Jason felt weird walking around the cruise ship now without the camera over his shoulder. It had just always been there with him since he got on board, but now his body was free of all baggage as he made his way towards the Frozen-themed dinner. Finishing the paperwork at security took much longer than he expected, and his stomach was ready. His eyes were also ready to see Kelly doing her job.
Without someone else around to help direct him, he felt a little out of place on this giant boat. Sure, there were signs and maps on the walls, but knowing the best route to take wasn’t as simple for Jason as driving was. Maybe he should make a Google Maps version that is built for navigating cruise ships. Could that make money? Maybe it could get him to Shark Tank or something. But then he remembered that he didn’t know how to code at all, so it was a dumb idea.
Finally, he saw the hallway start to turn blue and look like a North European mansion. Must be in the right area. Paintings on the wall of the different Frozen characters started to become the decoration style, and he could have sworn that the temperature itself was actually dropping. Normally, Jason wouldn’t think that would be an intentional part of the room, but this was Disney.
The hallway eventually opened up to a massive dining room. Easily 50 large round tables could be seen, all decorated in a beautiful 1800s style. Dear god, how was he ever going to be able to find the right table in here? So many people were walking around, sitting down, talking, laughing… he realized now that he should have written down the table number.
“Jason!” he heard from somewhere to the left. Jason’s eyes started darting around at all the faces in that direction, but everyone looked like a stranger.
“Yoohoo, Jason, over here!” Finally, he saw an arm flailing wildly above the crowd. He started navigating his way through the crowd and tables before reaching the group. There was Greg, David, and a handful of others he had never met, all sitting down at a table labeled as #16.
David put his previously waving arm down and patted the chair next to him before saying, “Here’s your seat, Detective Todd!”
“Wow, this dining area is massive,” said Jason as he pulled the chair back and sat down. He looked around the table and lightly smiled at the party he was now a member of.
“Everyone,” said Greg, “This is our friend Jason Todd, who has come along to help be our photographer tomorrow.”
The rest of the people at the table gave light hellos or mild hand waves.
“Nice to meet you-” started Jason.
“So did security catch anybody?” interrupted David.
“Well, actually, I just-” replied Jason.
“Don’t interrupt him,” interrupted Greg, “Let me introduce everyone first, and then we can talk about your tin foil hat theories.”
David opened his eyes wide as he held out his hand in a “well, fine then, all yours” gesture. Jason reached out for his glass of water on the table and took a sip to help ignore the light tension.
Greg gestured to Jason’s right. “Right next to you is my brother Tom. I think you might have met each other at my graduation party or something like that, at least.”
Tom held out his hand for Jason to shake. He wasn’t quite as tall as Greg, but still above average. His long black hair was the much bigger difference between him and his brother, though, tied into a simple ponytail. He wore thin-framed glasses and sported a goatee. Jason guessed that this man was at least a decade older than Greg. Jason politely shook his hand.
“That sounds about right,” said Tom, “I guess it’s been quite a while since then. How’s life?”
“Oh, you know, can’t complain. I’m on a Disney cruise after all,” replied Jason.
“Next to Tom is his wife, Sheena,” said Greg. Sheena, too far away for a handshake, gave a polite wave and smile to Jason. She moved her lips as though she was talking, but Jason could not hear a word she said. He smiled back and fake-nodded in agreement.
“I don’t think you’ve met my aunt or uncle before,” said Greg. “John and Trish here love to go on cruise trips at least twice a year.”
“We managed to squeeze this one into our busy schedule!” said Trish.
She was in her 60s, but had the energy of someone in their late 20s. Jason thought the glass of wine in her hand might be helping provide that youthfulness to her. Meanwhile, John was holding the menu up and staring at it intently. Trish elbowed him and pointed her glass of wine at Jason.
“Oh, yes. Very nice to meet you, Jason,” said John before going back to his menu.
“And last, but certainly not least, is David’s grandma Mae,” said Greg.
Mae sat at the table in a wheelchair and stared blankly ahead with her mouth half open. Jason assumed she had to be in her upper 80s at least. Pure white hair stood out with heavy contrast to her darker, very wrinkled skin. Her glasses were huge in both surface area and thickness. Mae had not reacted to anything said so far at the table, and wasn’t about to start with Jason’s introduction.
David leaned over to look at her and shouted, “This is my friend Jason. Say hello, Mae Ma!”
Again, no reaction from Grandma Mae. Jason still gave a normal smile and hello, but nothing was changing. Nobody else at the table seemed surprised or bothered, so Jason just went with the flow of acting like nothing was strange.
“Apparently, I’ll get to start calling her Mae Ma too, once I’ve got that ring on at least,” said Greg. “So that’s the full wedding party. Quite the sizable ceremony tomorrow, right?”
“I guess it’ll at least be easy to get photos of everyone,” said Jason.
“Oh,” interjected David, “will you have the camera back in time?”
“Yeah, I have to go pick it up in the morning. They said it should be fine.”
“Good, I’d hate to have our whole wedding simply shot on a phone,” said Greg. “That is kind of why we got you a ticket for-”
“Well, hello everyone, and welcome to my ice castle!” said a soft, female voice behind Jason. He turned around to see Ella dressed up fully as Elsa.
The rest of the table turned all their attention to Elsa now as she welcomed them to dinner, except for Grandma Mae, of course. Greg and David both showed the excitement of kids. Tom and John both showed the excitement of heterosexual men. Sheena and Trish both showed marital annoyance. Jason, on the other hand, started looking around to find Elsa’s handler.
“Oh. Em. Gee. It’s great to see you again, Elsa!” said David with giddy excitement.
Elsa let out a cute little giggle before responding, “Oh, I hope our first visit wasn’t too much of a hindrance to your time here with that little… snafu.”
“Snafu?” asked Tom.
“Oh, yeah, well, I guess we haven’t told everyone about it yet,” said Greg. “Jason bumped into Elsa’s handler, and he dropped the camera for tomorrow while we were trying to get a picture with her.”
“Oh shit, did it break?” asked Trish.
Greg and David both waited a second for Jason to respond, but he was still looking around the room and not paying attention to the conversation. Finally, David took over.
“The camera is fine, but it turns out it snapped a photo of Goo-”
“Ahem,” coughed Elsa. Everyone stopped and looked at the Disney princess standing next to their table. “Well, I need to go welcome more of my guests tonight. Please enjoy the dinner and show later.”
Elsa stepped away, and finally Jason saw Kelly standing right behind where Elsa was blocking his view. She was good at her job of being unseen and unheard. Elsa started speaking with the next table, and Kelly followed. But before she did, she made brief eye contact with Jason. It triggered a brief smile on Kelly’s face despite her attempt to conceal it.
“Do you think I could ask them to make my lobster ravioli toasted?” asked John.
“We’re not in St Louis, John,” replied Trish, “they won’t know what the hell you’re asking for.”
“It’s not like it’s hard to do. Just put them in the oven. Lobster T-ravs sound delicious. I’m going to ask.”
“No! They’re making food for like three hundred people! No, you will not.”
“They can just say no, is that so hard?”
Sheena tried to add something to this debate, but nobody knew what she was saying.
“Where’s the waiter?” asked Tom, “I need a drink.”