Chapter 13

Act 2

Scene 6

Evan settled on a course toward the mouth of Spencer Creek. Actually, two creeks Spencer and Callahan had mouths within a hundred yards of each other. Better yet, there were several small islands blocking the view of the creeks. Both looked to be navigable for Topaz Fire for a mile or two, depending on the tide. Evan grabbed his tide chart, since the channels of the streams were shown as being only two and a half feet deep at low tide on his NOAA Navigation Chart. They would need high tide to get very far upstream, since the draft of Topaz was just under four feet. Evan suspiously looked over the side, through the crystal clear water, to the reef below. He threw a worried glance at the pirate ship to the north, and turned back toward shore, only to be transfixed by a glare from his wife.

This didn't look good, Kimber had both arms folded over her chest and her mouth was pursed in frustration.

"So, just what do we do to escape?" She demanded.

"There's two small streams due west of here. According to the charts, we should be able to go upstream at least a couple miles and get away from the pirate ships."

Kimber relaxed with a large sigh, but then her eyes followed the track that his had, down into the water and north toward the pirate. She added a look back to the south and picked out the Dragon Lady.

"Looks like we'll make it fine. Is it the Dragon Lady you're worried about? Or something else?"

Evan looked down in defeat, he never had been able to hide anything from Kimber. Not anything, not once.

"Just how accurate can even our NOAA charts be when there wasn't a coral reef when or where they were made? Then there's the tides, I haven't seen the moon yet. So why should I trust that the moon is in the same phase? With everything we've seen so far, this is a completely different place. So, yes, we should make it to the mouths of those streams, but unless we are lucky we won't be able to get far upstream, and the pirates can just launch longboats and follow us regardless."

Kimber stood, clenched her fists, and gave a frustrated growl. Evan flinched back a bit, expecting her to explode at him, especially since she'd been near hysteria almost constantly. But instead, she gave him a hug and a searing kiss, and pulled back to give him a cool, searching look.

"We'll have to leave the boat then. Get as far upstream as you can, ground the Topaz Fire and we'll hide in the forest. I'll get the girls to start packing what we can take. Paul will find a way to meet us. Don't worry."

As she turned and went below, Evan blinked in surprise and admiration at her back. Then he yelled after her, "Hey! Babe, I just remembered, I have the Blooper and the Genoa 170 stuffed in duffel bags in the sail storage locker. Pull them out and use those."

The girls all looked questioningly at Kimber as she descended into the galley. The questions started flowing from everyone at once, "Mom, are you serious? We are going to have to leave the boat and hide in the jungle? What about the crocodiles? How long do we have to hide?"

Taking a deep breath, Kimber made a cutting motion with her hands to try and get everyone's attention. "Girls, we need to get away from the pirates. We can't do that if we stay in the boat, and so, yes, that means hiding in the jungle. I don't know for how long, but this is our only option. So, I need you all to be brave and settle down. We have to pack enough supplies for a few days, just in case."

Eyes wide with surprise, the girls all quieted at once. The realization that they were in real trouble seemed to be hitting home with each of them. Beth broke the silence and put on her bravest face, "Ok Mom, what do you need us to do?"

Smiling at Beth, she reached out to give her a hug. "That's my girl. Please go grab the duffle bags in the sail storage locker and bring them here. I will get what we need out of the benches then put the table down. We will use it to gather everything we need. The rest of you finish changing into jeans and t-shirts and come back in here. Bell, honey, I want you to put on those pants that zip off at the bottom that we packed."

The girls scattered and Kimber started to pull out some supplies from the dining benches. Although scared, she felt better doing something productive. She quietly named the items as she removed them from the benches and placed them on the floor behind her, "First aid kit, bug spray, tarp, tie downs, hatchet, folding saw, and knife." Moving to the next bench, Beth returned with the duffle bags.

"Here they are Mom, what do you need me to do next?"

Without turning around, Kimber replied, "I want each of you to get together one extra set of clothes, and make sure you include a jacket and another pair of shoes if you have them. Oh, and don't forget a hat. Help Bell and Jenny pick out something practical to take, no flip-flops. We are going to be traipsing around in a jungle and none of you need to worry about impressing anyone with your clothes. Then, I need you to start folding up the blankets; we will need one for each of us. Did any of you girls bring back packs with you?"

"Sure, we all did I think."

"Ok, good. Empty them out; you will need to use them to carry some supplies. I am going to have to figure out how to separate all of the supplies into the bags so we can carry them."

Beth eagerly moved towards the bedroom to get everyone working on the chores as Kimber finished up in the benches. Putting the table down to make a flat surface, she started to move her pile from the floor to the table and Bell appeared by her side.

"Mommy, we don't have a tent or anything. How can we go camping in the jungle without the tent?"

Giving Bell a quick hug, and smiling to keep her calm, she replied, "We have tarps and rope and we are going to make our own tents honey. Isn't that great? It's like a real adventure, just like in your stories!"

Looking up at her mom with doubt, Bell thought a moment about some of her stories. The story characters always ended up traveling to scary places and sleeping on the ground for days. "Mom, do you think there are any cabins in the jungle?"

Laughing and hugging Bell tighter, "No, I don't think so honey. We are going to have to rough it. Now go back and pick our your clothes and get your backpack. Beth has some other things for you to do too."

Turning to the kitchen cabinets as her daughter left, Kimber started selecting a few cooking utensils to add to her pile. As she started on the food, all of the girls piled back into the galley, arms full of blankets and back packs. Suddenly, it seemed very crowded in the small area.

"Good job girls. Let me take a look at your backpacks." Seeing how small they were, Kimber began wondering just how much they were going to be able to take. "Beth, can you and Sarah line each of those packs with a plastic garbage bag please? Then put everyone's clothes together in one or two if you can. Then empty those duffle bags over there. Bell and Jenny, get the toothbrushes, toothpaste, sunscreen, deodorant, shampoo and soap out of the bathroom and put it on the pile over there. We can't bring everything, so we are going to have to sort through it all."

Sighing, Kimber went back to sorting the food they brought with and trying to plan out what to bring. She stuffed an assortment of trail mix, granola bars, crackers and other items into plastic zipper bags and tossed them over to the growing pile of supplies.

Beth and Sarah lined the backpacks and consolidated all of the girl's clothes into two, then moved over to the larger duffle bags. Sarah whispered to Beth, "I really hate camping you know. Why can't we just stay on the boat? If we can get up river and hide the boat, wouldn't we be safe enough?"

Beth whispered back, "I know; I hate the thought of that jungle too. But, I don't think it would be safe, and neither do my folks. So we have to do this. I just hope the jungle doesn't have anything like those crocs. We need to stick together when we get in there, and watch out for Bell and Jenny so they don't wander off."

Hearing the girls whisper, Kimber knew they were scared. So was she, but in her heart, she knew they were doing the right thing to protect her family.

As Bell and Jenny brought in armfuls of bathroom supplies, Beth and Sarah finished emptying the duffle bags. Turning to face all of the girls, Kimber looked at the pile and then to the group of girls.

"Ok, this looks like a good start. I think all we are missing are the flashlights, batteries, and rope. I'll get those in a minute. Girls, I know this is strange, and you are all scared. But you are doing a really good job helping me out. Let's start packing these bags."

The girls moved forward towards the pile and started to grab things randomly to put into the packs.

Seeing that the girls need direction, Kimber stopped them and explained, "Wait a minute girls, we need to think this through. We each have to carry as much as possible, but we need to know where everything is at after it's packed. Bell, will you and Jenny please put a toothbrush into each pack. Put a fresh bar of soap and toothpaste into a different pack. Beth, make sure each pack has a knife and start putting the food into those other two backpacks. Your Dad and I will carry the two larger duffle bags with whatever doesn't fit into your packs. Which, looking at that pile, will be a lot."

While the girls were busy packing, Kimber went to change and pick out clothes for her and Evan.

Left alone on deck, Evan got busy trying to find the mouth of the stream in the seemingly unbroken wall of trees facing them on the mainland. Without the GPS to tell him his exact position, Evan had to resort to older methods to find the mouth of the stream. From his charts, he could triangulate their position from the angles to the islands. Once he had determined their position, it would become a simple matter to calculate the bearing to the mouth of the stream.

He drew a hand held compass and compensated for the roll of the Topaz Fire on the light seas, got a reading of twenty-five degrees to the northern tip of Roanoke. He repeated the process for Big Island and got a reading of ninety-nine degrees. Concentrating, Evan unconsciously chewed on his lower lip. Using a grease pencil and the straight edge of his compass, he drew the lines. Their intersection was a rough determination of their position. They were already very nearly on course! So, they could simply stay on the starboard tack and if the wind held, they would be heading right into the islands at the mouth of the two streams.

Evan's satisfied smile faded quickly. Given what they had seen already, what would await them on shore? Fumbling a bit with one hand delegated to holding the tiller, Evan reached for his huge spotter binoculars. The huge 120mm lenses gave terrific magnification and clarity, but were heavy and awkward to handle with just his left hand. He lifted the binoculars over his head to loop the safety strap around his neck and settled back. Resting his elbow on the gunwale, he started looking for the details of the distant shoreline. Still alone on deck, he could only look through the binoculars for fifteen seconds at a time, before having to check the sails and his heading, to make sure they were still on course, and that the wind had not shifted.

What he saw on the shoreline nearest them was disturbing. Where there should have been salt marsh or tidal flats, he saw an unbroken forest. Still too far out even with the binoculars to tell with any certainty what kind of trees they where, Evan saw low trees with an odd halo of white near the water fronting taller trees behind them.

As he listened to Kimber marshal their supplies, they closed with the shoreline at an oblique angle. As the shoreline grew closer, Evan made out more details. The trees at the water's edge were mangroves. He was almost certain of that, but he still couldn't figure out what the white halo was. Suddenly, the trees exploded as first one then dozens of seabirds flew up from each treetop. Evan dropped the binoculars to stare in awe. All along the coast, as far as the eye could see, swarms of seabirds gathered into great swirling clouds.