Adrift [Movie tie-in] by Tami Oldham Ashcraft

Author:Tami Oldham Ashcraft
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-05-02T04:00:00+00:00

Twelve

Machetes and Eels

Some time before dawn, a cloud in the shape of a maple leaf fanned the slivered moon. I strained my eyes, but I was still at sea, Hazana was still mastless, and Richard was still gone.

Coming topside from calculating my morning sight, I found a booby bird sitting on top of the jury-rigged mast. Booby birds have been known to follow ships for days—perching in their rigging, so seeing it wasn’t that big of a surprise. The bird was about thirty inches tall and mainly white. I was fascinated with its beady eyes and powder blue eye shadow. The feathers around its beak were also a pretty blue hue. For an instant the bird’s eyes opened wider, becoming Richard’s. The powder blue coalesced into that lapis color of Richard’s eyes, the color that could melt me with one long look. But as the bird wiggled, its huge pumpkin orange webbed feet broke the spell and once again it was only a bird come to haunt me. The bird left, but a couple of hours later it returned to use the rig again for its resting post. It squawked and slept a lot, and then, after preening itself, flew away to fish once more. The booby stayed with me for three days, but when its droppings started to stink, I tried to shoo it away with the red T-shirt–covered oar. The damn bird kept coming back again and again, and I kept chasing it, apologizing and saying if it wouldn’t poop it could stay. Finally it had had enough of me and flew away for good. Then I missed staring into those blue eyes and the sign of life on board.

* * *

October 31. Halloween. Nineteen days since the capsize. With a steady wind, I had traversed forty miles in the past twenty-four hours, according to the noon fix. I thought about all my Halloweens as a kid, the getting dressed up, the trick or treating with my friends. I remembered the year I got so sick. I was seven years old, and my grandparents had rented a flapper costume for me. I loved it because the fringe sewn on the satin material shimmied and the beaded head band glowed with fake gemstones. At the third house, I became ill. I was devastated to have to go home: my bag of candy had only three pieces in it, and no one else would get to see me in my wonderful costume. I wondered what my three-year-old half brother would be this year, probably a pirate or a cowboy.

Eating meant very little to me. But that night on Hazana, I decided to make myself a treat to take the edge off this trick I was living in. I opened a small canned ham and poured half a jar of plum sauce over it. The plum sauce was such a treat, especially since the jar hadn’t broken, that I wouldn’t allow myself to eat it all in one meal. I relished it with peanut butter and crackers.

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