn't see a drop.

My father picked us up at the pier, and by yet another miracle we managed to stuff all the luggage into our little car.
The first thing I did upon saying good-bye to Sunni and her family and getting in the door was to kiss my little brother, and my computer.
Someone had wreaked havoc with my video-collection; hoping that I wouldn't notice. I did though. My videos are placed in alphabetical order sorted by title and in de-alphabetical order by production-company; starting with "Client, The", Warner Brothers on the left and ending with "Speed", 20^th Century Fox on the right. If anyone as much as breathes on my videos I'll notice. I couldn't be bothered to investigate it further, though; I just had to go on-line. Checking my email I had well over 600 new messages; which is less than I normally receive in three weeks, although a fair lot to download in one go.
When at last I had finished throwing away all the junk-mail, skimming trough all the hate-mail and adoption-forms, writing hearty replies to the few personal mail I'd actually received and taken my first hot shower in three whole weeks; I could just hear my bed screaming for me. It might have been me screaming for my bed too--I was too sleepy to tell the difference.