Demurrage

Looked nice

Ticking. Lots of ticking. All I could hear was the ticking. The ship had shown up at midnight, unannounced. Trade has been pretty bad in the past few monthes, so the docks aren't under too much stress. I needed something to keep me awake, as the coffee rations have been pretty low, so I wrote up the contract and put in that extra bit of effort it takes to make legitimate the illegitimate without my superior's consent. He'd taken to staying at home, bedridden with his dead wife

She looked nice

The ship is always there, drifting. I just kept ticking off another charge every hour. I got to know the day shift workers and the way they came in rested and left tired. I still preferred my night shifts, they gave me time to do my own personal paperwork. I'd looked over the company's terms and found that so long as I was overseeing demurrage, I was to hold overtime or outsource the work to others. I wasn't allowed to claim increased wages if I decided to not outsource my work. Just another charge to tick off every hour

She looked really nice

My wife came by. I showed her my prey, the beautiful ship that dumbly floated in the waters. Candlelight could be seen in the ship, though it showed a rather small crew. The captain waved, I ignored him while my wife made pleasentries

Seriously, she looked really nice

The crew started unloading. They threw empty boxes off the deck at some of the other clerks whom had decided to investigate my prey for themselves. I went out and told the clerks to get their own commisions; to mind their own business

Seriously, she really looked really nice

My wife brought a hammock for me, she decided to stay the night. We placed the hammock by the window, so I could watch my prey from the window. I watched the prey all night while my wife cried for me to look at her

Most seriously, she really looked really nice

I decided to spend the night on the shack roof, watching my prey up close. The captain came out, tossed me a box. I opened it, found two jugs. I passed him one, cracked open the other. Water. He didn't open his jug, just started talking about Antartica and the water. The voices he'd hear at night, calling him to go there. He'd gone there, and came back with water. Keeping the water close kept the voices away

Most seriously, she really looked really nice sometimes

My wife came by. She finally let it out. She wanted me to come home. She wanted me to outsource the ship to another clerk. I couldn't abandon my prey. I gave her a week's pay to settle on a divorce. She knew I couldn't risk having to go to court, as that'd require I outsource the work. She could have forced me home, but either for love of my obsession or a greedy hate which made her want my money over my love, she settled the contract at the shipyard

Most seriously, she really looked really nice, sometimes more

I was out on the roof again, throwing rocks at my prey. The captain gave me a penguin sandwich, consoled me for the confusion my wife had left me for. He offered me a position in his crew; he was thinking of taking a trip back to Antartica, but he'd need someone to fill his spot on the demurrage

Most seriously, she really looked really nice, but sometimes more

Most seriously, she really looked really nice, but sometimes more villainous