children of the folds

Tennessee Williams may have had his glass menagerie.  But I have a linen menagerie in my cabin.

Almost every evening I return to my stateroom to discover a new creature lurking in my room.  On the bed.  On the desk.  Hanging from the ceiling.

An elephant.  A turtle.  A dog (often wearing my glasses).  A monkey.

All made out of the extra towels and wash cloths from my bathroom.

The cabin stewards create these lint critters to amuse the cruisers.  And it is consistent with the tone the cruise line wants to set for its customers.

That tone is FUN!  The type of FUN! you could expect at an English holiday camp in the 1970s.  Sexy leg contests.  Belly flop competitions.

Activities that attempt to strip away the pretensions of sophistication and let people just have the type of mindless play we once knew as children.  When we did not care if we looked silly to our peers. 

Being silly was an end in itself.

Of course, stripping off adult restraints does have its costs.  Such as, the middle-aged man who sat next to me in the front row for one of the production shows. 

He had obviously been enticed there by his much younger companion -- grumpily plopping in the seat next to me.  And when the show began, he covered his ears with both hands.  Just like a petulant eight-year old.  An adult would have endured -- or simply left.

When I am in the right mood, the towel animals are special.  Because someone thinks enough of me to try to get me to laugh.
 
Or to, at least, enjoy my day just a little bit more.