Ferryboat Ride of A Lifetime

Ferryboat Ride of A Lifetime

“Honey, are you sure you want to take this ferry boat ride?” My husband asked with noticeable concern in his voice.

“What do you expect me to do, Dear? Sit here on the landing and wait for you and Jon-Ray, while y’all have all the fun?

“But, Hon? In your condition…. should you really…”

“Shush!” I commanded. “I am tired of being told what I should and shouldn’t do.”

“Let’s just take the ferry ride, and enjoy ourselves.” I said trying to pretend that I was not eight months pregnant, and Jon-Ray was not a highly over-active nine-year-old child that had trouble being confined in small spaces.

Ray reluctantly paid for the ferryboat tickets for the three of us. We boarded the ferry and found a comfortable shady location for the three of us to sit under a large canopy. It would be at least another thirty-minutes before they launched the ferryboat.

We lived in Houma, Louisiana, and the tour company referred to as local tourist; not exactly the typical fare that they hoped to attract we had been told. We waited and watched patiently and contentedly while larger bus loads of real tourist were arriving from New Orleans. Seems our Captain was a full-blooded raging Cajun, and a retired Crew boat Captain, among other things.
The brochure had promised and exciting day of adventure in the swamps, complete with an authentic Cajun lunch accompanied with original Cajun Music at one of the camps that we would pass on our journey into the Louisiana swamps.

As the large ferry pulled away from the pier with its sixty passengers and crew now safely on board, everyone settled in to view the moss hanging on the gnarled cypress trees as we started our travels down the bayou. Our Guide, Black Guidry, was speaking to all of us over a load speaker, first in English and then in French. Everyone was a bit nervous at first, but the sweet smell of wild azaleas in the air was somehow very comforting. None of us were exactly roughing it as we had all been assured that the ferryboat was fully Coast Guard inspected and certified, and was equipped with restrooms.

“Are you comfortable, Hon?” My concerned husband leaned over and asked.

“Of course, just look at this boat. The seats are padded and have a stadium-like design. Amazing. This is the nicest ferryboat I have ever been on since we have been taking these tours. And where is your Son?” I asked suddenly realizing that Jon-Ray was not sitting beside his father.

“He is talking to some of the crew. These men have been gator hunting, fishing, and trapping these swamps all their lives. He is just curious.”

We listened as some of the other people tried to keep a count of the hundreds of turtles that we had seen resting on fallen cypress tress, and we watched, like everyone else, as several large alligators slid from the bank and disappeared into the murky depths of the bayou waters. It was getting more than a little warm, and uncomfortable as our boat pulled up to an old wooden pier. Several of the crew hollered out something in Cajun French as some men and women came down the pier to meet the ferryboat with large pitchers of fresh lemonade, and stacks of blue and red plastic cups. Two bearded men carrying a huge pot of traditional Cajun Red Beans and Rice followed the people with the lemonade. They dished up hearty individual servings of the red beans and rice onto paper plates, and passed each one over until we all had our own. A big bag of sliced French bread was passed aboard and passed around. It was a comfortable on board picnic of sorts.

While this Cajun Swamp tour was certainly one of the most scenic and entertaining tours that our family had been on in some time. And we enjoyed the pier side dining on Red Beans and Rice, and watching the natives do the Cajun two-step to the unique sounds of their Cajun music, I was not prepared to have the Captain of a Cajun Swamp Tour deliver our son, Billy, to a cheering crowd of sixty strangers on the deck of a ferryboat. And some young Coast Guard officer had to tell me that my loving, concerned husband had passed out as soon as he was told that I had gone into labor, and was he the emergency room receiving medical attention for a non-life threatening injury he received when he fainted. And that really should have been the end of the adventure, but it took the Coast Guard another two days to find our son, Jon-Ray. It seems that he managed to sneak off of the ferryboat at one of the camps that we had visited during the tour. Apparently our son just made himself at home amongst the kind and generous Cajun natives. Seems that particular Cajun family, had sixteen of their own children, and the mother had just miscounted, or thought he was a visiting cousin or something

The one good thing that did come out of all of this is that at forty-two dollars for each adult and children under twelve are free, and since I did not have to pay an Obstetrician or a hospital it turned out to be the cheapest way to have a baby. Notice that I did not say the best or highly recommended way to have a baby, just the cheapest.

Written for

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The Writer's Cramp  (13+) Write the best story or poem in 24 hours or less and win 10K GPs! #333655 by Sophy

The New Prompt is:
Write an Action/Adventure story using the following items... an airplane, large bus, or ferry. A pregnant woman, an over-active child and your twist.