Clueless

We were also joined by their neighbor's daughter, Freida.

After dinner, Marc and Evan disappeared, off to do whatever Dutch teenage boys in Amsterdam do. The rest of us retired to the parlor with a bottle of Riesling, and some fine cheeses. I learned that Freida was thirty, and worked as the headmaster of a nursery school nearby. Ever since her husband was killed in an accident on an oil rig in the North Sea, she lived with her mother. She was an attractive woman, with a good figure and ample breasts. That seemed to be a characteristic of Dutch women I could get used to. Freida offered to take me tomorrow to see the sights of Amsterdam.

The next day I met Freida, and we took the trolley to the center of the city. She started showing me the usual tourist sites: canals, coffee shops that sell marijuana, the Rembrandt House museum, old churches, and the red-light district. This was all very interesting, some more than others, but I was mostly enjoying the time I spent with Freida. Walking along a tree lined canal and holding hands was the best part of the day.

After we took the trolley back to her home neighborhood, she suggested we stop at the local pub for some beer and dinner. We ended up spending several hours just talking and getting to know each other better. I walked her home, and enjoyed a sweet goodnight kiss on her doorstep. When I got back to the Chief's house, everyone had already gone to bed.

The next day, Freida had to work, so I ventured out by myself. I spent the afternoon at the zoo, and was heading toward the university where I was going to meet Marc and Evan. We were going to have a few beers and go to some of their favorite night spots.

I heard a female voice say "Hello, sailor. Why don't you come up and see me?"

I looked around, and I saw her standing in a window with a red light. She was wearing a bra and panties, and a sheer baby doll nighty. I thought "What the hell, why not?" I'd just been paid before leaving the ship and I had a lot of Euros in my pocket. So I spent an hour getting my ashes hauled by a Dutch prostitute. After all, it had been a long time since I had been with a woman.

I did meet up with the Gruber boys and we spent a fun evening enjoying some of the nightlife of Amsterdam. We had a few Heinekens and a good meal at a pub, and then they met up with some of their friends to check out some clubs. After a few hours of drinking and dancing with the younger generation, I was ready to go back to the Chief's house and crash. There were some cute girls and they seemed willing to get to know me better, but they were just too young for me. As the group was heading out to the next club, I took the trolley back to the house.

The next morning, I woke up after a good night. Frau Gruber had fixed a good breakfast of eggs and sausages, and some good strong coffee. The Chief had a list of honey-do projects around the house, so I helped out where I could.

That evening Freida came over for supper again. Afterwards, we walked to the pub for a beer, and to meet some of the neighbors. Everyone knew Freida, and accepted me since I was with her. I walked her home, and she invited me in for a drink. We sat on the couch and sipped our peach schnapps. Before long it evolved into a heavy petting session, like a couple of teenagers. I did get to second base before we agreed that maybe it was time to go.

I went to sleep that night dreaming of her bodacious Dutch boobies.

The next night, I was invited to have dinner with Freida at her house. Her mother was visiting her sister, so it was just the two of us. Freida had prepared a traditional Dutch meal for us. It was delicious, even if I can't tell you what it was. After dinner, we ended up sipping schnapps, sitting on the couch, and making out. This time we ended up in her bed.

A woman with no curves is like blue jeans with no pockets, no place for a man to put his hands. Freida had curves. She had ample breasts, broad hips, sturdy thighs. When it came to making love, she was definitely an active participant. I woke the next morning knowing I had been rode hard. We had a typical Dutch breakfast with some strong coffee, and then went back to bed. We spent the rest of the day rutting like animals, or sleeping to rest up for the next session. We went to the pub for dinner, and then back to her bed.

After two nights with Freida, I had to get back to the ship to recover. Eight weeks later, we docked in Rotterdam again. Chief Gruber and I caught the train back to Amsterdam. This time he went to his house, and I went to Freida's house. I spent a week in Freida's bed, and then went back to sea.

For two years, I sailed around the world every eight weeks. It wasn't always as boring as it sounds. There were storms and rough seas, hurricanes in the Atlantic and typhoons in the Pacific, that kept the deck crew busy making sure the containers were secure. We lost a container off the top of a stack in a cyclone in the Indian Ocean. I understand it contained a very expensive Mercedes sedan to be delivered to a Burmese general.

In the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, we had a complete power loss. We determined the problem was contaminated fuel. We fixed the problem, and we were underway again in less than six hours. Once we were attacked by pirates off the Arabian coast, but we were able to use fire hoses to repel them, and then we outran them.

In every port, I would buy postcards to send to my sons. I don't know if they ever received them, but they could keep track of where I had been.

After two years, Chief Gruber had retired. He lived now in his cozy home in Amsterdam with Frau Gruber. I got to visit with them each time I came home to my Frieda. Freida's mother went to live with her sister, and Freida's home became mine as well.

Chief Gruber still had a lot of contacts in the corporate office, and was often paid to be a consultant on engineering issues. I was now the Chief Engineer on my ship. The Chief pulled some strings, and I was offered an appointment as Deputy Director of the Engineering Department. This meant being with Freida full time, no more time at sea.

After the usual night of sexual gymnastics in Freida's bed, I broke the news over breakfast. I told her I would be living in Amsterdam full time, working in the corporate office. I asked Freida to marry me. I noticed right off that she wouldn't look up at me. It turns out that I'm not the only sailor in her life. She has two other men sharing her bed the weeks I was at sea. I packed my sea bag, kissed her goodbye, and left.

I went back to corporate, told them I couldn't take their offer, and resigned. I took the train to Bremen, and signed on with another ship that would never go back to the Port of Rotterdam. I was hired on as the Chief Engineer on the Nordic Queen, a cruise ship that alternatively toured the Baltic, the Norwegian coast, and the Mediterranean. I was making good money, and since I never left the ship I had nowhere to spend it.

As the Chief Engineer, my primary duty station was in the engineering control room. Even though this is in the bowels of the ship, next to the engine room, don't get it confused with the oily, grimy engine rooms you've seen in old movies. My control room was a clean space that could be mistaken for a hospital operating room. Nor was I confined to the bilges. Being an officer of the ship, I was expected on formal occasions to dress in my white uniform and greet passengers alongside the Captain and the other officers.

You might think that since leaving Freida I was without female companionship. There are rules that prohibit fraternization between crew members and passengers, but I would still have the occasional opportunity to enhance the cruise experience of a widow or divorcee, and sometimes even a discrete married lady. And there were always some female crew members looking for a hookup.

Eva Christiansen was a dancer in the entertainment troupe. She was a Scandinavian beauty, with long blond hair and blue eyes. She was from Denmark and had been working on cruise ships for three years. The dancers would do two shows a night, and then sleep until noon. After having lunch in the crew galley, they would spend the afternoon in rehearsals.

I had dropped in to the crew galley for lunch when I saw her. She was wearing a pink leotard and tights, and leg warmers up to her knees. She had her hair up in a bun on the back of her head. Our eyes met, and I was smitten. She came up to my table and asked if she could sit. I think I mumbled something totally unintelligible, but she sat anyway.

After her second show, she showered and changed. It was after midnight and I was waiting for her. I asked if I could take her for a drink, but she told me she really wanted to get something to eat, as she hadn't eaten since lunch. We went to the crew lounge where she proceeded to eat everything on the menu.

For the rest of that cruise we were inseparable. She shared a cabin with another female crewmember, but as an officer I had a cabin to myself. Eva spent more time in my cabin than in her own. When her contract was up, I talked the captain into hiring Eva as a hostess on the ship.

After five years on the Nordic Queen, I was offered the job of Director of Engineering Services for the Port of Miami for Queen Cruise Lines. QCL had just launched a new ship, the Caribbean Queen, which was to be permanently based in Miami. During the high season, she would be joined by the Alaskan Queen and the Nordic Queen.

When I left the ship, Eva came with me. We were married in a small Lutheran church in the village where Eva grew up. All of her family, which was most of the population, attended. Her brothers and cousins made it look like a reunion of a Viking raiding party, but in suits and ties. Before I met her mother, I might have been expecting a Wagnerian warrior queen, complete with armored breastplate and horned Viking helmet. I was pleasantly surprised by an older version of Eva. I may have been getting her confused with my ex-wife's mother, the dragon queen.

Eva and I honeymooned for two weeks in the Bahamas, on our way to Miami. Nine months later, our daughter was born.

My new job was to coordinate with the Captains and Chief Engineers for the cruise ships in our company coming into Miami to resupply. Each of our cruise ships sends me an engineering list a day before they make port, and I make sure they have the parts and service technicians they need, and have repairs and services completed before they sail again. Cruise ships may have a 12 hour turnaround before they have to sail. In some cases the ship will sail with the repair crew still on board. I have a charter jet on standby if we need to fly the repair crew home from the ship's next port of call. Also, I sometimes fly parts and a repair crew out to a port to meet the ship to do emergency repairs.

During the high season, besides the three ships QCL has in the Caribbean, sailing out of Miami, we also have contracts to support other cruise ships in both Miami and Fort Lauderdale. I have on occasion even sent a repair crew out to do emergency repairs for a Carnival or a Norwegian Cruise Lines ship. I help them and they help us.

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It's been over twelve years now since I left Linda and my sons in Vicksburg. I've kept up with them through Jimmy, my attorney. I made sure they received the child support payments every month. Bobby would be almost twenty now, and Georgie would be almost fifteen. Bobby is a junior at Old Miss, majoring in pre-med. Georgie is into computers and robotics. He wants to be an engineer someday.

When I moved to Miami, I had Jimmy give my phone number to Bobby, and let him know he could call me if he wanted to. Bobby and I talked on the phone a few times, and then I offered to come to Old Miss for a visit. George called me as well. I was starting to develop a closer relationship with my sons.

I made the trip to Oxford for Homecoming weekend. George had told his mother he was going to spend the weekend with his brother, and go to the football game. He didn't tell her I was going to be there. It was the first time I saw my sons since that Christmas, twelve years ago. They told me they still had all of the postcards I had sent them from around the world.

My sons told me Linda dated some after the divorce, and after a few years she married Ralph Oglesby, the high school football coach. My boys did not like him; he was very strict with them. She divorced him after five years when she learned he was having an affair with the girls' basketball coach. Linda is now the middle school principal.

I offered to pay their way if they wanted to come visit me in Miami. They jumped at the chance to come to South Florida for Spring Break. My condo is a few blocks off the beach in South Beach, and bikini clad college girls will be wall to wall.

My doorbell rang, and I opened it in anticipation of my son's arrival. Imagine my surprise, when I stood there face to face with my ex-wife. George and Bobby were standing behind her, with an embarrassed grin. I had talked to them enough to know this was not their idea.

For the first time in twelve years, I spoke to my cheating slut of an ex-wife.

"Hello Linda, this is certainly an unpleasant surprise. Won't you all come inside? I'd like to introduce my wife, Eva, and our daughter Anna."

Not bad for being clueless.