The Good Captain by Sean Rabin

Author:Sean Rabin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Transit Lounge
Published: 2022-02-11T00:00:00+00:00

23.

With less than three hours remaining before she was due back on duty, Bill was furious that someone had interrupted her sleep. No one aboard Mama should have needed to be reminded that a closed door meant ‘do not disturb’. Unless, of course, there was an emergency. But where was the alarm? And what problem existed that only she could solve? Certainly not sinking trawlers – the captain had proven that. Nor did she possess any rare skills at hiding from planes or avoiding bad buoys. And given the right orders she was confident that Salka or Buddy or even Euan could steer Mama from a pursuing vessel – open water meant there were no channels to navigate or reefs to avoid. It would hardly be a surprise if they were being chased. Everyone knew how reckless it was to continue attacking trawlers while the cargo was aboard – everyone except the captain it seemed. Rena was behaving as if the assignment to Tasmania had never taken place; as if a shocking sacrifice had not already been made. It was a pitiless approach that was also shared by Christopher and Mel, and which she too was expected to eventually adopt. Implicit in her invitation to join Mama was the understanding that in time she would convert to the belief that nothing and no one was more important than the success of their mission. A transformation she had been allowed to postpone for the past eighteen months, but which she could sense was increasingly overdue and needed to be enacted.

Even as she crossed the width of her cabin Bill already knew that it was Papa knocking on her door. Only her father could be so oblivious to Mama’s unspoken rules and etiquette. It was how he had lived his entire life – self-important – greedy – wilfully unconcerned with the everyday laws that governed the lives of ordinary people.

The first thing he thought as Bill opened her cabin door was that she looked tired and thin. Probably working too hard; taking on too much responsibility. She also needed a proper pair of pyjamas – not that old t-shirt and trackpants. He never understood why Annabel always cut her hair so short and refused to wear make-up. If only she would show how attractive she could be, he was sure that all the young men aboard Mama would fall in love with her. ‘I’m sorry Annabel, I just wanted to —’

‘You know you’re not meant to call me that.’

Papa closed his eyes and shook his head at making such a careless mistake. ‘Yes of course, forgive me, I forgot.’

‘You forgot?’ Bill reached across to bar her doorway. ‘I haven’t been Annabel since I was six.’

A game of hide-and-seek played almost twenty years ago abruptly reappeared within Papa’s memory. It had been intended as an amusing diversion to help his family pass a rainy Saturday afternoon in one another’s company, but had quickly descended into a nerve-racking hunt for the whereabouts of his elder daughter.

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