Page 36 of The Sailor in Polynesia
“I heard you sayshiitaketoday, and in a lot of your videos. And a few other words, curse words but not. You do not sayfuckorshit?”
I glanced back at him and laughed. “No, I don’t. Well, not usually anyway. I have a bunch of niblings, so I’ve gotten used to not saying curse words.”
“Niblings?”
“Collective gender-neutral noun for my siblings’ kids. Aka nieces and nephews.”
“Ah, so you are an aunt.”
“Yes, many times over.”
Jonas settled back and put his feet on the couch. “Tell me about your family.”
I finally found a thumb drive I was willing to part with. I plugged it in and started the file transfer.
“Well, it’s big. I have five siblings, but not unsurprising, I’m closest to my younger brother, James, and Dawn, my only sister. But between my four oldest siblings, there are ten, soon to be eleven, kids. So ever since my nephew Tyrell was born, there have been kids around.”
“So you sayshiitake? Andfudgsicles, ja? What else?”
“Biscuitsinstead ofbitches. Sometimesfluffernutteris a good substitute formotherfucker.”
Jonas tsk-tsked at me. “The mouth of a sailor.”
Suddenly I heard a dinging sound nearby.
Jonas looked up. “What was that? Your satellite phone?”
I frowned. “Yes, I think so.”
I maneuvered myself out from the couch and stood at my navigation station. The satellite device was mounted on the wall near the rest of my electronics.
Pressing the button on the front, I saw that I did, in fact, have a new message. It must be my family—speak of the devils. I sat and connected my phone to the network.
I had a message from my oldest brother.
Call me when you can.
Hmm. It was unusual for Doug to reach out to me.
I hated calling back home on the satellite phone. There was always a lag, and we were constantly talking over each other with a terrible connection. I was better at it than my siblings, who always got impatient and kept saying, “Hello? Hello? Mia?” Nevertheless, I opened the app to make calls and dialed.
“I have to call my brother real quick.”
Jonas tilted his head at me and nodded. I gestured for him to make himself comfortable.
I hit the call button and put the phone up to my ear. It was silent for several long moments, and I waited patiently. Then I heard the rings—most of them only partial while the connection tried to work itself out.
I heard the click and Doug said hello.
“Hey, Doug.”
I waited three seconds for Doug’s response.
“Hi, Mia! Where are you?”
“I’m at an island called—”
“Mia? Hello? Can you hear me?”
