Knockdown (28 page)

“How’s Angelina?” Takumi asked.

“She lost a lot of blood, but she’s awake. She’ll be okay.” I glanced at Makala who was standing next to Takumi, listening to every word. I pointed to the fire pit. “This looks great, but I didn’t expect it to be so big.”

Makala
’s mouth turned down. Takumi waited patiently while she reached into a pile and handed Takumi a brick. He smiled at her. “Isn’t it super? I couldn’t have done it without such a great helper. It does take up a lot of room, but will be worth it. You’ll see. And we can climb on the seats to go back and forth to the cabin.”

Makala
grinned and gave Takumi three more bricks. He placed them under the bottom metal grate to raise it up. “Needs air flow.”

Then he
opened a hatch. What once had been the place we kept the boat’s docking fenders, was now a wood storage bin. The fenders hung off the lifelines. The bin was full of gathered wood.

He
pulled out a thin board and two small drift logs. Makala helped him carry the thin board to the barbecue. “Do we have any paper we can start the fire with?” he asked.

The only paper I could think of was Dad’s log book and the novels we’d just brought on board.
Then I remembered the stack of
National Geographic
magazines Mom always kept on the boat.

I hated ripping out the
gorgeous pictures, but soon we had a smoky fire. I closed the cabin hatch to keep the smoke from going below. After a little while, the wood dried out and actual flames erupted. We had heat on the boat.

“’ervis,” Makala called out. Look what Takumi and I made.”

Jervis joined us at the fire. “Awesome,” he said and high-fived Takumi and Makala. I grinned.

Dyl
an stood at the wheel ignoring us.

I handed Makala
a black rubber bucket. “Do you think you can fill the bucket with snow?” I helped her put on a pair of gloves Takumi and I had found in a bin that first day.

She nodded. “What are we going to do with it?”

I’d planned to gather snow for the sun shower, but when I saw her eager face I whispered, “Make snowballs.”

“Can I throw one at Dylan?” she whispered, her eyes glowing with excitement.

I nodded and glanced at my stoic brother. “I’ll help you.”

Chapter
Thirty-Three

Angelina, Five Days to Go

Makala landed a fluffy snowball on Dylan’s chest.

“Ahaw!”
Dylan pretended surprise. The fight was on.

Makala squealed and hid behind
Jervis. Boots jumped and barked, caught up in the excitement. I hit Takumi right between the eyes. He dropped a handful of snow down my back. Zoë joined us and used Dylan as a human shield, turning him toward any snowballs that came their way. I’d never seen Makala laugh so hard.

After
the fight we hovered around the fire, smiling and reliving our fun. Jervis held Makala on his lap.

“Did you see the one I threw at Dylan?” Makala giggled and peered shyly at my brother.

Nick came up top to warm himself and report on Angelina. She’d fallen into a restful sleep. The pain pills were helping. The smiles around the fire faded.

Nick and
Jervis avoided eye contact and tossed small pieces of wood at the fire.

“We need hot chocolate!” I announced during the awkward silence.

Most of the supplies we’d scavenged still sat in bags or pillow cases on the couches in the main cabin. Takumi and I headed below to check them out. We tried to be quiet so we didn’t wake Angelina.

There weren’t any packages of cocoa mix, but I did find a plastic squirt bottle of chocolate syrup. I held it in the air victorious. Takumi gave me
the thumbs up sign.

“I’m going
to heat some water over the barbecue,” Takumi whispered and then filled the teakettle. “We should save the propane for times we can’t have a fire.”

I hated seeing Mom’s copper bottomed tea kettle sitting on top of the grill over an open fire. Aft
er a few minutes the pot became black. But soon steam poured from the spout. The barbecue fire worked.

Makala sang and acted out, “I’m a little teapot,” at least a dozen times before the pot actually boiled. When the spout whistle blew, she shrieked, “Tip me over, an’ pour me out! Tip me over…”

Jervis grabbed her and flipped her upside down. She laughed hysterically.

Takumi passed around mugs
, squirted chocolate in the bottom, and poured steaming water into the cups. The hot chocolate water tasted wonderful. We told ourselves that real hot chocolate wouldn’t have been any better. Makala wanted marshmallows. Jervis pretended to put some in her cup.

“Wait until they melt
,” Jervis said.

Makala scowled. “Are they melted yet?”

“No, not yet,” Jervis said again and again until the water had cooled.

The fire
made staying on deck in the cold bearable, pleasant even. The problem was going to be getting a supply of wood. Even if we kept the fire small, we were going to burn up what we had in a couple of days. But I could worry about that later. I just sat back, enjoying my drink and the warmth of the flames.

The sky changed from gray to black. Night was only slightly darker than daytime. The wind continued to
pick up and
Whistler
flew over the water. The wind made the cold air frostier.

There was still no service on any of our cells.
According to Dylan, we were behind schedule. He
worried
Dad would find a way to be on the island before us, and might leave. I was sure Dad would wait.

Takumi,
Jervis, and I watched the fire pit as the boat tipped or heeled over. The fire stayed at the bottom. I could tell how pleased the guys were that their idea worked.

Even
Dylan gave up his skepticism and warmed his hands over the flames. As the night grew colder, he taped the boat hook to the ship’s wheel, and moved closer to the fire. He steered using the pole.

It
finally stopped snowing. Takumi and I took over driving the boat. Zoë sat on Dylan’s lap with a blanket wrapped around them. Makala held a stick in the fire, burned the tip, and swirled the lit end in the air. It kinda looked like a sparkler.

After a while,
Takumi picked up the dirty cups that were rolling around the deck and carried them below. Dylan and Zoë went to bed. I took over the wheel, loving the way I could stay warm and steer. Makala threw her stick in the fire and yawned.

“Where’s Makala going to sleep tonight?”
Jervis asked.

I
thought for a moment. “She and Boots should sleep where they always do, in the bedroom. Angelina doesn’t need a dog pouncing on her.”

Makala frowned.
“I want to sleep with Sissy.”

The wind direction changed and we heeled
to the other side. Makala fell toward the barbecue. Jervis caught her just in time. Boots slid off the seat and hung by a rope tied to the lifeline. I shoved the little dog back onto the bench and ran to the wheel.

“
Let out more sail,” I told Jervis.

Jervis
held Makala under one arm and let out the main.
Whistler
leveled out. I checked our heading. We were still going southwest.

“Makala, go below and hold on.” I adjusted the wheel.

Jervis looked from me to Makala.

Dylan stuck his head out the cabin opening. “What’s going on?”

“Just a gust. Makala, go to Dylan. Jervis, hand down the dog too. It’s getting too rough up here.”

Dyl
an made a face, but took Boots and Makala.

Takumi rush
ed up the stairs past Dylan. Jervis made the main sail smaller by reefing. Takumi held the wheel with two hands. We were tipped way over. It was hard not to slide off the seat. But with the smaller sail, we leveled out.

Jervis
went below to check on Makala. When he came back, he said Makala was wedged in at the chart table and looking at
National Geographic
magazines. He sat down across from me. “Nick, Zoë and Dylan are fixing dinner. Angelina needs something in her stomach before she has another pill.”

We kept the fire low in case the boat tipped.
I was about to lean over and put another piece of wood on the fire when the boat headed up a swell and came down hard. Angelina screamed.

“I’ll go,” I told Jervis
and leapt down the stairs. Angelina and Nick were still on the mattress on the floor.

“That crash was painful
,” Nick told me. “The pills should kick in soon.”

Angelina’s eyes were closed, her mouth a line of agony. Makala sat at the chart table, her eyes wide with fright.

“What are you looking at, Makala?” I peered down at the magazine.

Makala shook her head and whispered, “I don’t know.”

I leaned in to study it closer and smiled. “That’s a sky full of butterflies. They fly long distances every year. These ones are called monarchs.”

Makala squinted. “Butterflies?” She turned the page and a single butterfly was featured. “Butterflies!” Her fa
ce lit up and all fear was gone for the moment.

Dylan and
Zoë were examining macaroni and cheese boxes they’d found in the piles of stuff we’d brought back from Grays Harbor.

Dylan held up a box. “I think these are still good. We’ll make sure everything boils.
There are four boxes. We’ll make them all.”

“Don’t we need milk and butter?”
Zoë made a face.

“You’ll h
ave to make do with sea water,” I said.

Soon the macaroni and cheese was done and tasted almost as good as the chocolate water. I carried plates up to Takumi and Jervis.
Zoë and Dylan ate and raved about how wonderful their meal was. Angelina had a few bites and a pain pill. Makala nibbled slowly, turning pages in the magazine, and smacking her lips. Boots went from person to person, begging for bites.

When dinner was over, Zoë laid her plate down.
“We made dinner. Someone else should do the dishes.”

I
rolled my eyes. Takumi and I had prepared almost every meal on the boat. He usually washed up. It wasn’t worth another fight. I washed the dishes using the hot water from the macaroni. When the galley was clean I asked Nick if he needed anything.

“Get Makala
ready for bed,” he whispered.

Makala
was overtired and didn’t want to leave her sister to change into her pajamas or brush her teeth. After a long struggle, she was ready. I looked through a bag of books from Grays Harbor and found a picture book.

“Come on
, Makala. Say good night and let’s go to bed.” I held the book and pointed to the girls’ cabin.

“Boots wants to sleep with Sissy,” she whined.

“Your sister is hurt. Boots might forget and jump on her. He can run around on our bed. Come on. I’ll read you a new story.”

“That
book is for babies,” Makala scowled.

“Makala!” Angelina sa
id in a stern, but weak voice.

“Well
, it is.” Makala scooted away from me before I could stop her. She crawled across the mattress, snuggled next to her sister, and glared at me.

Angelina sighed and
closed her eyes.

“That went well,”
Dylan smirked. He scooped Boots up and handed him to me. “Wake us when it’s our shift.”

“Wait!
Zoë. Here,” I cried.

“That stinky dog is not sleeping with us,” Dylan growled.

“Boots isn’t stinky,” Makala said with her thumb in her mouth.

“
Not the dog. Find a place for this stuff.” I handed Zoë two of her pillowcases. One was full of clothes, the other, shoes. Dylan raised his eyebrows and Zoë thrust the bags at him.

Boots whined and wiggled
in my arms, desperate to be with Makala. I finally gave up and sat him on the mattress. Makala pulled him close. Nick draped a blanket over the pair and settled back down on the other side of Angelina.

I studied
the mess on Takumi’s bed. The supplies we’d gathered in Grays Harbor were piled high. One after another, I emptied pillowcases and boxes. Books I stowed in the small shelves on both sides of the cabin. Clean towels I stuffed in the bathroom locker. Cans of soup, tuna, and tomato sauce I stacked in the food lockers. My mouth watered at the thought of new food.

But not all of the food was in
good shape. A water-damaged bag of flour, two wet boxes of Hamburger Helper, and a rock hard box of biscuit mix were left on the kitchen counter for Takumi to check out. He would probably toss it all.