Against the Wind by Bodie & Brock Thoene

Author:Bodie & Brock Thoene [Bodie & Thoene, Brock]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Against the Wind
ISBN: 9780824905125
Publisher: Guideposts
Published: 2014-04-28T16:00:00+00:00

10 “Oh, Ain’t We Crazy!” attributed to Harry McClintock, aka “Haywire Mac”

11 “I Yi, Yi, Yi, Yi” (I like you very much) lyrics by Mack Gordon, music by Harry Warren

13

DEAD IN THE WATER

NORTH ATLANTIC

AUTUMN 1940

My eyes adjusted to the darkness. I discovered to my relief the orange flickers were not from a fire but from dimly glowing emergency lamps. In the days spent aboard the Newcastle I had never noticed them before this moment. Grateful for the faint illumination they provided, I knew how terrifying and bewildering those corridors would have seemed in the utter darkness of a cloudy North Atlantic night.

Newcastle’s deck had an almost imperceptible downhill slope and a slight lean to the right as I staggered forward.

The ship still surged serenely onward. Our speed though the water did not slacken. I felt reassured. Was my first panicked reaction overblown? I took a deep breath and forced myself to calm down. My thoughts raced. Maybe Newcastle isn’t sinking, not at all! The water around my ankles must be from a broken pipe. Of course the children are frightened. Oh, Jesus! I’m frightened! Who wouldn’t be?

I prayed in that moment that my job was reassurance, not rescue.

Ahead the hallway curved outward before straightening again. I remembered my cabin was just beyond that bend. A few more paces and I would have my life vest securely belted on and could round up my young charges. Like a drill, I would tell them. Part of the adventure.

After six more steps my progress came to an abrupt halt. The passageway was blocked. The outer wall bowed inward; the floor buckled upwards. What remained of the corridor was jammed with fallen ceiling and splintered wood paneling.

My lips tightened with anger and determination to reach my cabin. Irrationally, I thought of the pendant watch Murphy had given me for my last birthday. His picture was inside the cover, as was the baby’s. The watch lay on the night table in my cabin, and I meant to get it.

Seizing a chunk of paneling, I wrenched it free and tossed it behind me. A bit of ceiling tile followed, and some mahogany molding. A length of pipe frustrated me for a moment, but I managed to bend it out of the way.

I grasped a piece of jagged metal. The serrated edge sliced my palm when I tried to yank it free. Winding a pocket handkerchief around the wound, I concentrated on removing the trash blocking the inboard side of the hall. Though only half the height of the passage was clear, I managed to open a space wide enough for me to advance.

I don’t know what made me poke my head into the opening. It would have been sensible and much easier to extend my foot through first.

What greeted my gaze beyond the wreckage was a void—a featureless emptiness that fell away into a pool of water and was open to the sea beyond. Waves lapped at the edges of the hole. White foam outlined the ragged remains of what had moments before been Newcastle’s smooth steel skin.

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