SUN ON THE ROCKS – EPISODE II – THE ACAPULCO COCKTAIL
One
The City of Wellington, a brand new ocean cruise luxury liner rising over one hundred eighty feet and stretching beyond nine hundred feet, entered the Bay of Acapulco nine minutes behind schedule, at ten forty five in the morning. Clarity Nice placed her hostess badge in place on her white tank top and entered the ship´s women summer apparel shop, looking for her friend Lanai, who was finishing her shift as merchandising manager there. She scanned the shop and immediately found the pareo she had been eyeing for the welcoming ceremony ever since the liner had left Los Angeles three days earlier. It was painted bright orange, yellow and white, displaying large flowers, a palm tree and a Hawaiian woman swaying her hips. She wrapped the pareo around her hips using the style that the ship´s motivational coach Shazaiah had shown her earlier.
The girl with auburn hair walked with Lanai along the large main indoor hallway of the ship, admiring the balconies, staircases, and brightly lit large chandelier suspended from the ceiling. She stepped on one of the escalators to the ship´s pool deck, which was subdivided into two areas matching the two oval pools which shone a bright blue color from its tiles. The sun shone brightly on the deck, tourists conversing lively, often about two girls sunbathing on their stomach displaying their shapely bodies. Immediately to their side on a large rectangular table, the ship´s chief bartender Mr. LT, distributed two level Piña Acuaticas. The cocktail was a variation on the traditional Piña Colada and included aguas frescas, fruit waters made with sugar from fruit and water, on a specially designed glass holding together two shifted recipients one above the other. Clarity had found out that the name LT came from the name La Tuna, or prickly pear cocktail, a popular drink along Mexico´s West Coast, the specialty of the bartender, a popular item with women in general.
Clarity called to order their friends by splashing their tanned bodies with water from the pool, and reminded them that they had to get ready for the arrival ceremony. Being a hostess for a luxury liner was more interesting than being a teleoperator for Stevenson Garden Products, a company selling, as the name suggested, garden products. She handed the choreography they had practiced for a week to Lanai, who was a librarian in her native Malibu, Taimi, lifeguard by profession, and Cynthia, the only member of the SUN ON THE ROCKS synchronized choreography swimming team who didn´t have to work to survive, as her father had a considerable amount of money.
To the tune of the Final Countdown, by Europe, Clarity took off her pareo, revealing a sensual thong, and dove into the pool, followed by her teammates, who dove in sequence in a traditional, synchronized swimming entry. For over ten minutes, they made several figures with their legs lifted straight in the air, their heads and bodies under water. Clarity pulled the girls towards one another and they lowered their legs at the same time, making the pattern of a flower. They finished by standing in a line in the shallow end of the pool, their upper bodies slanted and alternating sides, moving their arms up and down to the beat of Technotronic´s Rockin´ over the Beat.
As they got out of the pool saluted with an enthusiastic round of applause, Clarity noticed the captain smiling from the upper deck overlooking the pool. It was important to keep the captain happy, for he was paying room and board, and was giving some pocket money for the girls to spend. A good looking girl with brown hair ran towards them, also to congratulate them.
“Hi, I´m Jenna Likeway, I´ve seen you swim and I really liked the show. I wish I could be a part of your team.”
“We´re always looking for new members, do you know how to swim well?”
“I used to be a competitive diver, I came here to dive at La Quebrada, the famous diving spot in Acapulco. I´ve been swimming for over twenty years.”
“Excellent, come with us,” said Clarity, “have a luscious drink from our wonderful barman Mr. LT.”
Clarity eyed the corpulent, handsome barman. Standing at six feet and blessed with the looks of a rugged model, Mr. LT had a long list of feminine fans waiting to be charmed by his smooth gestures and pleasant talk. Now in his late thirties and showing a permanent tan acquired through frequent trips to Mexico and the Caribbean, Mr. LT was one of the most appreciated member of the crew. Each person who met him ended up learning how to prepare a new cocktail or how to make a cocktail which tasted genuinely good. For particularly fussy customers, Mr. LT always had a new surprise preparation in mind, stemming directly from his large leather-bound recipe book inherited from a barman working at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco. Clarity had inquired once about the book and Mr. LT said to her that some of his mixtures just could not be served on an ocean liner.