Knockdown (18 page)

I stayed in the main cabin, my back to the pair. The growing tension between
Jervis and Nick wasn’t good, but I didn’t know how to make it better.

Wrapping a blanket around me, I shivered on th
e couch and worried.

Nick whispered something to Angelina and left to go up top. Angelina plopped down next to me. I handed her the edge of my blanket. She scooted closer and snuggled into it. Her face was flushed. “Are you mad I didn’t tell you I had a gun
?”

I don’t know what I would have done if she’d told me when she came on
board that she’d brought a gun. I’ve never been a fan of guns. I probably would have made her get rid of it. But now all that changed.

“Of course not. You and the gun saved us.”

“I don’t like having it in the cabin with Makala. Will you find a safe place to hide it?” She handed the gun and loose bullets to me.

“This is what you were hiding in your backpack?” My fingers shook. I’d never held a gun before.

“Guess I acted a little strange.” She checked on her sister. “Makala’s still asleep.” She closed the bedroom door. “Is it okay if I use the radio? I need to make that call for the commander.”

I nodded and she flipped on the radio
. There was no response from the first channel she called. On the second try, she got a warning. It took a few minutes for her to convince the operator that she had military business. Finally, the operator said they’d try to send a helicopter for the sailors. All water vessels were badly damaged.

I was glad we were able to help them.

Angelina was smiling. “Are you staying down here?” she asked.

“For a little while.” I glanced around for a good place to stow the gun.

“Let me kn
ow if Makala wakes up.” She stood to go.

I wrapped the blanket around me tighter. “Are you and Nick, now…well
, you know?”

“Not sure.” She shrugged and left to go on deck.

I started to tell her to talk to Jervis, but decided to stay out of it.

After searching the boat for a safe hiding place, I settled on stuffing the gun under the logbooks
, in the pull-up lid of the chart table. I put the bullets in a baggie and stowed them in the back of the silverware drawer.

Just as I closed the lid, Takumi showed up and wrapped his arms around me. I told him where I’d hidden the gun and bullets.

“Wasn’t Angelina awesome?” he said. “She’s so cool.”

I’d just said the same thing, but somehow didn’t like hearin
g it from him. I leaned back. ”You were pretty cool yourself.”

Takumi shook his head. “Spear guns are better at short distances. I’ll wait until I’m closer next time.” He nuzzled the back of my neck.

“Let’s hope there isn’t a next time.” My stomach growled.

Takumi smiled. “I can take a hint.”

He’d been so sad since the President’s message it made my heart sing to see him smile. I peeled potatoes and he unwrapped steaks that had defrosted.

“Wish we still had refrigeration. I could have made at least three meals out of these.” He pulled out a long cast i
ron griddle and flipped on the burners.

Makala woke up and the dog started barking. I ran to the closet and switched on the overhead light.

“Puppy’s scared,” Makala whimpered. “Where’s Sissy?”

I reached for the dog and sat it on the floor. It r
aised its leg to pee and I snatched it back up. “Makala, I’ll be right back.” I climbed the stairs with the dog and handed it to Angelina. “It has to go potty.”

“Where? There’s no grass or place—”

“It has to learn to go on deck. Praise it when it pees and then rinse off the area with sea water. It’ll learn. We have boating friends who take their dogs all the time.”

She seemed
skeptical but carried the dog to the bow.

Makala munched on crackers while she watched us make dinner. Not only did the cabin get hot, it smelled wonderful. One by one, Nick,
Zoë, Cole, Angelina, and the dog filed into the main salon. Dylan and Jervis stayed up on deck to attend the sails and watch for debris.

The dog yipped and yipped, begging for the steak. Takumi started to give it a tiny piece but I stopped him. “If you feed him when he barks, he will bark all the time. He needs his own dish. And no feeding him when he barks.”

Nick shed his coat. “That smells amazing,”

“I’m a vegetarian.”
Zoë made a face.

“Good. More for me.” Nick lean
ed over and inhaled the aroma of cooking meat.

Cole glared at the yipping dog and headed for the v-berth. “My head hurts. I’m going to lie down.” His voice sounded slurred.

“Shush,” I told the dog.

Makala snuck him a piece of cracker. I pretended not to notice.

I watched Cole close the v-berth door. “I’m worried about him,” I said.

Zoë
collapsed on the couch. “Me too. Remember when Aaron Wilson cracked his head on the goal post? The doctors said he might have died if his skull hadn’t broken. The swelling would have gone into his brain. Instead he had a huge lump. Cole hit his head hard, but doesn’t have a lump.”

Tears welled in my eyes. “What can we do?”

Zoë shook her head. “I wish I knew. Without a hospital or real doctors, all I can do is get him to rest.”

Takumi handed me the steak knives. “Cole will be fine. He just needs a little time to heal. We’ll all make sure he stays in bed.”

“Thanks.” I carried a stack of white plastic plates. How could we find a hospital? Then I remembered Angelina’s call to the Coast Guard. Maybe they’d send a helicopter for Cole? I’d ask her to make the call later.

We sat around talking as we ate. After a few minutes it felt like a normal dinner time with friends.

“What are you planning after graduation this year?” Nick asked Takumi.

Nick shoved a fork full of steak in his mouth, closed his eyes and sighed. He w
iped his mouth. “The coaches at the U.W., Oregon, and LSU have been talking to me. ‘Course, it all depends on how I do this year.” He shoved another bite of steak into his mouth.

“Really?” Takumi sounded both surprised and disappointed. “I haven’t had any
coaches’ call…”

“You’re going to be a junior, right? They wait until after your junior season to start recruiting.” Nick began cutting up Makala’s steak for her. I could tell the pieces were too big.

Takumi nodded and fixed his plate.

“Sissy and I wanna be
policemen, just like my daddy.” Makala slipped a too-big bite of steak to the dog.

“Police
women,” Angelina corrected. “We want to be police women.”

I smiled at Takumi. “Are you planning on being a chef?”

Takumi scrunched his nose. “No way. I see myself as a politician someday. Maybe a lawyer first… I just started looking at colleges.”

That surprised me, but I could see him as a politician. He
always thought before he spoke and took in everyone’s thoughts.

“What about you?” He scooped up a pile of mashed potato
es.

I shrugged. I liked to swim and ride my bike, but I’d not thought too much about colleges. Not yet. Then it hit me. I closed my eyes and fought to keep from crying. None of our plans
might even matter anymore.

Takumi seemed to read my mind and didn’t press for an answer. I couldn’t talk for a few minutes, and when I could, I didn’t. We were having such a nice
, normal conversation. I didn’t want to be the one to ruin it.

Taku
mi and Nick left to go take over sailing. Dylan and Jervis came down. I noticed that Angelina and Jervis avoided one another. Makala and the puppy, however, were oblivious and climbed all over him.

I added a little gin to some sea water and washed up. Since we were out of towels, I just left the dishes to dry on the rack.

Dylan cleared his throat. “Now we’re sailing, we need to have teams on deck twenty four-seven.” He picked up his plate. “I was thinking Zoë and me, Takumi and Toni, Cole and Jervis, and Nick and Angelina.”

“Angelina needs to watch Makala.”
Jervis glared at Nick. “She should stay below.”

“I agree,” I said. “And
Zoë said Cole needs to stay in bed until he’s better.”

“But you guys can
help watch Makala, now. That’s not fair,” Angelina protested.

“I’m happy to stay below and baby-sit
,” Zoë offered.

“Of course you are,” I mumbled
.

Dylan ignored us both. “Okay
, then. Nick and Jervis are a team. Angelina is back up. I’m going up now and change the sails. Dad said we should try to stay thirty-five miles off the coast. It’s time to head south. We should have a more comfortable ride with the wind at our back. I just hope there will be enough of an angle we can sail without having to tack.”

“So
, you and Zoë, first shift?” I asked.

“I’ll help Dylan come about.” Nick reached for his jacket.
“Then I’ll get some rest.”

“Good. I’ll wait until—”
Zoë began.

“No you don’t.”
I leapt to my feet, determined that Zoë was going to do her part. “I’ll get Mom’s foul weather gear and we can take turns wearing it. Find a blanket and sit close to the cockpit. You’ll be fine.”

The sailboat heeled as the sails were changed, then righted herself.
Whistler
and her crew were headed south. Angelina carried Makala to bed. I took the dog up top to go potty and almost laughed at how miserable Zoë looked.

“Wake me up in three hours.” I washed the poop off the deck and went below.

The little dog burrowed under the covers and growled when I pushed him over and climbed in bed.

“Angelina, would you call back the Coast Guard in the morning and see if they would pick up Cole and take him to a hospital?” I asked her.

“That’s a great idea. I’d be happy to. Don’t get your hopes up too much, though. They might be putting military rescues first right now.”

“I understand. But we have to try.”
I closed my eyes.

I listened to Angelina tell a story about a dragon who lost her egg and worried about Cole.

I don’t know if it was the dog’s whine, or the door click that woke me. I reached out to search the bed and realized Makala and the dog were gone. Careful not to wake Angelina, I left to find them.

Man Overboard

The boat was pitch black. I stumbled around Takumi, Nick, and Jervis as they slept in the main cabin. Jervis had given up trying to stay on the narrow couch and was sprawled on the hard wooden floor, snoring. I’d hoped I’d find Makala and the dog snuggled with him, but they weren’t. I glanced at the clock and groaned. I’d only been asleep two hours.

I checked the bow cabin. It was empty. So was the bathroom. Cole had gone up on deck. So much for his resting.

Whistler
went into a steep dive as I headed up top. I hung on to the ladder, almost falling.

All of a sudden, Zoë screamed, “Makala
, stop!”

I raced the rest of the way on deck and stared in horror as Makala chased after the dog. Th
e two were headed toward the fount of the boat, which rocked from side to side. Makala tripped and fell onto the wet decking. Cole was right behind her, holding onto a lifeline.

Whistler
hit the bottom of a huge swell. Makala rolled to the edge. Cole squatted to grab her. A giant wave washed over the top of the boat. I couldn’t see anything but spray.

When the water cleared, Cole knelt at the rail. Makala and the little dog were gone.

Cole pulled himself up and searched the water below. “Makala!” he yelled and climbed over the rail.

“Cole! No!” I screamed.

Cole didn’t take his eyes off the choppy seas. Perched on the toe rail, he took a deep breath, and dove.

“Cole and Makala are overboard
!” I yelled at Dylan and clutched the rail where they’d gone in. I searched the waves but couldn’t see them. We were sailing away.

“Drop the sails
,” Dylan ordered.

Nick and Takumi appeared on deck. They hurried to bring in the boom and let the main sheet fall. I kept looking for my brother and Makala.

“Makala! Where is she?” Angelina stood on the cockpit steps.

“Overboard!”

“What?” Jervis roared as he stepped on deck.

I
frantically studied the sea. “Makala and the dog fell over the side. Cole jumped in to save them. I can’t see them.”

Zoë
and Takumi joined me.

Angelina collapsed sobbing on the seat.

Dylan started the engine and yelled, “Toni, get the light!”