Knockdown (11 page)

“
She was supposed to share the sun shower?”

Cole put hi
s hands in the air. “Okay, then. I’m going back on deck.”

Takumi stepped into the bathroom. “You know, I don’t have a toothbrush either.”

I hunted through the cabinet. Dylan, Cole and I had toothbrushes we’d left onboard. Mom and Dad’s were the only extras we had. I handed them to Takumi. “I guess we could boil these.”

Takumi went to the galley and rifled through the kitchen drawers. “Good.” He pulled out a large baggie.
After I boil them, let’s put alcohol or mouthwash in the baggie. Nick, Jervis, and I can take turns with one toothbrush until we find some of our own.”

I made a face. “You’re just going to give one to
Zoë.”

“You want to tell her she’s sharing
?”

I smiled at the thought.
“No,” I said.

Takumi put a small amount of water in a pan and put it on the stove.

Makala whimpered
softly in the back bedroom. Angelina began singing in a sweet soft voice. The words to
Ave Maria
floated in the air.

Takumi held the pan in place. Soon it was boiling. I pulled out my phone, checked for service, and set the timer.

The boat rose on a wave. A loud male voice up on deck began to sing along with Angelina. Takumi and I glanced up at the cockpit opening. The tenor up on deck got louder as we came to the top of a wave, and then held the note after ‘Ave,’ for a few seconds as the boat steadied. He finished the verse while we dropped and crashed.

I clutched an overhead handrail. “
Wow! Did you know Nick could sing like that?”

“
No. But I really don’t know any of the guys very well.” Takumi shrugged.

When
Ave Maria
finished, Nick went right into
Silent Night
.

I checked my cell. “The toothbrushes have
boiled for five minutes. Think that’s enough?”

Takumi
sat the pan in the sink to cool.

I heard a sniffle
. Angelina and Makala leaned against the bedroom doorway. Angelina’s eyes shone. The pair climbed the steps to the upper deck. Takumi and I followed the girls.

When we got up top, we found
Nick leaning on the wheel. His head was turned up to the night sky and
Silent Night
still flowed from him. Angelina moved beside him and sang harmony. Makala joined in with the refrain. We all watched the twinkling stars.

Then I po
inted. “Look!” A huge black shadow seemed to be crossing the night sky. Goose bumps covered my arms. Tears filled my eyes. The ash cloud was coming. Neither the government nor Superman had stopped it.

“Okay
, guys.” Cole cleared his throat and took the wheel from Nick. “We have to finish up here and go below and secure the cabin.” He checked the time on his cell.

We
shuffled around the deck, stowing anything that might fall off. Takumi stuffed extra life vests and fenders into the anchor locker to keep the anchors from knocking around.

“I’ve known you forever and never heard you sing
,” I told Nick as I wound the lines up and taped them together.

“I guess I could always sing. My grandpa was some famous opera singer in Italy a long time ago.
Most everyone in my family can sing, except for Mom.” Nick chuckled and taped the latches on the hatches down.

“But you never sing at school? How come you’re not in choir or any of the school plays?
”

“I’d rather play sports
and there’s not enough time for both. Mom makes us sing in the church choir. I hate it, except for some of the Christmas songs. If you think my singing is good, you should hear my sister Bella. She’s going to try out for the school musical in—”

Nick’s head dropped and silence filled the cockpit again.

We were all worried about our missing families.

Angelina, Makala, and Nick went below to shove towels into the fresh air vents and cover the openings with duct tape.

For the first time all day, I was alone with my brothers in the cockpit. Every few minutes Cole checked his cell and then the sky.

I pulled our rubber dinghy in tight while Dylan bent down and attached an extra line to it. His hands quivered almost as much as mine did.

“I saw you checking the dents in the bow. How bad is it?” I whispered.

Dylan grunted.

What did that mean?

I touched Cole’s arm
. “Are we out far enough, now?”

Cole glanced
back at the shoreline. We couldn’t see land anymore, but I wasn’t sure if it was because we were out far enough, or because it was dark. “We’ll find out soon enough.”

One by one, the group assembled back in the cockpit.

“Good job, everyone,” Cole said. “Now, go below and do the same there. Anything flying around will hurt.”

Makala tugged on my brother’s pants. “Mr. Cole, can we sing a song before we go downstairs.”

Cole smiled and nodded. “But make it short.”

Jervis
appeared in the cockpit opening, his arms crossed.

Dylan scowled. “Are you crazy
? We have less than an hour. We need to go below and—”

“
What do you want to sing?” Nick interrupted.

Makala
shook imaginary bells. “Jingle Bells. I’ll start.”

We
joined Makala in singing Jingle Bells. She moved next to Jervis and took his hand. When we came to the refrain, he joined in, singing off-key and loud. Makala giggled and rang her bells even harder.

I leaned into Cole. Dylan sighed
and kissed the top of my head. Cole started to reach for his phone, paused, and gripped the wheel.

I wanted the happy song to never end.

Chapter Twelve

Zero Hour

The engine hum stop
ped. We watched in silence as Cole climbed down the steps, turned, and placed wooden planks across the cabin opening. He pulled the heavy glass hatch cover over the top until it met and latched onto the slats. A dark canvas sheet covered the glass. We were closed in tight. Except for the glow of the moon through the skylight in the center of the salon, it was dark. I flipped on a light above the radio desk.

We’d been busy. Everything that could possibly fly around was stowed. Dylan and Makala had gone around pushing in and locking the drawer and cabinet latches.
Zoë was finally quiet behind the closed door in the bow cabin.

Cole
flipped on the radio. “Why isn’t anyone listening to see if there’s an update?”

Angelina handed Makala to
Jervis and moved to the chart table. Soon she was speaking into the mic, asking if anyone was listening. When there was no answer, she moved the digital monitor to the next higher setting.

All of a sudden
a loud male voice responded to Angelina’s call. “This is the United States Coast Guard. You are unauthorized to use this frequency.”

“Sorry
.” Angelina changed the setting.

Dylan raced
over to her. “What was the Coast Guard frequency?”

“
I think it was one-twenty-four, but we aren’t supposed to be using—”

“Go back, but stay silent. I want to hear what they’re saying.”

The voice we’d heard before was talking. “Six-Five, this is USCGC MIDGET Come in. Over.”

“This is Helicopter Six-
Five, over.”

“See anything
, Lieutenant?”

“Not yet, Sir.
But you have company. We’ve counted fifteen small craft in the vicinity. Over.”

“Copy that
, Lieutenant. For all our sakes, I hope the boss was right to send us out here. Over.”

“No worries
, Sir. We’re right above you if you need help. Over.”

“Just warn us when you see it coming…”

Cole, frantic, gestured for Angelina to turn the volume down. “The tsunami must be close.”

Dylan
took a deep breath. “Okay… okay, everyone. We’ll be cramped, but safer in the bedrooms. Everyone on a bed and brace yourselves against the ceiling.”

Cole nodded
. “Good. Let’s go.”

Dylan hurried to the bow.

When he opened the door, Zoë screamed, “Go away!”

“Knock it off
, Zoë,” Dylan said.

Zoë
continued to protest.

Angelina and Makala disappeared into the aft cabin. Cole twisted the volume back up on the radio.
Jervis, Nick, Takumi and I waited for someone to make a move. Nobody wanted to join Dylan and Zoë, but we couldn’t all fit in the back bedroom.

Cole, one hand on the chart ta
ble, yelled, “What are you all standing here for?”

I started for the front cabin
. I didn’t really want to climb in next to Zoë, but I knew Nick and Jervis would want to be with Angelina.

“Oh
God,” the voice on the radio screamed. “It’s coming! Fast! Take us up! Higher! It’s over a hundred… We’re not going to—”

Then there was static.

Nobody moved.

Whistler
began to rise, slowly at first, then with increasing speed. For a moment I was reminded of the beginning of a rollercoaster ride.

Zoë
shrieked. We listed hard to starboard. I fell into Takumi. He took hold of me with one arm and clasped the overhead rail.

Nick and
Jervis banged into each other as they tried to run to the aft cabin to join Angelina and Makala. They crashed into the dividing wall. Jervis wedged himself in the doorframe. Nick bounced off the steps, reached up, and wrapped his arm around the stair rail.

The static on the radio continued.

Cole lost hold of the chart table and flew across the boat, smashing his head on the edge of the kitchen counter.

“Cole!
” I shouted.

He slid to the floor. The boat turned on its side. The floo
r became a wall. Cole’s limp body fell on top of the refrigerator door. I tried to wiggle free to help him, but Takumi’s arm was like a steel band around me.

The radio still buzzed
.

Water dripped between the slats in the
cockpit opening. The dining table broke off the wall and flew toward Takumi and me. It missed us by inches and crashed into the liquor cabinet. The wooden floorboards fell out and sailed around the room. Bilge water spilled into the cabin.

None of that mattered. I needed to
get to my brother. “Cole!” I rolled on top of Takumi, who still held onto the ceiling rail. But now the overhead cupboards and couch were beneath us. Cushions fell off the couch.

“Stop moving. I can’t hold—” Takumi
’s fingers slipped and we fell onto the cabinets. I heard a thunk as he hit the back of his head. My shoulder slammed into his chest. Blinking fast, he reached over and pushed us down. We landed under the cupboards. Takumi grasped the back of the couch, which had become our floor.

Whistler
was knock downed and rising skyward, fast. I closed my eyes as my stomach dropped. Higher and higher we climbed.

Makala and
Zoë kept screaming. I heard a moan and hoped Cole was okay. Nick made another attempt to get to the girls’ room and fell into Jervis. Jervis yelled for him to get off and rolled onto his side, away from the doorframe that was jammed into his back.

The boat stopped climbing, stood very still, shuddered, and righted herself. Takumi and I slid to the floor. My foot dropped into a hole left
by the missing floorboards. I searched for something to hold on to.

We listed to port and began our descent. My foot jammed further into the bilge hole. Reaching for the dining seat, I fell forward and twisted my ankle. I
yelped with pain.

Cole rolled across the kitchen floor and hit Nick’s feet. Nick grabbed Cole’s leg and swung around to the opposite side of the steps.
Jervis took Cole’s arm and then slammed into the chart table.

Takumi sprawled on the floor, rolled onto the bottom of the dining seat, and reached for me. I nudged him closer to the bench. His fingers gripped the edge with one hand. He pulled my arm.
My foot was still stuck. I screamed out as my ankle bent the wrong way.

We were falling off the wave
and fast. Down, down, we plummeted. I didn’t think it would ever end. I shrieked.
Whistler
struggled to stay upright. All of a sudden she turned upright, but continued to drop. We scrambled for something new to hold on to.

Then
Whistler
hit bottom.

There were terrible wood splintering sounds as she strained to hold together. Bottles and dishes exploded. The table landed with a loud thump on the floor.