by S.A. Bodeen
She heard a bark. “Ahab?”
The dog appeared between two palm trees and ran down onto the beach. As gentle waves lapped at his paws, he sat there, barking at Sarah. Then whining. Then barking again.
“What is he doing?”
The sailboat shuddered, and Sarah looked down.
They had sideswiped a rock, which had impaled the hull, rendering the boat immobile. But Sarah saw water seeping in and out of the edges of the hole. Was Ahab trying to tell her that they needed to get off? He had been right about the storm, that was for sure.
Sarah stuck her head through the doorway and yelled, “Get up!” Moonflight shuddered again. “Now!” she screamed.
Her dad’s face appeared at the bottom of the stairs. “We’ve stopped?”
Sarah nodded. “There’s an island. But we ran into a rock and I think the boat is going to sink.”
John came up beside her and froze when he saw the island. “It’s so beautiful.”
“Dad!” Sarah grabbed his arm. “The boat!”
John appraised the situation. “The keel must be touching the bottom, or some other rocks. That’s why we’re leaning. We seem to be pretty solid, but that could change with the tide. We probably shouldn’t waste time in getting off.” He disappeared and Sarah heard him calling to the others. Then he called up to her. “We need to grab all the supplies we can. Is the dinghy still there?”
“No! Yes! I don’t know!” She threw her hands in the air. “What’s a dinghy?”
Her dad took a deep breath, like he needed extra patience or something. “It’s a small boat. Like a lifeboat. It was on the stern—the back—of the boat.”
Sarah made her way to the stern and looked over. A small white boat, which looked barely big enough for a couple of people, was attached by a rope. “Yeah!” she yelled. “I see it.” She didn’t add any details, like the fact that the dinghy was upside down in the water; her dad could find out that bad news on his own.
John joined her on deck, and set down a basket full of cans and boxes. He looked over the side and sighed. “I’m going down there. I hope it still floats.”
He handed his glasses to Sarah, then put his legs over the side and jumped into the water with a splash. Sarah watched as her dad was able to right the dinghy and climb into it. He grinned up at her. “Lucky for us, someone did a great job lashing these oars to it. Seems to be fine! Just a little wet. Can you pass down that basket? Put my glasses in it, would you?”
Sarah set the glasses gently on top, then tried to lift the basket, but it was too heavy. She dragged it over to the side. “What do I do now?”
She heard a thump and whirled around. Marco had just dropped a loaded mesh bag onto the deck. He gazed at the island. “Whoa. Sweet.” He peered over the side at John. “How are we gonna lower this stuff?”
John asked, “Do you see a rope of any kind?”
Marco lifted up the lid of one of the benches. “Yeah.” He pulled out a frayed, knotted-up line. “I guess this qualifies. Hold on.” He slipped off his life jacket. “This thing is too hot.” He slid the line through the basket handles, and dropped it over the side, lowering it slowly to John, who caught it and undid the line. “Perfect. Send down some more.”
As Marco started to do the same to the mesh bag, he looked over at Sarah. “Are you just standing there? There’s a lot more stuff down there to unload.” He scowled. “Unless you’re too busy doing nothing.”
Sarah stuck out her tongue at him, whirled on one toe, and headed over to the stairs. Down in the cabin, she found Yvonna and Nacho had taken off their life jackets and were furiously grabbing food and water. But she focused on the corner, and their pile of suitcases. Sarah grabbed hers and dragged it up the stairs. She wheeled it over to Marco. He glanced at her, took ahold of it, and called, “Heads up!” Then he dropped it.
Sarah leapt over to the side and looked down.
Her suitcase had landed outside the dinghy, but her dad had snagged a corner of it and was hauling it in.
Sarah shoved Marco. “You did that on purpose!”
He shrugged. “Maybe there are more important things than your stupid clothes.”
Sarah glared at him and went back downstairs.
14
After the third load up the stairs, Marco stopped counting. His mom and Nacho and Sarah had put food and supplies in whatever kind of carrier they could find, even pillowcases, and he just kept hauling things over the railing and lowering them to the dinghy. John had made one trip to the beach in the dinghy so far, and was about to leave for the second. Marco called down, “I think we only have one more load.”
John said, “And that’ll be everything?”
Marco nodded. “Pretty much the food and water supplies.”
John sat down for a moment. His hair was plastered to his scalp with sweat and his face was red; maybe from the exertion, maybe from the sun. Marco couldn’t tell. John said, “What about other stuff? We’re going to have to make a camp until we get rescued. I mean, that could be later today or maybe not until tomorrow. So if we have to spend the night, we will want blankets. And matches for a fire.”
Marco nodded. “I’m on it.” He appreciated that John was treating him like an equal in the endeavor, not talking down to him. He also liked that he and John seemed to be running the show, because the others did whatever Marco asked them to do, no questions. Marco went over to the top of the stairs and called down, “Bring some blankets. And matches or a lighter!”
Nacho’s head popped into view. “I found a box of matches!” He held it up, his hands shiny.
“Nice,” said Marco. He wondered how much hand sanitizer would be required to get his brother through the morning. He held up a hand. “Toss them here, I’ll keep them dry.”
Nacho took a step but tripped as he began his throw. The box of matches hit the rope railing and came to rest on the very edge of the deck.
Marco dove for them, his fingertips grasping air just as the box slid over the side. “Are you kidding me?” Marco watched the box slowly dampen and sink. He blew out a breath. “Great.”
Nacho got to his feet. “Sorry.”
Marco shot him a look and went back to what he was doing.
Their mom climbed up the stairs and set a plastic tub at Marco’s feet. She was sweaty, and stopped to push her hair out of her face as she gazed out at the lagoon. “Oh, this place is so lovely!”
“What’s in here?” asked Marco.
Yvonna said, “I’ve got some dishes and silverware in here. I suppose we’ll have a few meals here before we get rescued, we might as well be civilized about it.” She shoved a hand over her mouth and ran to the side of the boat, then leaned over and threw up.
“Mom? You okay?”
She nodded.
Marco found a bottle of water in the pile and handed it to her. “You feel better?”
Yvonna nodded, then took a sip, rinsed out her mouth, and spit. She took a few swallows as she wiped some sweat off her face with the back of her hand. “I think maybe I ate something that didn’t agree with me. Or maybe it’s still the motion sickness. I’m sure I’ll feel better once I’m on dry land.” She added, “So let’s not mention it to John, okay? He’s got enough on his mind.”
“Sure.” Marco went back over to the stern and watched as John reached the beach. Ahab greeted him, tail wagging, and stayed there as he unloaded.
Just then, the sailboat shifted under Marco’s feet, sliding to an even steeper tilt.
He heard a scream from below. His mom yelled down into the hold, “Nacho! Sarah! Get up here! We need to get off!”
Nacho and Sarah scrambled up the stairs, breathless. Sarah asked, “Where’s my dad?”
Marco pointed to shore, and the boat shifted again. Sarah yelled to shore, “Dad! The boat is moving!”
John looked up, startled, and shoved the dinghy into the water. He rowed furiously toward them, as they all filled their arms with the last of the things piled on the deck. When he
reached the boat, they passed the last of it down to him. “Okay, everybody down here.”
Yvonna asked, “Will we all fit?”
John said, “Yeah, let’s go.”
Yvonna looked at Nacho. “Where’s your life jacket?”
“It was too hot.” Nacho pointed out, “You took yours off too.”
“I know,” said his mom. “There’s no time. Come on, you go first.” His mom took one of his arms and Marco held on to the other, and they lowered him over the side until John could get ahold of his legs, then take him the rest of the way. “Sarah next.”
They did the same to Sarah, and as she dropped into the dinghy, it swayed, almost tipping over. John said, “We need to dump stuff over. We can’t take everyone.”
“We might need that stuff!” yelled Marco. “Just take them. Mom and I will wait here.”
Yvonna glanced at him and nodded. She told John, “He’s right. Just go, take them, and come back for us.”
John opened his mouth to argue, but Marco said, “Go. We’re wasting time arguing.” John nodded and said nothing more as he began to row back to the beach. With wide eyes, Sarah and Nacho huddled in the bottom of the overloaded dinghy as it rocked from side to side, threatening to capsize.
Yvonna set a hand on Marco’s arm. “I’m proud of you. John couldn’t have done this without you.”
Marco didn’t say anything as he watched the dinghy slowly make it to shore. As soon as Sarah stepped out of the boat, Ahab was all over her. Nacho hopped out and John quickly unloaded the dinghy and pushed off, rowing back toward HMS Moonflight.
“You ready, Mom? I can try to lower you down—” The sailboat jerked under them, so hard that Marco stumbled and almost fell. His mom grabbed the side and hung on as the boat tipped so much that Marco lost his balance and started to slide down the deck. “Mom!”
Yvonna grabbed his arm with one hand as she clutched the side of the boat with the other. The boat continued to tilt until they were nearly vertical, hanging from the side. “Marco, climb up me if you can!”
Marco looked down at his feet, and the twenty-or-so-foot drop to the sea. He reached up with his arm and grabbed ahold of his mom’s shoulder, trying to get a grip to pull himself up. “Don’t let go!” When he had both of his hands on her shoulders, hanging there, he said, “Grab the boat with both your hands!”
“I’m not letting go of you!” But as she started to get a better grip with her hand, she slipped, and they both fell, plummeting all the way down the slanted deck, right into the water, without any life jackets on. Marco took a breath right before they plunged in, then kicked his feet and bobbed right back up. “Mom!” he gasped.
Yvonna popped up right beside him, gasping, her wet, dark hair plastered to her face. She reached out. “You okay?”
“I’m here!” John was right beside them with the dinghy, and held out a hand to Marco. He shook his head. “Take my mom first.” John didn’t even argue as he nodded at Marco, first helping his wife into the boat, then reaching out his hand for Marco.
When they were safe inside, John rowed them back to the beach.
15
Sarah sat on the beach in the hot sun, looking out into the blue waves. The others were sitting a little ways away from her. She still felt like she was swaying, so she shut her eyes. That only made the feeling worse, so she opened them again. Still, she was so relieved to be off the boat and on dry, unmoving land—especially such beautiful dry, unmoving land—that she let Ahab lick her face as long as he wanted. He probably deserved it, after warning them to get off the boat. She held his head still for a moment. “You knew, didn’t you, boy? You knew it was dangerous.”
Out in the cove, Moonflight hadn’t slipped any farther, and actually seemed to have tipped back until it was nearly level, perched halfway out of the water as the hull stayed hung up on the rock. John came and stood there, looking out at the water as he caught his breath. He reached down and ruffled her hair.
She asked, “Is someone coming to get us?”
Her dad said, “The captain filed a float plan.” Then he slapped a hand to his forehead.
“What’s wrong?” asked Sarah.
“He said we’d spend three days on the island, and then he probably allowed a day to return.” He sighed. “So unless the skipper was able to get out a distress call, I suspect no one will start looking until those days are up.”
“So we might be here for days before they come looking for us?” Sarah felt tears well up. “Is this even the island we were heading to?”
“I don’t know for sure, sweetie.” He put his arm around her. “We have supplies. And it sure is a lovely place to be marooned, I’ll give it that.”
He shaded his eyes and turned slowly around in a circle, stopping to face the first row of trees. He pointed and called out to Yvonna. “See those trees?”
Sarah looked where he was pointing.
Three very tall trees had grown together, their thick, wide limbs sprouting out of the enormous trunks. The numerous branches—laden with green leaves and pink flowers—formed a huge umbrella-like canopy that shaded a massive stretch of grassy ground.
“I read my Flora and Fauna of the South Pacific on the plane,” said Nacho. “Those are monkey pod trees! They’re called that because those flowers grow seed pods that you can actually eat.”
John said, “Well, I think those monkey pod trees would make a good shelter. Let’s make camp under them.”
Sarah reluctantly pushed Ahab away and stood up, almost losing her balance as she still felt like she was on a boat. She hoped that feeling would go away, but she grabbed ahold of Ahab for help. He stayed right at her side, wagging his tail, his tongue hanging out as he panted. With Ahab at her heels, she dragged her suitcase through the sand, stopping every few feet to catch her breath. “Stupid wheels.” Finally, she reached the shady grass under the trees and let her suitcase fall on its side.
Marco dropped a plastic bin right next to it. “There’s more stuff to carry.”
“I’m catching my breath,” snapped Sarah.
Nacho dumped a load right next to the other stuff and smiled up at her. “Our own desert island! Isn’t it cool?”
“Yeah.” Sarah scowled. “Just fabulous.”
Nacho patted the tree trunk nearest him. “Did you know that these trees are also called rain trees?”
“No, I did not know that.” Sarah rolled her eyes.
Nacho nodded. “See how the grass under the trees is really green?”
Sarah glanced down at her feet, where the grass did seem extraordinarily green and lush. “Yeah.”
“First, there’s the canopy.” Nacho pointed overhead to the branches that formed an umbrella over them. “That keeps it shady and cool under here. Then at night, the leaves curl up, so rain gets past to the ground easier. And the reason the grass is super green is from the nitrogen, which comes from the seed pods.”
Sarah sighed. “Good to know.”
After being stuck with the Murillo family in such tight quarters all night, she was not about to stand around getting a lecture about the life of trees from a far too chatty ten-year-old. She headed back over to the pile and grabbed two jugs of water. Ahab sniffed at one as she walked, then, with his long, pink tongue, he licked the outside.
“Are you thirsty?” When she reached the other things, she set the jugs down and dug in the plastic bin until she found a bowl. She poured in some water and set it on the grass. Ahab lapped at the bowl, draining it in seconds. He looked up at Sarah, swishing his tail so hard his bottom swayed from side to side.
“More?” she asked. Without waiting for an answer, she filled the bowl again.
Marco said, “Hey. Don’t waste all the water on a dog.”
Sarah put her hands on her hips. “He has to drink too.”
Her dad reached them with an armload of supplies. “What’s going on?”
Marco said, “She’s giving all our drinking water to the dog.”
John loo
ked at her and scratched his chin. “How much drinking water do we have?”
Yvonna came over then, and pointed to the jugs. “Those two, and then a couple of cases of bottled water.”
“So not a lot,” said John. He circled around and looked into the trees. “It looks like a pretty big island. There could definitely be some fresh water somewhere.” He wiped his hands together. “First I’d better make a fire. Did I see a bag with emergency supplies?”
Yvonna pulled a red canvas bag out of the pile and handed it to him. He reached in and pulled out the flint. “I’m not entirely sure how to do this, but I do have a degree in engineering. It can’t be that hard.”
Marco said, “Wow, too bad we don’t have any matches.” He glared at Nacho.
Nacho ignored him and said, “I can help! I’ve been studying for my Eco-Scout camping badge.”
Marco mumbled, “Your hands might get dirty.”
Nacho scowled. “At least I know how to do it, Marco! Do you?”
Marco shrugged. “Fine. Go for it.”
John hesitated for a moment, but then handed the flint to Nacho. “Tell me what you need.”
Nacho stared at the flint. “Um … first we need rocks.” Sarah and John helped find rocks. Nacho said, “We need to arrange them in a circle.” He pointed to a spot about ten feet away from their makeshift camp under the trees. Marco and John got the rocks and set them up. Nacho said, “Now we need some tinder. Like some small sticks?”
They went off searching, and Sarah came back with a bunch of small sticks, which she set in the center of the rocks. A few minutes later, her dad brought husk from a coconut.
“Where’d you find the coconut?” asked Marco.
“It’s just the husk,” said John. “Someone must have opened it up.”
Sarah frowned. “Who would have opened it up?”
Marco said, “Maybe the last people who were shipwrecked here?”
Sarah glared at him, then focused her attention back to Nacho. “What do we do now?”
“You need to…” He trailed off. He bit his lip and reached out. He pinched small pieces of the husk between two fingers and gingerly piled them on top of the small stack of kindling. “Is there a knife?”
