Дмитрий Ямщиков - Пальма в снегу

– Lew, do you know any good place to go for a date?

– For a date! Man! Are you dating with Jamaican girl?! – Судовой агент, высокий темнокожий парень, милый и доброжелательный, если бы еще делал все, что обещает, цены бы ему не было. Кстати, закончил тот же морской институт, что и Грэйс.

– Why not? She is a bit shy, so the place needs to be opened during daytime.

– Yeah, man, it's great. I'm not sure where you can go, but I will check it out.

– Yes, please. Do this for me. If you can give me a call later or send an e-mail, it would be just great.

– For sure, for sure! I'll do that!

– Thank you, Lew. 57 57 Перевод с английского: – Лью, ты знаешь хорошее место, куда можно сходить на свидание? – На свидание! Ты даешь! Ты встречаешься с ямайской девушкой? – Почему нет? Она немного стеснительна, поэтому заведение должно быть открыто в дневное время. – Да, пацан, это здорово. Я не уверен, куда вы можете пойти, но я наведу справки. – Да, пожалуйста. Сделай это для меня. Если позже ты сможешь мне позвонить или прислать электронную почту, это будет просто прекрасно. – Конечно, конечно! Так и сделаю! – Спасибо, Лью.

И снова вокруг только небо, да бескрайний синий простор. В этой части Карибского моря почти всегда тихо. В корму дует легкий ветерок, утреннее солнце ласково греет спину. Стоя на открытом крыле мостика, за чашкой утреннего кофе сочиняю очередное послание недоступной ямайской красавице.

From: "Dmitry Karetniy"

To: "Grace Palmetto"

Date: Mon, 13 Mar 2006 06:20:11 -0500

Subject: TGIF

Hi Grace,

The last Saturday came astray as did many before it. Not that it was totally unexpected, but still it left me with a nasty feeling of something being wrong. Despite your offer of a friendship it's quite clear that I'm next to nothing for you as yet, and I can understand if you tell me that you don't want to see me anymore. The thing that I cannot understand is how a man you are living with can treat you so.

Why should you sit home all the daylong if he is not taking you anywhere? Trust and respect are the most essential things for durable relations. They are even more important than love, more so the love itself will not last long without those two. He actually checks through the list of calls in your mobile phone?! I still cannot believe it, it's disgraceful!

You can tell me that it's not my lousy business and be right about it. Maybe it's not as it appears, maybe, – I still know too little about you.

Though by what I know you are the best girl I've ever met (aside from being striking beautiful and graceful), and every new thing I learn about you makes this feeling stronger. Would I can meet you earlier…

Anyway I haven't totally lost the hope of seeing you again. They advised me of one restaurant which supposed to be a nice place and is open in daytime. The name is "TGIF" i.e. "Thanks God It's Friday". It's situated on Old Hope Road, nearby of New Kingston. Can we go there on next Saturday?

How was your weekend? Did you come to St. Elizabeth after all?

Dmitry 58

Пытаться обвинять действующего кавалера, шаг безусловно рискованный, но с другой стороны, что мне было терять? Ответа пришлось ждать два дня, но он того стоил.

From: "Grace Palmetto"

To: "Dmitry Karetniy"

Date: Tue, 14 Mar 2006 15:03:05 -0500 Subject: RE: TGIF – Hope all is well

Hi Dmitry,

If it was a case where I didn't want to see you believe me I would have said so. And let's be frank here, the man that I live with (as you put it) does not treat me anyway. He just does not like the idea of his woman going out with another man, whether or not it is said to be on a friendly basis only.

To be honest with you it's the same way I react with regards to him going out with any woman other than myself. Maybe it's a case where we don't trust each other :)(lol) sad haa. But that's the way things are for now, besides I never told anyone that my life was perfect.

Maybe you need to reconsider, is Grace the girl I really need to be my friend? What is it about me that attract you so much?

There is a lot that I need to know about you too and I know that it won't happen overnight. One thing I know for a fact it that you are not a quitter and that's a big turn on the only thing is that I promised myself that I would never get involve with a sea fearer because they always have a woman in every port and I will never allow myself to be put through that.

I was looking at your vessel's file the other day and I realized that you were born in June just like me. Maybe that's the reason why we are so quiet. What do you think? I heard that TGIF is ok, I have never being there before, so if nothing unexpected comes up on Saturday we can go and check it out.

I'm having another crazy week at work so I have to go.

Grace 59

Выпад достиг цели, за спиной соперника зажегся зеленый огонь, очко в мою пользу. Но что ж все так моряков-то не любят! Не так уж мы и плохи. В общем, обычные люди, ничуть не хуже, а во многом и лучше тех, кто ходит по суше. Длительное пребывание в небольшом замкнутом коллективе учит сдержанности и умению прощать, а общение с морской стихией дает пищу для размышлений и воспитывает чувство собственного достоинства.

From: "Dmitry Karetniy"

To: "Grace Palmetto"

Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 06:37:08 -0500

Subject: All is perfect

Hi Grace,

Unfortunately, I don't have your birthday in my files So, can you tell me when you was born?

My English is not good enough to express impressions and feelings caused by talking to you, watching you smile at me from photos, reading your letters. In short, you are the girl who makes me happy and that's attracting me most of all. I admire your appearance, your beauty, your elegant style. I like how you behave yourself being always so quiet, polite and tactful. I respect your aspiration for career and self-perfection.

As to seafarers having girl in every port, it's just a tale. Any man feels natural affection when he sees a pretty girl, but being human and not an animal, he every time considers for himself if the relationship with his woman (a wife or a girl-friend) is worse to subdue this natural desire. Because any smart man clearly understands that if he makes a single false step the relations with his girl will never be the same. And seafarers in this regard are not different from any other men. It's true that some of the crewmembers are just going wild in almost every port, but the majority of seamen keeps fidelity to their women in distant homeport and expects the same faith from them in return.

Everyone’s life is just as he makes it. So, if you say that your life is not perfect than might be you need to change something in it.

Our call to Honduras has been cancelled, so we are arriving in Kingston ahead of schedule. Therefore, we are going to anchor on Friday and will come alongside on Saturday. For today, I have a stowage plan to prepare and to deal with a great amount of reports for the end of the month and the end of first quarter. It's quite long time already as I work in Chief Officer's position, so as part of getting ready for a new rank, I'm preparing all the Captain's papers as well. Hope to finish all of it by the time we're berthed, so that nothing will prevent me from seeing you.

Dmitry 60

Ее письма становились все интересней и содержательней. Меня начинал увлекать процесс общения сам по себе, а не только как средство добиться свидания с загадочной и недоступной тропической красавицей.

From : "Grace Palmetto"

To: "Dmitry Karetniy"

Date: Wed, 15 Mar 2006 15:42:46 -0500

Subject: RE: All is perfect

Dmitry,

Nice to know that you are been kept busy :), so you'll be having another Friday night at anchorage with nothing to do. I hope you will get a chance to come alongside at the port on Friday, because I will be going to Port Royal with my girlfriend and I would love the company to come back into town. Anyway we'll see what happens.

Sorry if I made you feel uncomfortable about my statement "All seafarer has a woman in every port" you say it's a tale, but I also have many friends on the high seas and they confirmed that it's not a tale. So for now I will take their word for it.

I like the way you talk and I think you English is perfect, almost better than mine :). You seem to be a very honest and sincere person and I'm hardly ever wrong when it comes to judging people's character, I hope I'm not wrong about you.

I was born on the 27th June and you were born on the 11th like my sister. She is a very nice person and the only one out of seven sisters that I always manage to get along with. One thing you are definitely right about is that life is what you make it and I'm trying to make the best of mind with very little errors/mistakes, hence I always learn from other people's mistakes because I think that life is too short to make all of them on my own, that does not mean that I doesn't slip up from time to time though.

How many languages do you speak? I'm thinking about attending the language centre here in Jamaica to learn at least two other languages.

Tell me a little about your country, what's it like to live there? I know for a fact that it's always freezing there, which is one of the main reasons I would probably never visit that country. I like it here in the tropics, where the weather is nice and warm all year long.

What's your favourite dish/What do you like to eat?

Grace 61

Спасибо, милая девочка, за твои добрые слова, но давай же, наконец, встретимся, чтобы ты смогла воочию убедиться, такой ли я, каким стараюсь казаться. Безусловно, я прилагал все усилия, чтобы показать себя с наиболее выигрышной стороны, но в то же время, я был совершенно откровенен в этих письмах. Тем радостней было осознавать, что она меня понимает и во многом разделяет мои мысли. Как же рассказать ей, выросшей на маленьком островке, в обществе, лелеющем старые обиды, ищущем правду в клубах дурманящего дыма и считающем агрессию проявлением силы, про огромную и прекрасную страну, раскинувшуюся меж трех океанов, с великим и гордым народом? Было бы здорово привезти ее туда. Мне кажется, она смогла бы понять и полюбить Россию. Пока же начнем с малого.