Carnival Cruise ships go out weekly from the Port of Jacksonville located on the St. John’s River. Since Jacksonville, Florida was only a thirty minute drive from Amelia Island, John planned for him and Mary to leave around seven in the morning on December 16th so they could be at the cruise ship in plenty of time before departure. The cruise was a package deal whereby they would stay on the cruise ship the first and last nights, and stay in the town of Nassau, Bahamas at the Princess Hotel four nights. The package included the hotel accommodations, and breakfast and one other meal every day in the Princess Hotel. The Princess Hotel advertisement brochure boasted of having the finest four-star restaurant, wonderful live entertainment shows, and a “classy” casino in the town of Nassau, Bahamas.
Mary was looking forward to going on this trip with John. Her dog would again have to stay with her neighbor; however, Prince had an early visitation from Santa Claus, so he had plenty of treats and dog toys to entertain him until Mary got back.
Chapter Fourteen
Port of Jacksonville, Jacksonville, Florida
Carnival Cruise Lines Ship
It was a beautiful December 16th morning when they finally departed the Port of Jacksonville. The temperature registered seventy-four degrees Fahrenheit and there was no rain predicted for the entire week. It would be about eighty-eight degrees Fahrenheit once they reached the Bahamas.
Leaning against the ship’s railing, John had turned to Mary to comment about low-flying seagulls when he closed his mouth shut and stared. Approximately fifteen feet to his right and also leaning against the ship’s railing was Sheriff Earl Benson. He was by himself, and John didn’t think the sheriff had seen him and Mary. John nudged Mary softly with his elbow, put his right finger to his lips and pointed with his left finger in the direction the Sheriff was standing. Mary turned her head in the direction John was pointing and also recognized the sheriff. John took Mary’s hand and led her to their room on the third floor of the ship.
Once inside the room, John told Mary they should try not to let the sheriff know they were on the same ship. Mary didn’t understand why, but trusted John’s instincts on this issue. There was something “pseudo” about the sheriff that he couldn’t explain to either Mary or himself.
John spoke, “I’d love to be a fly and follow him around. We should don sunglasses and a hat in case we see him. Being ‘incognito’ should be fun since we probably won’t know anyone else on the ship anyway.”
Mary replied: “I can blend in with the best of them.”
John grinned and said, “Unfortunately, you always stand out in my line of vision.”
Smiling, he donned the sunglasses that were sitting on top of his head and said, “Maybe the sunglasses will cloud my vision.” Mary playfully threw a pillow at him.
They didn’t see the sheriff the rest of the day. It was a big ship, and so it wouldn’t be unusual if they didn’t see him. However, that evening they did see him walking leisurely towards the bow of the ship as they were coming out of the Michelangelo Dining Room. Sheriff Benson had on a bright red shirt with green and yellow parrots on it that could be spotted easily. John and Mary, dressed in evening attire, had planned to see one of the shows on the cruise ship after dinner, but inquisitively, they decided instead to follow Benson and see where he was going.
Sheriff Benson was living up to his reputation and was heading towards the casino. There were plenty of slot machines, and the noise was almost deafening in the casino. John got twenty dollars worth of coins for Mary to entertain herself for about an hour, so he could inconspicuously watch Benson. Earl Benson sat down at a poker game with three other men. John could see why Sheriff Benson enjoyed this game because he played the game well. The sheriff kept his “poker face” intact and won three times with only two-of-a-kind. During the hour and ten minutes that he played, two men “folded”. At eleven thirty-eight, the sheriff picked up his tokens, cashed them in for five-thousand and five-hundred American dollars and started walking towards the exit door.
John quickly moved around a large potted plant and stood beside Mary pretending to
be interested in her game as Benson passed them. “Are you ready to go?” John asked.
“Yes. I have been pulling this lever the past five minutes or so without inserting any coins. My right arm is numb.”
John laughed and escorted Mary out of the casino back to their room. Once inside the room, they stripped themselves of all garments and “hit the jack-pot” with wild and frenzied love-making.
Chapter Fifteen
Nassau, Bahamas
The next morning around nine o’clock, John and Mary disembarked the cruise ship at the Nassau, Bahamas docking port. They flagged a taxi which took them to the Princess Hotel. They had not seen Benson. Maybe they would get lucky and not see him again on this trip. However, John figured that if there were only two casinos in the town of Nassau, Bahamas, one could almost guarantee to find Benson at one, or both of them.
They checked in the hotel and unpacked their luggage cases. They watched T.V. twenty minutes, and then Mary wanted John to go with her to the market place and see the goods the native-islanders made. She planned to purchase something to bring back to Lucy and Logan for a souvenir as well as a Christmas gift. Mary bought four Nassau, Bahamas T-shirts for fifteen dollars. She was quite good at bartering. Then she bought several wooden bowl sets. Lucy never seemed to have enough bowls to serve food when Mary and John came over for dinner. John didn’t see anything that he wanted or needed at the market.
They piddled around at the market place until noon. John suggested they eat lunch at a little restaurant called Island Cuisine he had seen within walking distance of the market place. The menu consisted of seafood or pasta entrees. They both decided on something similar to a small shrimp basket served with fries and bread sticks with a cola to drink. The shrimp were a little over-fried, but overall, the meal was good. John suggested they
go back to the hotel to swim and lounge around the pool. Mary loved that idea. She needed to burn off the 700 calories she had just eaten.
Anyone who saw Mary and John together at the pool would have said they were an attractive couple. Mary wore an orange-colored bikini and John wore a red men’s bikini-cut bathing suit. Both were in great physical shape.
“Hey! Last one in is a ‘rotten egg’” yelled John as he dove in the water.
John didn’t know it, but Mary was an excellent swimmer. Living on Fernandina Beach, one learned to swim before he or she learned to walk. When he came up for air, he didn’t see Mary and he panicked. Seconds later, Mary came up for air two feet in front of him.
She splashed him as he turned towards her and she said, “The yolks on you!”
They played, splashed, swam, and frolicked in the pool for about forty-five minutes and then got out of the pool and dried themselves with towels the hotel provided. They had no sooner sat in the hotel lounge chairs than John said, “Uh, Oh! Isn’t that Sheriff Benson coming out of Room 138?” Mary shielded her eyes from the sun, squinted towards Room 138 and realized John was right. At least they knew where Sheriff Benson was staying.
The Princess Hotel restaurant was rated four-stars. John and Mary were seated close to the pianist who was playing softly so conversations could be heard. They ordered escargot for an appetizer and fillet mignon seared on the outside and rare on the inside with a baked potato and Caesar salad for their entrees. The steaks were delicious and juicy. They skipped dessert.
When coffee was served, John excused himself to visit