The Egypt Chronicles - The Good Night

At about 4 in the morning, SP comes in to the room and says "Viky, you should have been there!".

I cringe. I learn he is the last to get down from the deck. The others had come down a short while ago. I learn it was a good night. I take my bag down to the place we were checking out. SM was paying off some bills, settling the 'tibs' and collecting passports. I walked to SM and took my laundry bills off him and settled the extras. Collected passports. NC was dozing on the couch. I handed her her passport. She waltzed her way to the reception to ask why the passport was 'bent'. I took her back to the couch. SK came along and said I should have been there. Said he missed not having me to back him up. Nice. MS and DT came along. They said, "You missed it".

I went back to when it all started.

There was a dance party. The DJ in the lounge was playing some peppy numbers, and then he even played a Punjabi number which got the gang going. There was fun and games. Musical chairs - only no chairs, but you had to pair up. There was limitless dancing again. As the party died down everyone, except yours truly, gathered on the top deck and met the two visitors.

The visitors mixed well with the group. They mingled so well with SS, NC, MS and ST (I hear), I was surprised they didn't say hello earlier. S2K, SM, SP and SK were no farther - they were downright pally and cracking lewd jokes with them!! Only RA (man! loosen up!) and DT (girl, come on!) were looking at them, wondering how someone could just gatecrash hours earlier and turn the group around.

I hear the two visitors got the the gang to sit around and play some games, ask questions and get to know each other better. So, one of them sat with SK and the other with ST and goaded them to ask questions. ST seized the chance and fired a volley of questions. Normally SK plays his cards well, but with the guest, he was not himself. He was cornered and pressed for answers and could not think on his feet. Eventually, a truth was revealed. It must have been surprising for some, but some had seen it building. You, if you're reading this, you know which group you belong to. :)

A lot of personal questions were asked of everyone that night, there were profanities, there were clarifications, there were mix-ups. The two visitors spoke to people in turns; sometimes to the girls, sometimes to the guys, sometimes to a pair, sometimes taking someone alone to the edge of the boat. I heard each one started to speak what they felt about the rest of the group, but before everyone could finish, it was time to go. The gang left the deck and went into their rooms to pack. The visitors left. SP lingered around on the deck for some more time, waving the visitors off.

At about 4 in the morning, SP came into the room and said "Viky, you should have been there".

It was a night to remember. It was a night to forget. The two guests, I hear, were amazing. One was Russian. The other was brown.