Smoky Blue Literary and Arts Magazine #6

seats. In the back, the crew had laid out trays of cookies and hot water for tea. Karen blinked away the sunspots and grabbed a small plate of cookies and a cup of tea that she liberally sugared and creamed.

The cabin was less crowded than the decks, so Karen was able to find a table to herself. Her wet thighs rubbed uncomfortably against the vinyl bench seat. She took one sip of the hot tea, the warmth spreading through her core and out to her limbs. Not a good idea.

Sweat flowed freely off her forehead, down her back and legs. She felt like the oldest person there. Her T-shirt dress was pedestrian next to the posh outfits of the tan and happy tourists who surrounded her. She cursed herself for not attempting to go to a tanning bed.

Instead, she’d stood in her bathroom at home two weeks ago in just her bra and panties and smeared the stinky fake tan on her legs while her sister, Linda, prattled away in the next room about all the fun she was going to have. “‘After arriving at Mossman Gorge, you will be treated to a guided rainforest walk past bark shelters and over cool streams. Your indigenous guide…’ Did you hear that, Karen? An indigenous guide!” Linda sat on Karen’s unmade bed, reading the travel itinerary. “Barramundi lunch special at Silky Oaks Lodge along the Daintree River, the Great Barrier Reef, saltwater crocodiles, exotic fruit…oh, Karen! This sounds wonderful! How could you ever afford it?”

“The insurance money,” Karen said from the bathroom.

Outside, in the bedroom, Linda was silent.

“How the hell do you know if you put the same amount on each leg?” Karen asked, walking out of the bathroom. She stopped when the overhead light reflected a single tear as it fell down Linda’s face. Linda sat with the itinerary on the bed, one hand held to her mouth.

“I’m so sorry, Karen.”

“It was always the plan,” Karen said, returning to the bathroom and shutting the door behind her, hoping Linda didn’t see that she, too, was crying.

The insurance money was mostly gone, anyway. Karen had taken a loan off her 401(k) to finance the trip, something she would never tell anyone. But this had been