“The Valyria. Evidently, someone’s a George R. R. Martin fan. Not sure that I’d want to name a ship after a civilization that was doomed, but th...t’s me. Why not Titan, after the great Titan of Braavos? Oh, well, that’s neither here nor there. As long as the name doesn’t jinx us, I can live with it. How are you feeling about all of this, Mom?” I asked my mother, Esther Abramowitz, who still seemed a bit shocked to actually be going on a honeymoon cruise.“A bit pleasantly surprised. When I. She didn't seem too perturbed as Willow and I looked at her, just shook her head and muttered. "Even the women like to look at me."That got us giggling, which helped us relax. The woman, Nadia I think said she could help us. We explained what we were there for and she led us to a section of the huge cavernous room where the men were.God, these men were ... I can't explain. None had a mark on them, but many just cowered as we approached. It was almost impossible to talk to any of them. Nadia. Tuesday morning arrived and Julia was due to go back to college that evening, her friend was collecting her, I was going to miss her, even after our difference of opinion in the hotel we were still good friends as well as mother and daughter and we both shared a secret love, she had spent a night out with a few friends to say so-long, Lisa amongst them, so she was having a lie in, I was messing in the kitchen in my usual shorts and blouse with no bra when the doorbell went, I went to answer it. The contrast between us fully clothed in ruffled skirts and blouses and the semi-naked children running around with just beads around their hips always tickled me. Part of me knew this was how we were, before we learned to be ashamed. No-one stared as children, teenaged girls and unwed women went about their day all but naked except for their beads. Each strand of beads told the story that they had survived yet another rainy season. They were the survivors of malaria, dysentery and typhoid.