Night Boat to Tangier by Kevin Barry *** (of 4)

 

Two aging Irish criminals - one with a bum leg and the other with a bad eye - are sitting in the ferry terminal in Algeciras, Spain. They are searching for the daughter of one of them who ran off three years ago. The daughter is pretty, petite, has dreadlocks, maybe a dog, and is hanging out with other European hippies and should be on a ferry going or arriving from Morocco. At least that is the information they have extracted from similar looking hippies they have cajoled and badgered.

They know the day the daughter is supposed to be traveling so for 24-hours, the two of them sit in the terminal reminiscing and shooting the shite. They recall their days of running hashish from Morocco to Ireland and the time when they had too much money and what it was like to be living on the cliff edge of prosperity and panic. They speak of loves gained and lost and all in all a day goes by when not much happens, boatloads of humanity arrive and depart, a few drinks are had with a best bud, and everything of import is discussed and maybe that is what life is really about.