Lord of the Deep (13 page)
Cal
humph
ed. “You’re running on empty, little brother.”
Ernie chuckled, then glanced at Mikey. “You practice your boat handling last night, boy?”
Cal shook his head, grinning.
Mikey made his way forward, not letting his face change in the slightest way.
Bill turned, noticing Mikey approaching.
Mikey wondered if he’d been thinking about last night in the carport. Mikey felt bad about that. Really bad.
“Bill,” Mikey said. “About last—”
“It’s forgotten, Mikey.”
Mikey studied Bill’s face, the creases around the eyes, the smooth, sun-dark skin and small chin scar. For the first time Mikey noticed a slight graying at Bill’s temples.
Bill smiled. “Believe it or not, Mikey, I was thirteen years old myself once. I believed something was either right or it was wrong, and that there was no in-between.” Bill paused, then looked down and said, “Well, there is an in-between, Mikey.”
What did that mean?
Mikey pursed his lips. “I’m really sorry, Bill, really. But I can’t do this, not with these . . .”
He turned toward Cal and Ernie. When he saw them looking, he turned back.
“Can’t do what, son?”
The word
son
threw him. He hesitated.
“It’s just . . . it’s just . . .
wrong,
Bill. What they did is wrong and I can’t go along with it. I’m sorry.”
Bill turned away, looking toward the horizon. He rubbed a hand over the back of his neck.
“Why are you letting it bother you so much?” he said softly. “It’s my problem, Mikey. Not yours. It shouldn’t matter to you.”
“But it
does
matter.”
“Why does it matter, Mikey?”
Mikey had no figured-out answer for that. It was just something he felt. “I—I don’t know,” he finally said. “It just does, that’s all.”
“Well, I’m not turning around and taking you back.”
“I’m not asking you to take me back.”
Bill frowned. “Well, what are you asking?”
Mikey looked into Bill’s eyes, not knowing what to do, what to say. His throat was on fire, about to explode. He hated this.
Bill sipped his coffee, studying Mikey over the rim.
Mikey studied him back.
When Bill dropped his gaze, Mikey did, too, then turned and made his way aft.
Out on the dark stern deck, he glanced back into the lighted cabin. Bill, Cal, and Ernie were all watching him. They seemed curious, or maybe amused.
Mikey glanced toward the rocky shoreline, passing by less than a hundred yards away, shadowy in the murky light.
He looked back in at Bill.
Then he jumped overboard.
Immediately, the Crystal-C slowed, then stopped. The stern rose and settled.
Bill ran out. “Mikey!”
The ocean was warm and luxurious. It filled Mikey’s ears and flooded his eyes, so soft, so clean. He wiped a hand over his face.
Cal and Ernie came aft, too, but not so fast. They flanked Bill, Ernie with his hands on his hips, Cal squinting with the cigar in the middle of his mouth.
Mikey watched them, wondering what Bill would do.
Cal took the cigar out and held it down at his side, never taking his eyes off Mikey, and Mikey marveled at the view from so low in the water, all of them seeming so distant now, looking down on him.
The Crystal-C sat purring on the water, waiting. The outriggers stabbing the dawn sky.
Ernie shook his head and went back into the cabin. Cal threw his cigar in the water and followed a moment later.
Bill stayed where he was.
What was he thinking? Did he care? Was he angry?
It really was amazing how much he looked like Billy-Jay.
Mikey started swimming away on his back, slowly, his eyes on Bill. He felt confused and restless and empty, just as he had trying to sleep last night. He hadn’t planned to jump off the boat. Why’d he do it?
Bill.
He seemed so alone now.
It occurred to Mikey that it had been like that every day of the charter. He’d been with Cal and Ernie, yet never with them at all, not even once.
It hadn’t been like that with other charters.
His heart suddenly flooded with sadness. And gratitude, too, for Bill. And for how Bill felt about Mom. And for how Billy-Jay would never have to worry about anything in his whole life as long as Bill was around.
Bill turned to go back into the cabin.
“Wait,” Mikey whispered.
He kicked up in the water and waved and shouted. “Bill, wait! Come back!
Dad!
”
Bill stopped and turned, his lips parted.
He walked back to the transom, the worry draining away from his face. Never taking his gaze off Mikey, he leaned forward and pointed.
At Mikey.
Just pointed.
“I’ll—I’ll be there to clean up when you get in, okay?” Mikey called. “Okay? I’ll be there.”
Bill cupped his hands around his mouth. “I’m counting on it.”
Then he turned and strode back through the cabin, passing Cal and Ernie without a glance. He slid into the pilot’s seat and throttled up.
The Crystal-C slipped around the point.
Engines thrumming.
Fading away, fading away.
Mikey floated.
His hands and feet barely moved.
All he could see of the Crystal-C now were the outriggers and the top of the flying bridge, moving away around the point.
What have I
done
?
Why did . . .
“Come back!” Mikey shouted. “Bill! Come
back
!” But there was nothing there now—no thrumming, no outriggers, no flying bridge—nothing but the long, sharp horizon and empty sky.
Gone.
He looked back toward the harbor. Scattered morning lights woke in the dark hotels and bobbed above the water.
Mikey turned and slowly swam toward shore.
His arms felt weak and his throat burned.
He swam between the rocks into a small cove. Water streamed from his legs as he stumbled up onto the beach, his shirt and shorts clinging to his body. He dropped down onto the sand and lay back with his face to the sky.
And closed his eyes.
Only moments later, it seemed, he woke with the new sun sprinkling down all around him.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GRAHAM SALISBURY’S family has been in the Hawaiian Islands since the early 1800s. He grew up on Oahu and on Hawaii. He graduated from California State University and received an M.F.A. from Vermont College of Norwich University. He lives with his family in Portland, Oregon.
His first novel,
Blue Skin of the Sea,
won the Bank Street Child Study Association Children’s Book Award, the Judy Lopez Award, and the Oregon Book Award and was selected as an ALA Best Book for Young Adults. Under the Blood-Red Sun won the Scott O’Dell Award for Historical Fiction, the Oregon Book Award, Hawaii’s Nene Award, and the California Young Reader Medal, was an ALA Notable Book and Best Book for Young Adults, and is on many state award lists.
Shark Bait
was selected for the Oregon Book Award and was a
Parents’ Choice
Silver Honor Book.
Jungle Dogs,
his most recent novel, was an ALA Best Book for Young Adults.
Graham Salisbury has been a recipient of the John Unterecker Award for Fiction and the PEN/Norma Klein Award.
The author would like to thank John Honl for giving him a life on the sea.
You can visit Graham Salisbury at his web site:
www.grahamsalisbury.com
.
Other books by Graham Salisbury
Blue Skin of the Sea
Under the Blood-Red Sun
Shark Bait
Jungle Dogs
Published by
Dell Laurel-Leaf
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Random House Children’s Books
a division of Random House, Inc.
New York
Copyright © 2001 by Graham Salisbury
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March 2003
eISBN: 978-0-307-43355-8
v3.0
