by Daya Daniels
Scanning the busy marina, I spot Tenley in conversation with a man looking quite distressed.
My palm lands on the handle of my suitcase and then I lift it, holding it to my side. “No, thanks, that won’t be necessary.” I brush past the bellman, head across the street then down a short flight of wooden stairs covered in beach sand and in the direction of Tenley.
When I make it close, I find her standing next to eight large crates.
My eyes narrow when I make it closer, anxious and a little out of breath.
“Oh, hey, Brooks.” Tenley smiles, nose scrunched, then looks me up and down. “I thought you left already with Joy and James?”
“No.” I shake my head and focus on the crates. “Joy went ahead so I could work since I swore to her that I’d leave my laptop and cellphone and all that stuff behind.”
“Oh.” She smiles. “James couldn’t wait any longer either.” She laughs. “But I couldn’t leave without my stuff.” With knotted brows she taps on a crate. “They did a great job of packing these but I’m a little annoyed they’ve used so much frickin’ foam.”
I give her a blank stare, almost wanting to laugh out loud because she visibly looks pissed.
The look on my face must tell her that I don’t get what she’s getting at…
“Well, it isn’t biodegradable.” She huffs. “The world doesn’t realize that foam cups and plates are great for picnics or whatever since they’re convenient and can be tossed in the trash when people are finished with them. But once that foam is in a landfill…” She sighs. “Polystyrene takes about five hundred years to decompose.”
Poly what?
“Oh.” My brows arc.
“Yeah, so…”
I nod slowly and gesture with a hand. “What’s all this anyways?”
Two very small men who mumble at each other maneuver past me and load the crates on to the boat that’s tied to the dock. The engine idles and Bob Marley’s “Easy Skanking” blares from the speakers.
“It’s my stuff. The Fennel line Joy might’ve told you about.” Her features twist.
I’d heard a little about Tenley’s new business plan but not very much. Joy didn’t elaborate. James had only mentioned Tenley’s business venture once or twice. And Tenley hadn’t told me much about it herself. But now that we’re here…
“I’ve heard a little about it.” I wait for Tenley to tell me more.
She shifts uncomfortably where she stands. “It’s candles and just um, home stuff.”
My head tilts forward just once. “Ah, I see, very nice.” I can’t help but wonder why a woman like Tenley would take the master’s degree she’d earned at MIT all those years ago and do absolutely nothing with it. Instead, now she’s some sort of free spirit, gauze-wearing, tiny house hunting, selective-vegetarian dreamer who spends her days making candles from scratch and is attempting to save the world with her line of eco-friendly products. It’s borderline ridiculous.
“I’m taking samples with me.” She folds her arms across her chest, looking defensive.
Yet, I haven’t said one word about her life plan, don’t intend to either.
I nod.
She nods.
Then it gets weird, so I look around and change the subject. “The concierge told me the last ferry had already gone.”
“Yeah, I know.” She presses her lips together. “I didn’t want to wait until tomorrow, so after asking around I found this guy who said he takes people to the next island all the time.” She thumbs over her shoulder at the captain who’s tinkering about with stuff at the front of the boat and dancing around with a fucking monkey on his shoulder. “He only wants two hundred US dollars for the job. It’s a two-hour ride I’m told. We can be there in no time.”
I scan the ocean. “Okay, yeah. I can give him a little extra.”
Tenley tilts her head to the side. “You don’t have to, Brooks. It’s fine.”
I feel around inside my pocket for my wallet. “No, Tenley, I insist. Besides, if I hadn’t seen you, I’d be heading back to my room and wasting another night here instead of being with my wife.” I laugh. “And surely you want to get to James.”
“Yes.” She smiles. “Of course.”
“So, thank you.” I bounce on my toes as the engine revs up.
Tenley spins away from me and advises the men who are stacking up all her Fennel stuff on what should be put where. They take her suitcase away quickly then snatch mine up.
Her gaze gets stuck on me.
“What is it?” I light up a cigarette.
“Oh, nothing.” She giggles then I guess she changes her mind about her lie. “Why are you wearing a suit?”
“Why are you wearing a wedding dress?”
She snorts then quickly plasters on an unfazed expression.
I smoke.
When I take the first puff, Tenley sends a look of disgust my way. I puff away. The smoke gets carried off with the soft wind. Her narrowed eyes stay on me but she doesn’t say a word. The captain is still dancing only now he’s thrown on a hat. The breeze picks up. And soon the captain is arguing with the men who are assisting him in a language I don’t understand. They toss their arms up in the air, still growling out words, take the money he offers them, and step off the boat.
People tie up their boats, and vessels are continuing to make their way in.
In fact, they’re all coming in.
I take in the surroundings with curiosity.
“It isn’t a wedding dress, Brooks.” Tenley’s voice pulls my attention back to her. “It’s a sun dress.” She fiddles with the straps, clearly adoring the scrap of white material.
“Oh.”
The captain reaches a hand out to help Tenley onto the boat.
“Thanks so much.” She laughs. “Is this your monkey?”
“Yes, yes, my monkey.” The captain adjusts his dirty sun hat.
Tenley reaches a tentative hand out and pets the monkey.
Oh my God…
I cringe then stub my cigarette out debating if I should tell her that monkeys are stellar carriers of rabies and that she probably shouldn’t touch the damn thing unless she can wash her hands right after.
“It’s sooooo cute.” She splays a hand across the middle of her chest like she’s just won an award. “Is it a girl or a boy?”
Is she serious?
It’s a monkey!
An exhausted breath leaves me as I step down on to the deck of the boat right behind her.
Tenley pets the monkey’s head and I shake my own when I accept that Joy would never touch a monkey. In fact, she’d squeal if she ever saw one then probably kick it. Although they’re best friends, Tenley and Joy are so different that I often wondered how on earth they could be.
“It’s a girl.” The captain smiles. “This is Peni, pronounced like the coin.” He pops a piece of dekopon into the monkey’s mouth.
Expensive fruit for a primate…
The tiny thumb-less creature is one brown ball of fur with big and inquisitive sapphire eyes which observe everything. I’d say she’s still a baby, maybe one year old. She moves her lips and makes babbling noises that sound eerily human.
Tenley laughs softly and pets it once again. “Peni.” She glances over at me. “She’s cute.”
Lowering my head, I roll my eyes then I’m focused back on the captain.
He steps toward me and extends a hand. “Hey, bruddah, I’m Gus.”
I accept his sweaty handshake.
He taps me on the shoulder. “I’ll have you over to the next island in no time.”
“Great, thank you.” I smile.
I scan the deck of the old beat-up wooden boat—a star-shaped crack running down the back of the transom, two orange barrels marked: POISON shoved off into a corner, a trash can full of empty Bir Bintang bottles, no radar, no life boat, a rusty-looking first-aid kit affixed to a wall next to an axe, a coil of rope, and about twenty years’ worth of orange duct tape wrapped around the steering wheel.
“Please sit.” Gus gestures toward one of the benches.
Tenley takes a seat. I sit next to her, feeling stiff, and observe the horizon to the west of us.
Peni is still munching on pieces of dekopon.
Gus revs up the engine and soon we’re heading out of the inlet. He glances over his shoulder and points a finger to the sky. “Like I said, I’ll have you there in no time!”
The wind washes over us and the salt spray fills the late afternoon air.
Tenley smiles. “They say this is the best part about getting to the island!”
I manage a smile.
The sputtering engines roar.
“This will be the ride of our lives!” She leans back, combs her fingers through her hair and is visibly relaxed.
However, I am anything but.
Tenley
IT’S COLD SUDDENLY…
Where did the sun go?
The Doors’ “Riders on the Storm” plays on the radio.
We’ve been on this boat now for well over an hour.
Running my hands over the goose bumps which cover my skin, I stand and pad across the deck to stare out at the ocean. The clouds above are thick and the boat is rocking way more than it had when we first left Lombok.
Brooks is still smoking.
Gus is at the helm, doing a shimmy while singing.
I head toward the ladder and make my way up the tuna tower.
Peni is perched in a spot above the steering wheel, eyes big and wide. She shifts to face me and then hops into my arms without invitation.
I crack up laughing.
Gus laughs. “She likes you.”
“Yeah, it seems so.”
Peni kisses my cheek.
The boat dips and hits a wave.
I spin around and find that Brooks has left his seat down below, but he’s still holding on to that cigarette. He peers over the side of the boat and then up at the sky. Soon, the rain falls. At first the pitter-patter is gentle, and then, with a crack of lightning that sizzles across the horizon followed by a boom of thunder, the sky opens up and gives us everything it’s got.
Peni yelps and holds on to me tightly.
Gus is unfazed and still singing.
Up ahead is more rough sea—white caps and rolling waves—which seem to have come out of nowhere. The rain pours. It seeps through the seams of the wood in the tuna tower and soon I’m standing in a puddle of water.
Another wave.
We drift left.
A bigger wave.
We drift right.
SPLASH.
Water rushes over the deck below bringing assorted fish and a lot of white foam with it.
Then pounding follows right behind it.
I spin around to find myself staring into Brooks’ wide blue eyes. “Turn this boat around, Gus!”
Gus lifts a hand. “It’s too late to turn around.”
Brooks’ expression tightens. “What do you mean it’s too late?”
Gus points ahead. “We’ll be there in no time, I’m telling you!”
SPLASH.
Another wave rushes over the deck. Brooks’ hand slips from the ladder but he grabs it again quickly before he loses his grip. Peni is screaming monkey style.
“Gus, turn this fucking boat around!” Brooks glances behind him and stares back at me in horror when another wave washes over the deck and pushes everything there out of place. “We’re heading into a storm! Radio this in, NOW!” The second wave washes everything down there into the sea.
Gus sucks his teeth. “It’s just a little bad weather.”
A little bad weather!
White-knuckled and breathless, I hold on to the railing next to me, panic fluttering through every piece of me.
More water.
More waves.
The boat creaks and cracks like overused tendons.
The sky above is completely black.
What is happening?
How could this turn to shit so fast?
The sky was just perfectly blue!
Deafening noise. Wild wicked sea. Hammering pulse.
Nothing is as it should be.
The sea whips up. It churns out bigger waves and swells and more white caps that I can’t truly believe are real. The thick wall of rain partially obscures my view. It pelts the windshield ahead of me with rage.
Gus snatches up his radio and clicks the transmit button but there’s nothing but pure white noise when he tries to speak into it. He bangs it on the console a few times. “Dammit.”
My heart lurches in my chest.
“CALL IT IN, GUS!” The boom of Brooks’ demand rivals that of the thunder.
More lightning rips across the sky.
SPLASH.
More thunder.
My stomach rises to my throat then drops down to my toes with the violent rocking.
Peni’s eyes are huge, her monkey grip tight around my neck.
“Did you radio this in before we left?” Brooks lowers his head, mutters to himself words I can’t make out. “They’ll know the standard route. They’ll find us. They’ll know where to look. Everything will be fine.”
Huh?
“Well, I took a different route.” Gus shoots me a worried look. “To save time…” His bottom lip wobbles.
“Whattttt?” The vein in the middle of Brooks’ forehead pulses.
“But it’s okay, bruddah. I promise you. Everything will be cool.” He places his shaky hands back on the steering wheel. With his next breath, I get a whiff of the yeasty aroma which lingers on it.
Why hadn’t I smelled it before?
It suddenly occurs to me that Gus might be drunk.
Goddammit!
“Don’t bruddah me! Where are we, right now, exactly?” Brooks sways on the ladder as the boat rocks.
Feet wide, Gus trembles and attempts to keep the steering wheel steady, but he can’t find his words. His intoxicated tongue is tied up in knots.
The boat trudges along, lurching and fighting the vicious waves.
Up, down. Up, down. Up, down.
The motion is sickening. It’s dizzying. It becomes worse as the swells become more severe.
“Where are we, Gus?” Brooks fights the water which hits him from all sides and ruins his previously perfect hair.
SPLASH.
The boat rocks left then right but the twenty-foot wave ahead currently rolling angrily in our direction is what almost makes my heart stop dead in my chest.
All of us look at it with awe.
The roar of the sea is deafening.
The wind whips around, shifting items clatter, terrified breaths are exhaled.
A shallow gasp tumbles from me.
The wave…
Oh, my, God, the wave…
It’s…fucking…biblical.
“Gus.” My voice is but a shaky whisper, eyes frozen on the sight ahead.
Life replays.
My childhood. My wedding day. The last hug my father gave me. My husband’s smile.
It flashes by, teasing me, making me want to chase it.
But it’s gone.
And then my vision clears as a cool breeze licks across my skin bringing me back to reality.
Ahead…
I only see death and destruction, nothing good.
“Oh, shit.” Gus’ expression careens to the tumultuous sea.
“Fuck.” Brooks’ fingers curl around my arm and soon I’m yanked away.
We practically fall down the ladder, not making any use of its rungs, and hit the deck!
Still managing to keep hold of me, Brooks rips the axe off the wall and grabs some rope.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
The wave hits.
Soon, we’re drowning.
Brooks
I DON’T FUCKING KNOW how many hours later…
This is bad.
This is really bad.
The moon above us glows, although often it’s obscured by the thick c
louds. The rain continues to fall, although now it’s eased off and falling in gentle straight lines.
With one hand wrapped around Tenley’s wrist and the other holding on to debris—a small section of the boat—which broke off after it sank which we’d managed to grab hold of, we float.
And we float fast.
I lower my hand to the water, absorbing the sight of it colliding against my palm. It forces it back so hard, it almost pulls me away from where I rest. So, I rein my hand back in and simply accept what’s happening.
Fuck.
The current is at full speed tonight.
But at least the waves have eased.
A pod of dolphins swim by, and soon in the distance a blast of water rockets up toward the sky when a whale comes up for air then disappears down deep again.
We’re in the big black sea.
In the middle of nowhere.
We might as well be in outer fucking space.
I roll on to my back and stare up at the sky and the stars and the moon.
It’s beautiful, if anything could ever be so right now, but I see it—the beauty in the tragedy.
Tenley drifts in and out of sleep. A little blood slow drips from her temple and her eye is bruised. I’m not sure what hit her, but it might be the same thing that almost broke my arm before I untangled myself from it. The boat snapped in half then was swallowed up by the angry sea. Gus disappeared. Hopefully, he’s dead. If he isn’t, by God I plan to kill him myself the next time I see him. And the monkey…who knows.
But, we’re alive, barely, but still, we’re alive.
Somehow, I have an axe and I have a lighter. I always have a lighter.
If my cigarettes weren’t wet, I’d have a smoke right about now seeing as if it might be the last one I’ll ever get to enjoy because I’ll likely be dead soon.
A breath drifts from me.
This can’t be happening…
It’s the only thought that runs through my mind.
Nevertheless, this-is-happening.
I’d already pinched myself, bit myself, and forced myself to wake up from this nightmare. Only I’m assured I’m not asleep. This is truly happening. In the matter of a few hours, life has gone to shit.
I rest my head on the wood, not caring that it’s half in and half out of the water.
Tenley’s sudden movement has my attention.
