My Sil Sank $3m Cruiser, Assuming It Was Mine! She Laughed At It, But Unfortunately, It Was…

Lost in Translation

Arriving at the scene, several police officers were already there. I talked to a stunned Taylor. He told me this: early in the morning, Abigail and Victoria had asked him to go on the cruiser. But their strong Alabama accent made their English hard to understand. Taylor thought that’s what they wanted from their difficult-to-understand English.

Meanwhile, I asked Abigail for her side of the story, and she said, “I kept telling Taylor to let me on Lynn’s Cruiser.”

“You actually said that?”

“He didn’t quite understand me well, I see. So I kept repeating ‘Lynn’s Cruiser’ to Taylor.”

I think I get what she’s trying to say, but I doubt that would get the message across. So I checked with Taylor about what he heard.

He said, “Lisa Cruiser.”

Now that I think about it, the pronunciation isn’t too far off, and with Abigail’s strong Alabama accent, it’s not surprising it was misheard. But “leasing” implies long-term rental. Normally one would refuse such a request, but Taylor had realized last night that Abigail was a bit unusual. She kept repeating “Lisa Cruiser”. Taylor, out of kindness, thought she wanted to borrow a cruiser.

As a result, he let Abigail onto his own Cruiser, and she misunderstood it as mine. That seems to be what happened.

“But why did you want to sink my cruiser?”

“I thought you lied about not being rich. Getting Cruisers and stuff.”

She thought I was actually rich enough to receive a cruiser but was hiding it. Abigail wanted to get back at me for lying. Even if it was out of jealousy or feeling lied to, sinking a cruiser is too extreme.

But I still had questions, so I asked her, “How did you manage to operate the cruiser? You don’t have a boating license, do you?”

“I just kind of figured it out by watching Taylor.”

“So you guessed?”

“Yeah, I fiddled around and it started moving. And then I couldn’t stop. It crashed into the dock and it started sinking, so I thought I might as well sink it.”

According to Abigail, her plan was just to cause a little trouble. But the cruiser moved more easily than expected and hit the dock. It then started sinking, and she panicked. But her coming to me with this was infuriating. Yet if left alone, it would become a huge problem, and she didn’t think to call the police in her panic.

How could she convey this situation to me and give me a scare? Abigail thought of this: there was a movie about a ship sinking after hitting an iceberg. She figured she could use that as a reference, saying it hit an iceberg would surely cause panic.

Besides, that movie was a Hollywood film. Hollywood is in Los Angeles, so they couldn’t have filmed it without nearby icebergs. Therefore, she assumed there must be icebergs nearby.

With this bizarre and whimsical reasoning, Abigail lied about hitting an iceberg and sinking. Moreover, she thought if she said such a thing, I would be worried about her safety. Then she expected me to rush over in a panic. Seeing my panicked state would be enough revenge for her.

I understood why she lied about hitting an iceberg, but her reasoning was ludicrously flawed.

The Aftermath

Afterwards, both Abigail and Victoria got a scolding from Scott. Fortunately, there was no damage to other boats, so paying for the repairs settled the matter.

“And after all that, why do I have to work for a river cleaning company?” Abigail cried.

“It’s obvious. The repair costs were substantial.”

“But there are other jobs!”

“Well, you wanted to be on a boat, right? This river cleaning company lets you do just that.”

“I wanted to be on a cruiser, not just any boat!”

In the end, Abigail was left crying while working for the river cleaning company, picking up trash from the boat. It was tough work but ideal for her who wanted to be on a boat.

For me, there was a slight upside. Actually, Victoria started working too for Abigail’s sake. This meant she stopped contacting me as much. Of course, I want to get along with them, but for now, it’s important they work and earn money, especially for Taylor’s sake.

Otherwise, I’d be in trouble. After all, I haven’t even been on that $3 million Cruiser yet.