Page 55 of The Hitchhiker in Panama
“Okay, really, Eivind.” It came out breathier than I’d intended.
“Really?” he whispered.
I shook the spell off. “This is blatant misconduct, and as the personal safety officer tasked with keeping me alive, I expect more from you.”
Eivind laughed. “Yes, ma’am.” He tried to “help” me with the straps again and I pushed his hands away.
“I’m not falling for that,” I muttered. Reaching in an awkward maneuver, I pushed the strap between my legs and grabbed it from behind. Eivind showed me how to clip it on the side of the harness.
“Well, that’s bloody uncomfortable.” I adjusted my shorts, which were giving me a front-wedgie. We fiddled with the straps until only half of my underwear was up my bum. Then Eivind moved on to the safety features.
A thick zipper ran from one side around my head to the other. Eivind pulled the zipper along and bright yellow material popped out.
“This is the inflating part.” He dragged a matching fluorescent hood over my head. “Aw, you look so cute.”
We also found a tether, and Eivind showed me how to clip it onto my harness. I’d use the other end to attach myself to the boat so I wouldn’t fall off. Eivind said I didn’t have to tether to the boat all the time, but I should use my tether if conditions were bad or if I was out on the deck.
I tried to pay, but Eivind insisted on using his card since the items would stay behind when I left.
When we returned toEik,I sat down to bite the bullet. I called Dad at work first since he was an early riser and, frankly, the calmer of the two.
My mum did not take it well. She didn’t yell at me, but she did that scary mum-silence before she answered.
“Honey, I need you to think about this. You don’t know these people. What if I don’t hear from you and you disappear? I don’t know anything about them or where I would start to look for you!”
“I’ll send you all the information you need, Mum. You’ll have everyone’s name and our contact information so you can email me while we are out at sea. Jonas has a cool tracker showing exactly where we are on the map.”
“But what if something goes wrong? What if the boat sinks?”
I described all the safety supplies Jonas had on board, using my fancy new nautical words likedrogueandEPIRB.
“I don’t know about this, Lila. I don’t trust strangers like this.”
“But I do, Mum. Eivind will take good care of me.” I looked up to find Eivind watching me, and smiled at him. Mum scoffed.
“You barely know him—”
I interrupted. “Mum, it’s going to be okay. I’ll email you every day. I promise.”
Mum sighed. “I’m going to talk to your father when he comes home, and we will see about this.”
I smiled a little bit. Dad would calm her down.
Twenty-Five
We sat around the table eating dinner when my phone rang. Marcella had to let me out of the booth to grab it.
“Hi, Dad,” I answered, heading up the companionway and into the cockpit for some privacy.
“Hey, sweet pea. Your mum is in a tizzy.”
“Ugh. I know.”
“If it would make your mum feel better, why don’t you put Eivind on the phone to talk to me?”
“What? Dad! Absolutely not. You do not need to talk to Eivind. This is my decision!”
“Sweet pea, just let me talk to him.”
