TROUBLE
ON THE WATER
"Let's
go Amy, we're going to be late!" Amy's mother shouted up the
stairs.
"I'm coming!" the 12 year old girl
sang in reply.
She had been looking forward to this trip for a
while, since she had never been on a big boat before. Her
father had been invited by one of his clients, and was told to
bring his family along for a Sunday cruise. It was to
celebrate a business deal her father had just made. Amy
quickly slipped her black 'Mary Janes' on her feet and headed
downstairs.
"You look very pretty Amy," her
father remarked.
Amy smiled in response, "Thanks Daddy."
Linda walked into the room while clipping on
her earrings, and announced, "OK, I'm ready Frank."
"Alright then, everyone into the car"
Frank announced as the three of them piled into the car.
* * *
As they arrived at the dock, Frank announced
"There she is," as he gestured to the large boat that
bobbed quietly before them.
"Wow!" Amy exclaimed, "It's so
BIG! Is that the boat we are riding on?"
"Yes Amy," her mother replied, "that's
the boat we'll be riding on. Remember, be on your best
behavior. Daddy's boss will be there and we want to
make sure we don't do anything to embarrass Daddy, ok?"
"I promise, I'll be good." Amy
answered. She certainly didn't want to get into any
trouble, so she just tried to keep to herself.
She was disappointed that there were no other
children aboard the boat, and as they left the dock she began to
wonder what she would do to pass the time. As she
walked along the deck watching the scenery, the boat powered away
and out to sea.
* * *
Amy was beginning to get bored. She
thought it would be more exciting but all they were doing was
boating along the coast. The shoreline looked far
away, although they passed close to many small islands.
Amy started to play a little game to pass the time. She
found out her new shoes would slide pretty easily on the deck, so
she would go to the edge of the cabin and then run and slide to
the railing. She was having a ball, and giggled as she
slid time and time again.
While she was sliding, things took a turn for the worse when all
of a sudden the boat heaved when making a small turn. This
caused Amy to lose her balance and she fell to the deck, still
sliding towards the edge of the boat.
With nothing to stop her, she realized that she
was going to go over the edge. In shock, she tried to
scream, but nothing came out. By this point it was too
late and she plummeted over the side of the boat and into the
cold water below.
Amy began to panic as her black velvet dress
was washed into her face by the impact into the water. Pushing
the dress away, she continued to sink into the water. She
could feel the water soaking her white tights; as the colour
changed from white to dull gray a hint of pink skin could be seen
showing through. The tights now clung to her legs like
a second skin, conducting the frigid temperature of the water
directly to her legs. Her shoes felt like dead weights
as she struggled to reach the surface.
She did know how to swim, however, a fact she
didn't have time to be thankful for as she broke the surface of
the water and gasped for air. Since she had been at
the stern, she watched in horror as the boat was steadily moving
away. Screaming for the first time, she yelled at the
top of her lungs in the hopes someone would hear her cries for
help.
Unfortunately with the loud rumblings of the
engines and the noise of the splashing waves, her cries were
unanswered. She continued to scream as the boat moved
further away, until she realized that no one was coming for her.
Amy began to tire as the weight of her clothes
and shoes caused her to expend extra effort to stay afloat. Thinking
about it, she decided to kick off her shoes, and using the heel
of her foot she pushed the shoes off her feet. The black 'Mary
Janes' quickly sank away, never to be seen by a human again.
As one of the shoes continued to sink, it
passed a whale that happened to be swimming below.
* * *
Neri was enjoying a swim in her lagoon when she
heard a voice.
Should not be here, does not belong.
Neri heard Charley's voice, and stopped what
she was doing. "What does not belong?" she
communicated to the large whale.
In danger, does not belong here, come.
Neri didn't hesitate as she sprang into action,
swimming to the location that Charley spoke of.
* * *
Amy was beginning to tire. She
didn't know how long she could hold on. She hadn't
thought of what she was going to do. The boat was but
a speck in the distance, and she was treading water with nowhere
to go.
At that moment she felt something swimming
nearby. She thought it might be a shark and was ready
to scream when a strange girl surfaced from under the water.
Neri looked at the young girl as she bobbed in
the water, and then looked around to see how she could have
gotten here. Although she saw a boat in the distance,
it was much too far for this young girl to swim there. Moving
closer to the girl, Neri examined her to see if she was OK.
Amy didn't know what to think. 'Where
did this girl come from?' 'How did she get here?' Her thoughts
were interrupted when this strange girl began to speak to her.
"Hello," Neri said.
"Hello," Amy replied.
"This not safe place to swim," Neri
began, "why you alone?"
"I fell off a boat, and now they're gone. I
don't know what to do!" Amy responded as she began to weep.
"Shhh," Neri said as she tried to
calm the young girl, "I can help, but you must do as I say."
"OK," Amy replied while wiping away
her tears.
Neri swam up to the young girl and motioned for
Amy climb on her back. Amy didn't quite understand
what a piggyback ride was going to do to help, but she complied
anyway. Wrapping her legs around Neri's midsection,
she then held on with her hands.
"You know how hold breath, yes?" Neri
asked.
"Yes." Amy replied.
"OK, when I say," Neri began, "take
big breath and hold. Then we go under water. When
you out of air, tap my arm and we go up. Now!"
Amy took a big breath, and in a moment they
were underwater, moving quite quickly. She held her
breath for a while, and when she was nearly out of breath she
tapped the strange girl's arm. They surfaced and Amy
took another breath, then the process was repeated often as they
covered a great distance.
Soon they were on the shore of an island, and
Amy fell off Neri's back and lay exhausted on the sand.
* * *
Frank and his wife were enjoying the company of
his boss, when Linda turned to him and said, "I'm going to
check on Amy, I'll be right back." Frank nodded as Linda
rose to head above deck.
Linda put down her drink and moved to the
stairwell, carefully climbing to the deck above. Calling
out, "Amy," Linda waited for her daughter's response. Hearing
nothing she moved over to the smaller cabin where she left Amy. Looking
around the cabin she saw some of the games untouched, but her
daughter was nowhere to be found.
Starting to worry, she went back up on deck and
called for Amy again. Moving to the bridge area she
spoke to the captain. "Excuse me, have you seen
my daughter?"
The captain responded, "The last time I
saw your daughter was on the stern, when I was back there about
20 minutes ago. Is she not there now?"
"No," Linda responded anxiously,
"I can't find her anywhere!"
"OK, calm down ma'am," the captain
replied, "don't worry, we'll find her." The captain
took his microphone and paged someone below deck. Shutting
down the engines he gestured to the woman to step back out onto
deck.
A group of three men approached the captain, at
which point the captain spoke, "OK, we're looking for a
young girl, she's wearing a black dress and has blond hair. She
can't have gotten far, search all decks and report back
ASAP."
* * *
"Where are we?" Amy asked.
"This my island," Neri responded,
"you welcome to stay until we find how get you home."
Gesturing to the young girl, she said "Come."
Amy followed Neri inland, and after a few
minutes they arrived at a small hut. There was a small
fire nearby, and Amy quickly took the opportunity to warm up. Neri
helped Amy to take off her black velvet dress, which was sopping
wet. While Amy stood in front of the fire in her white
tights and undershirt, Neri asked her to wait as she went inside
her hut.
* * *
Jason was in the galley when his watch began to
beep in a special pattern. He knew this was an
emergency signal from Neri so he immediately made up an excuse
and rushed to his cabin. Grabbing his transceiver, he
pressed a button and spoke, "Neri, it's Jason. Is
everything OK?"
Neri was happy to hear Jason's voice, and she
responded, "Jason, there is girl here, young one. I
save her from Ocean, but do not know what to do with her now."
"Where's Ilona?" Jason asked.
"She went for swim," Neri responded,
"not know when she come back."
"OK," Jason replied, "you sit
tight and I'll be there as soon as I can."
* * *
Back on the boat, the crew had reported in. There
was no sign of the young girl anywhere on the ship. As
Linda relayed the news to Frank, she broke down in tears.
"Don't worry," Frank said trying to
reassure her, "we'll find her."
* * *
Jason had the boat going full power towards
Neri's Island. He considered using a helicopter, but
there was nowhere for him to land there. Approaching
the island, he slid the boat up onto the shore without bothering
to drop anchor.
Jogging inland, he saw the young girl by the
fire. He walked up to her, and looking her over said,
"Hi, my name is Jason, are you alright?"
"Yes," Amy replied, "I think so. Where
am I?"
"That's hard to explain," Jason
began, "let's just say you're on an island, and we need to
get you back with your folks. How did you end up in
the water?"
"I fell off a boat," Amy replied,
"my mom and dad are on it."
"OK," Jason continued, "I have a
boat here, so let's get you dressed and we'll try and find your
parents. OK?"
* * *
Back aboard the boat, Jason was loading Amy
into the forward compartment. "You'll be safe in
here," Jason said, "but put on a life vest just to be
sure."
Jason had figured that putting her inside the
boat would prevent her from seeing where she was, or where she
was going. As he moved the boat away from Neri's
island, Jason turned the radio to the command and control
frequency and immediately heard the call alerting boats in his
area to assist in a search for a lost girl. Picking up
the microphone, Jason identified himself and said he had found
the lost girl. He then agreed to meet at a specific
location in the ocean to return the girl to her parents.
* * *
The captain of the boat heard the message from
Jason, and immediately went below to let Linda and Frank know the
good news. Not long afterwards, they arrived at the
arranged meeting place and saw the ORCA boat approaching.
Jason pulled up alongside the larger vessel,
and grabbed a line to tie off his boat temporarily. Calling
Amy out of the compartment, he helped her onto the short ladder
on which she climbed back aboard the larger vessel.
Once aboard both Frank and Linda quickly
grabbed Amy and the three of them hugged each other tightly. Amy
and Linda cried while Frank lifted his head up and turning to
Jason said, "Thank you so much, you don't know how much this
means to us."
"No worries," Jason replied, and he
cast off from the large boat and headed back to the mainland.
This derivitive work is copyright to Jonathan M. Shiff Productions Pty. Ltd. and the author Savant, ©2001