Ignored Arrangements

 Month 14 Day 18

1809 Hours

Bugalu

 Bugalu was having a rough few days. And now, just like all the other types of entertainment he'd tried the last 3 days, a game of cards in the rec room wasn't keeping his mind from drifting. "Hey, Bugs!"

Realizing he'd been addressed by one of his friends, even if he wasn't sure which one, he turned his attention to Capac. "What?"

Surprised, and then exasperated, the navigator asked, "Are you in or out?"

He glanced at the cards in his hand, couldn't even remember what game they were playing. He had a decent hand for pinochle, a lousy hand for poker. He tossed his cards down. "I'm out. Completely out. My head's not into this tonight." He stood up.

"But you wanted to play!" Capac protested. "That's why we got a game started.

"Let him go," one of the others suggested. "His mind hasn't been into much of anything lately. I almost think he's in love."

He gave Kiley a sour look. "Just changed my mind," he answered, and walked away. There was an old game console in the corner that no one was playing, so he sat down and picked up the controls. Fizzle! No wonder it was available. Nobody plays this one anymore. Well, no one will care if I pretend to play it, I suppose. He started the game and let his hands make random movements as his mind started to drift again. He couldn't even say where his mind was drifting to.

"Well, I suppose you'll do, since I can't find her," someone said.

It took him a moment to realize they had said it to him. Another moment for him to grasp that they were apparently waiting for an answer. He paused the game and looked up, saw Lt Cmdr Hamara staring at him. "Hello, Chef. What can I do for you?"

Hamara sat down on the other side of the console. "Where's your sister?"

He almost asked which one she meant, but, considering where they were, there was only one she could mean. It was a little surprising that somebody actually accepted their relationship, but he wasn't going to question it. He gave a slight shake of his head. "No idea."

"Is that why you look so lost this evening?"

He frowned, wanting to deny it. He turned the game back on, tried to pay attention to it. "She's a grown woman, she can do what she wants, I guess."

"That's why I'm looking for her."

"Where have you looked for her?" And then he wondered why he had asked, because pretty much wherever she had looked, he wouldn't have any other suggestions to make.

"I think I've looked every place aboard ship but the swimming pool. I've heard she doesn't like zero-g."

This time he gave a slight nod. "Hates it."

"I really hoped you might have some idea where she is."

He glanced around the room, but nobody was paying any attention to them. His inattention meant he lost the game. "Probably with her fiancé."

"I suspected as much."

"In which case, they don't want to be interrupted."

"Sure, but how long can that take them?"

He started the game again. "You'd be surprised."

"Smitty doesn't have the stamina you young bucks have," she said quietly.

"You might be wrong about that," Bugsy stated. "If they never get to the finish."

She was quiet for a while, long enough for him to rack up some points in the game. Then, barely audibly, "He's not that patient."

He shot a quick glance her way, but he was not going to ask how she knew that. "Which probably explains their short engagement." He lost the game.

"Well, that leaves me in quite a pickle."

He glanced her way, confused as to how she could be in trouble. "How so?"

"I've been told to prepare a wedding cake for next Friday. But I can never find the happy couple to find out what kind."

"I would think a wedding cake is a wedding cake."

"The term 'wedding cake' simply means it has tiers. But the cake can be any flavor. So can the frosting. So maybe you can see my dilemma."

"I don't know what to tell you, Chef. Try sending them e-messages."

"I have. No response." She heaved a heavy sigh. "Well, I guess I'll keep looking for them, keep sending messages for them to ignore."

She turned to leave, and Bugsy took himself to task for being such a lousy brother. Maybe Mac is being pig-headed and stubborn and all the rest of it, but she's still my sister. "If nothing else—"

Hamara turned back around to face him.

"I think... she'd probably like a traditional type of wedding cake. You know, white cake, white frosting. But it would be nice if you can find a way to put some pineapple in it for her, too. Might help calm any wedding jitters she might have."

Hamara gave him a slow smile. "I think you may have a very good idea, there, Bugalu. I'll try to run it by her and see what she says."

"Yeah, well, don't let either of them know I made the suggestion."

"Feeling left out?" she asked.

He toyed with the idea of telling her how Smythe was doing his best to remove him from Mac's life. And succeeding, so far as he could figure out. But in the end, it was a personal problem, not one he could share with a higher officer he barely knew. "Something like that."