Page 13 of The Sailor in Polynesia
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I heard an engine start up and I poked my head up out of the boat. Lila was headed over for our free-diving lesson.
At first she was a little jerky, throttling too much and knocking herself backward onto the engine. Then, of course, she released the throttle and the little boat lurched to a putter and she had to brace herself on the tube in front of her.
It was mid-afternoon and hot as blazes. I’d already been in the water twice to cool off, and the coconut I’d found on my deck was long gone.
Lila waved at me. “Hi, Mia!” Her tender bumped intoWelina’s hull and bounced off. Lila leaped up, trying to catch the toe rail of my boat, but she was too late. Bouncing off the hull had knocked the boat out of reach, and she scrambled for a minute, trying to grab it. The kill cord on her other wrist popped off the switch and the engine died.
“Oh, fuck a duck,” Lila cursed. “Sorry, it’s my first time driving the dinghy by myself!” she shouted as she drifted away.
“That’s okay!” I called back to her. I watched her pull the starter four or five times. On the last pull, she finally got the cord out far enough that the engine kicked to life.
“Get your painter ready and you can hand it to me when you bump intoWelina.”
“Okay.” Lila bundled the line tied to the bow in one hand. The other hand worked the throttle again, and she approached the side of my boat. This time, I was there to catch the line, so even though she played bumper boats, I held on so she wouldn’t bump away again.
She killed the engine and stood up in the dinghy. “Victory!” She raised her fists and turned around to look atEik. Eivind stood out on the bow, watching, and returned her exuberance.
She had a huge grin on her face when she turned around. “Okay, now I have to do that fifty million more times till I get it right.”
“Good job,” I said, thinking about when I taught Liam how to drive our dinghy and how frustrating it was. “I bet you can get it in ten.”
Lila climbed aboard as I tied the line to one ofWelina’s cleats. She fiddled with the kill cord on her wrist. “This is a bit of a pain, isn’t it?”
I looked up at her. “Put it around your ankle. It should be able to stretch that far when you are driving, and then you have both hands free.”
She took the cord off her wrist and lifted a foot, slipping it over and up to her ankle. “Brilliant.”
I nodded toward the back and Lila made her way to the cockpit. “What’s life like onEiktoday?”
“Marcella is baking bread, Elayna’s in a mood, and the boys are going to do some boat project. Pickling the thruster? Or polishing the halyard? I don’t know. Something that I don’t want to get involved in. Or, actually, I don’t think they want me involved in. Nor is there room.”
“Yeah, a lot of boat spaces you have to squeeze into for projects are pretty small.”
“Exactly. Anyway, it’s hot out, and I thought now would be the perfect time to cool off with a swim.”
“That sounds pretty good actually. Give me fifteen minutes to get ready?”
“I have all the stuff I need. At least I think I do. I’ll wait here?”
“Sure.”
I changed quickly and stepped back into the cockpit to slather on sunscreen. I opened up one of the lockers and pulled out my gear: weight belts, fins, snorkel, and mask.
“Where do you want to go snorkeling?” I asked her.
“Wherever you think would be good. You know the area better than I do.”
“Let’s take the dinghy over to the coral head on the other side ofEikand start there. It’s a big coral head and the area around it is shallow, so it’ll be good for breathing practice.”
Lila hopped in first and I handed her my gear. “Do you want to drive?” she asked me, hopeful.
“Nah, it’s all you.”
She groaned. “I was afraid you would say that.”
“The more you practice, the better you’ll be.”
