Fast Boat Requires Fast Thinking

A while ago, my mom, my sisters, and I (then eight, eleven, and thirteen – and thirty-nine, for those curious about my mom’s age) had taken a ferry ride across Puget Sound to do some things in downtown Seattle. After a nice day, we made our way back to the ferry dock to go home.

There are two ferry options: the state-run boats which are part of the highway system and can take vehicles as well as walk-on passengers, and the smaller boats of the “fast ferry” system run by Kitsap County (on the west side of Puget Sound, where we live) that take only people, and a limited number of bicycles. 

We planned to take a fast ferry since it crosses Puget Sound in half the time and was leaving sooner than the state boat, so we’d be home much faster. The fast ferry is a little pricier, but we kids would be free on either boat, and one fare increase was worth it to Mom to get home.

The line was pretty long when we joined it, as a lot of people were commuting home from work at that time. Still, we were hopeful there’d be enough room for us.

A woman behind us in line, a bit younger than my mom, was also concerned. And very chatty. She kept peppering my mom with questions, always in a pleasant tone, and with lots of giggles, but WOW. She just. Kept. Talking.

The fast ferry started loading (with the woman still going on and on), and soon it was clear that if we made it on this sailing, we would be among the last passengers. When my family got to the head of the line, the worker informed us that there was only room for two more people.

Mom: “Well, state boat it is. I’m hardly going to send just two of you ahead to wait on the side for forty-five minutes until we get there.”

Woman: *Fumbling in her purse.* “Oh man, I can’t find my ORCA (transit) card! I need a few minutes.”

Worker: “Ma’am, the boat is due to leave the dock right about now. We can’t really wait.”

Woman: “I need to dump out my whole purse to find it! Darn it; I guess I’ll be on the state boat too.”

Mom: *Quickly tapping her own ORCA card on the pay platform.* “No worries; I got you!”

Woman: “Oh my gosh, really?! Are you sure?”

Mom: “Yeah, go ahead. Enjoy the ride!”

Mom led us away to the state boat as the woman and one other single rider boarded the fast boat.

Me: “Mom, that was nice of you to pay for her.”

Mom: “Well, it did help her, but I didn’t do it to be nice.”

Me: “What do you mean?”

Mom: “Did you notice how chatty and giggly she was? She was drunk. I didn’t want to be stuck entertaining her while we waited for the state boat. And then for the hour-long ferry ride.

Me: “…Yeah, that would have been really annoying. Well, I guess this way we’re happy and she’s happy, so it works out!”

Mom: *Nodding.* “Yep, and all it cost me was [fast boat fare]. Worth it.”