Part 7: Sunday

I awoke at my usual time, a little before dawn, but not in my usual situation. A fierce wind was shaking the cottage and driving sheets of rain against the windows. Some tree limbs had broken off and were lying in the yard. Large waves were crashing against the shore and rising into the air. It was a first class storm.

The boat! We should have pulled in the boat Saturday night! Instead, the wind and the waves were tossing it around and crashing it into the dock! Then, the bow line snapped! With only the stern line holding the boat to the dock, it snapped around more furiously then ever!

If anyone could save the boat, it was me. With no further thought, I rushed outside and ran to the dock. Nadia saw me leave and started screaming for me to stop, but I was intent on saving Dan's boat. The dock was so wet and the wind was so strong that I could barely stand, but I hooked my toes on the edge and waited for the boat to swing in range. I didn't have long to wait and when my chance came, I took it. I leapt through the storm and into the boat!

My landing was no thing of beauty but I was in the boat! Furiously I searched for another line and found one! My plan was to toss the line over one of the dock posts, pull in, and then secure the boat. Nadia was still screaming her head off, telling me to get out of there, but it was too late! I was committed!

If standing on the dock was difficult, standing in the boat was nearly impossible. Nevertheless, I tried again and again to catch a dock post, failing every time.

Nadia's screaming aroused Vivian, who quickly assessed the situation and ran into the garage. A few seconds later, she was running toward the dock with more ropes and two life vests.

Vivian quickly donned one vest, then tied one line to the dock. I thought she was going to toss me the other end, but no! Instead, she tied it to her vest! Instantly I saw the logic of this; she wouldn't be swept into open water. But what about me? For the first time, I realized the predicament I was in. If I couldn't secure the boat, I had no way back to land!

Vivian tied the second line to the dock and to second vest, then tossed me the vest. But the boat lunged and I missed! Vivian pulled in the line for a second attempt, but then the stern line snapped and the boat was completely free! And moving rapidly toward open water!

Vivian tried again to toss me the vest, but again it was beyond my reach. The boat was already past the end of the dock! Call it instinct, call it snap judgment, call it whatever you will, but I decided my only option was to regain the dock. So I jumped!

I was twenty feet from the dock, swimming as powerfully as my trained body could sustain, but I was making no headway! I was twenty-five feet from the dock, then thirty!

Vivian crawled to the end of the dock and tried once again to throw me the vest. But the wind was blowing the rope, the waves were jostling me about, and I was getting further and further from the dock!

Suddenly, Vivian was running toward the cottage! At first I thought she was abandoning me, but then she stopped, untied her line, and refastened it to a post on the end of the dock. By now, there was no hope of throwing me the vest. I was too far out.

Then Vivian jumped in the water!

"No!" I shouted. "Save yourself!"

"Keep swimming toward me!" she ordered. Then, when her line grew taut, she tried throwing me the second vest. It landed less than five feet from my hand, but there was no way I could reach it. Vivian tried again, but the gap was even wider!

Then Vivian was swimming toward me again! Stupidly, she had discarded her lifeline! But with both of us swimming toward each other, and no small amount of luck, we eventually found the range. I had the vest! I felt the flush of victory as I put it on and clipped the fasteners.

Then I looked around. The rain was coming down in such sheets that I could barely see the cottage. But it had to be at least a thousand feet away!

Then something was pulling at my vest! It was Vivian, using my line to pull us together! I started pulling too, and within moments we touched.

I couldn't help but hug her! Yes, it was Vivian Vivichelli, but she had just saved my life! She hugged me back, too, but only for a moment. Waves were everywhere, bobbing us up and down and occasionally submerging us.

"That was a stupid move, Yonson," she shouted at me.

"Yeah, I found that out."

"You don't risk human life to save a boat, Yonson. It's the other way around!"

"I wasn't thinking. So now what? I don't think we can swim back."

"We stay together. We save our energy. We stay awake. We look for a way out."

"You really think so?

"What?"

"You think there's a way out?"

"You gotta think that, Yonson, or you just give up and die. People have survived a couple of days in the ocean."

"What, did you take lifesaving class or something?"

"Something like that."

For a long time we held onto each other, just staying above water and letting the winds and the current have their way. Occasionally we saw floating debris, but nothing we could hang onto. Then, after a few hours, the wind subsided and the rain slowed to a drizzle. But whenever we looked around, we were nowhere near shore.

Fortunately, the water was cooler than the day before. It caused my erection to shrivel, at least for periods of time. This solved one small problem among many; at least I could take a piss now and then.

We drifted for hours more, than spotted a buoy generally ahead of us. Risking our remaining energy, we swam toward the buoy and managed to capture it. Fortunately, there were handholds we could grasp and catch our breath. And even more fortunately, the buoy seemed to be marking a shoreline.

"How far do you think that is?" Vivian asked.

"The shore? About a quarter mile, I guess. Four or five hundreds yards."

"The wind's blowing in."

"There's probably an undertow. The waves come in high, the water goes back out low."

"You got a better plan?"

"Let's get rested, OK?"

"OK. In the meantime, watch for boats."

Of course, there were no boats. No one wanted to risk going on the water with the skies still dark. So after waiting fifteen or twenty minutes, we headed carefully toward the shore.

I'm not going to tell you it was easy or a sure thing, because it wasn't. We were fortunate not to encounter an undertow. At one point I got a cramp, and at another Vivian lost her sense of direction. But eventually, I stuck down my toe and felt the bottom. Five minutes later, we dragged ourselves onto a rocky shore. Crossing the rocks hurt our feet, but soon we were laying in a small opening under the shelter of trees.

"You OK?" I asked Vivian.

"Yeah. You?"

"Same here. Thanks, huh?"

"No Problem. Thanks, too. I just got one question, Yonson."

"What's that?"

"Does that thing ever go down?"

We rested for about an hour, then explored our surroundings. We were in a cove about half a mile wide, blocked at both ends by sharp outcroppings and pounding waves. The shore was lined with dense vegetation, beyond which rocky cliffs were visible. Walking out by land without shoes seemed impossible, and we weren't about to reenter the water.

We walked up and down the shoreline as far as we could, and spotted no sign of civilization. Our PDA's showed No Signal, perhaps because they were out of range or perhaps because they were ruined in the water. No one would be homing on our signal.

With nothing else to do, we continued exploring the shoreline. Eventually, I spotted a reflective marker hidden in the undergrowth: a marker that led to an overgrown path.

The path extended back a few hundred feet from the shoreline, terminating at a ranger shack. The place had very few supplies and looked abandoned. We discovered a tarp, some matches, and some emergency rations, but no communications or electricity.

The tarp was useless as clothing but it was a much better place to sit than the bare ground. So, we picked a lookout point, spread out the tarp, and weighted the edges with rocks. Then, we ate some rations and started a signal fire out on the rocks. A forest fire was the last thing we needed. Unfortunately, the wind was still blowing inward and most of the smoke got caught in the trees. There wasn't much to do except sit, watch, and wait.

"I guess we're in that national forest, or wildlife preserve, or whatever it is," I remarked.

"Maybe they'll come and arrest us for starting that fire, eh?"

"Wouldn't be a bad thing."

"This place is off limits to everyone, eh?"

"Yeah. Probably won't be much traffic cruising by."

"There's probably an exception for rescue boats."

"If anybody's looking."

"Nadia saw what happened. The others will know we're missing. They'll call the police, or the rangers, or somebody. You look tired, Yonson. If you wanna rest, it's OK. I'll keep watch. Just don't roll over, ya know? You might hurt yourself."

I slept.

In the morning I got up as usual, went to the bathroom, straightened my pajamas, and headed downstairs for breakfast. My mom was wearing house clothes and cooking pancakes.

"Good morning, Mom," I announced, taking my usual place at the table.

"Good morning, Adam," said Mom, pouring me a glass of orange juice. "Did you sleep well?"

"Uh huh."

"All ready for school? Got your homework in your backpack?"

"Yup."

My dad came in just then, wearing his pilot's uniform. I was always proud to see him like that: white shirt, company tie, pants with a stripe, suit coat with important-looking pins and badges on it. His brimmed hat was under his arm.

"Do you want some bacon, Walt, or just pancakes?" Mom greeted him.

"Oh, bacon would be great, Cynthia," he replied. Then, he reached over and tousled my hair.

"How's it going, Champ?" That's what he usually called me: Champ. I always liked that.

"It's goin' good Dad. Everybody likes my new bike. I'm real fast on it."

"Well, be careful when you ride and keep it locked up, OK? Your mom and I want you safe, and you wouldn't want your bike stolen."

"I know, Dad."

Mom had finished my pancakes by then, and watched to make sure I didn't use too much maple syrup. Pancakes were my favorite breakfast, except that I was starting to like omelets too. Dad was reading the newspaper.

"Were the twins awake?" Mom asked me.

"I didn't see 'em," I replied.

"Well, I'd better check," she said and then, after flipping Dad's bacon, she went upstairs. I looked again at all the pins and badges on my Dad's uniform.

"Still want to be a pilot, Adam?" he asked. I nodded.

"Well, people think it's glamorous, but it's a lot of time away from home. Your mother is a wonderful person to put up with it. I want you to help her out as much as you can, OK?"

"Yes, Dad," I replied, feeling very important.

"Could you bring me that bacon before it burns?"

"Oh, sure," I said. Mom had a paper towel and a plate ready to go, so I just used Mom's spatula to pick up the bacon and drop it on the plate. Bringing it to my dad, I felt like the head waiter at a fancy restaurant. Except that a head waiter wouldn't have hugged my dad like I did.

Mom was back a minute later, and gave me a hug for helping with the bacon. Then she straightened her apron and started frying my dad's pancakes. Dad kept reading the paper, and I went back to eating my breakfast. Mom was humming a song she'd heard on the radio. When the pancakes were gone, I rinsed my plate in the sink and gave my mom a hug. She was busy with Dad's pancakes but gave me a pat on the back.

"You better go and get dressed, honey," she told me. "Oh, and Adam, you should fix those pajamas."

At first I didn't know what she was talking about, then I looked down and saw myself hanging out. I was so ashamed! Instinctively, I covered myself with my hands.

"Now, Adam, that's not the right thing to do either. People will think you're playing with yourself. Just fix your pajamas and run upstairs."

"They'll think I'm what?"

"Uh, touching yourself when you shouldn't. Now run along and get dressed."

I still didn't know what my mom was talking about. I stood there frozen, hoping she would explain it.

"Adam?" she probed.

"Adam Jonson! Are you awake?"

I stared at her.

"Yonson, you awake?"

"What?" And at that, I opened my eyes to the sight of a nose ring. "What's that?"

"Yonson, are you awake?" Vivian asked again. I looked around and her tit nearly poked me in the eye.

"You wanna have fun with yourself, don't mess up the tarp," Vivian urged. That's when I realized I was still covering myself. Instantly, I let go and dropped my arms.

"Any signs of rescue?" I asked Vivian.

"Nope. I've been feedin' the fire and watchin' the lake, but I haven't seen a soul. I guess people are still scared to come out."

"No helicopters either, I presume."

"This ain't the movies, Yonson."

"What time do you think it is?"

"I think the sun is past its high point. Two o'clock, give or take an hour. Hard to say how long we were in the water. You slept about an hour or so."

"We should gather enough wood to keep the fire burning overnight. How are you feeling? Do you need any rest?"

"I'm OK. Well, you wanna go right and I'll go left? We'll both drag back whatever will burn."

"All right. Vivian, have you seen any animals?"

"You mean like a gang of bears walkin' the block and looking for trouble? No."