Coincidence - Alan May [4]
After the call, Melissa walked over to the family’s monthly calendar of activities posted on the refrigerator. On the square for the following Thursday, she drew three big stars, then wrote: 11:30 A.M. BWA Interview.
The interview! Alarm at the thought suddenly registered on Melissa’s face. Carol could see what was coming. She moved in quickly, putting her arms around her daughter to ward off panic.
“Mel. You’re a bright, intelligent young woman. You are poised and self-confident—at least on the outside—and good with people. You’ll be just fine. You have nothing to worry about.”
Melissa knew she was right. Not a day had gone by that she hadn’t looked at the brochure. She had all of the qualifications—of course she did. There was absolutely no need to worry.
So why couldn’t she stop worrying?
3
The drive from Pickering to Toronto seemed endless. Melissa twisted the ends of her long dark hair into ever-tighter spirals as she gazed out the window at the traffic. She knew, absolutely, that Blue Water Academy was perfect for her and that she was perfect for the program.
But—but what if she fumbled the interview? She had no idea what questions might be thrown at her. What if she made a fool of herself? What if Kathleen saw her as a babbling schoolgirl and not as the resourceful, calm-under-pressure, competent sailor she was inside? And why did they need an interview anyway? Weren’t her grades and her physical fitness and her sailing experience enough?
Well, maybe not, she had to admit to herself. The selection process had to be demanding to safeguard those accepted, and good social skills would have to be high on the list of criteria. Just imagine being stuck on a small ship with people you couldn’t communicate with!
The only other person in the waiting room was a man who sat reading the newspaper. He seemed too old to be a student. Maybe he was a teacher looking for a job with the academy—or maybe he was just a client of the accounting office where the interviews were being held. After about a ten-minute wait, during which Melissa concentrated on keeping her fidgeting under control, she and her parents were called in.
Kathleen Tutty was as young as she had sounded on the phone. She was an attractive blonde, about twenty-eight years of age, and a Blue Water Academy student herself ten years earlier. Her first job after university was teaching on the Inspiration. Promotion to shipboard director and then program director followed.
Kathleen’s smile put everyone at ease. She began by showing a twenty-minute video of life aboard the Inspiration, which clearly outlined the heavy workload the student crew could expect:
Breakfast at seven-thirty sharp; colors, where all meet to review the planned activities for the day, at eight; followed by classes, maintenance work on the ship, lunch, more classes, more work, maybe a little free time if you were lucky, dinner, still more classes, some type of evening program, free time, bed, and night watch. Most crew members slept during free time because their night’s sleep was interrupted by the two-hour night watch. And any time sailing conditions changed and sails had to be set or doused, the crew had to drop whatever they were doing, because “all hands on deck” were required.
Melissa realized that her experience sailing a small craft for pleasure was nothing like this.
“What do you look for in a student?” she asked.
“We are looking for a good all-round individual,” Kathleen said. “Not a super scholar, necessarily, nor an exceptional athlete; but rather someone who has demonstrated an ability to work hard and who can get along well with others. Those are by far the most important attributes for the program. In short, we want a well-balanced person.”
“Do most of the kids already have sailing experience?” Craig asked.
Like his daughter, Craig had quickly grasped the difference between being a savvy leisure-time sailor and crewing a working ship the size of the Inspiration.