She’d been wrong, not something Margaret accepted from herself. She knew how to read a map and should have figured out that they needed a reference point. Her thinking was off, which bothered her because she wondered what else she would misjudge.
“Smitty?”
She ignored him and chose to wait silently. So did he.
Finally she gave in and said, “What?”
“Wake me up when the sun rises.” He paused for a full minute, then added, “You know... in the east.”
* * *
Something pokedhimin the foot. Hank stirred slightly.
“Mr. Wyatt?”
He took a deep breath and grunted a what. “Mr. Wyatt! You said to wake you up.”
“I changed my mind.”
“The sun’s up.”
“Well, I’m not.”
“Mr. Wyatt?”
He ignored her.
“Are you awake?”
After a few minutes he heard her sigh, then mumble something under her breath. She shifted around the boat, banging this and moving that. He blocked out the noise and was just about asleep again when he heard the irritating sound of paper crackling. Over and over.
He groaned silently. She was at that map again. Rattling it.
He took a deep breath. Let her play Captain Cook. He’d sleep for a few more minutes.
Much later, he awoke to the sound of a loudklunkand an even louder goat bleat near his ear. The children began to chatter excitedly, and the boat shifted and rocked as they moved positions.
“There it is! It’s closer now!”
He tilted back his hat. The goat stared at him, its muzzle about a foot from his face. He swatted it with his hat and glanced up.
Bright sunlight almost blinded him. After a sea of flashing stars, he squinted in their direction and his vision cleared.
The first thing he saw was Smitty’s butt. She had one knee on the bench, and she was half bent over the back of the lifeboat with an oar in her hands. She was banging it against something hard and hollow.
“You’ve almost got it!” Theodore shouted, kneeling next to her while Lydia sat on the bottom of the boat holding the baby and trying to peer around Smitty’s thin white skirt.
He watched them, then heard her bang the oar again. “There!” she said, then dropped the oar back inside and looked to be tying something. Her butt wiggled the whole time.
Hank dropped his hat beside him. He locked his hands behind his head and took in the view.Nice... really nice.
Finally she straightened. “That makes seven.” Dusting her hands together, she turned, and her gaze met his. She stiffened slightly.
He yawned, then scratched his head and stretched. When he looked at her again, she was frowning at him.
He frowned back. “What the hell are you doing?” She raised her chin. “Salvaging things from the shipwreck.”
He sat up and looked behind her.
