About ten minutes into the ride over to the marsh maze, JJ got a bright idea.
"Bet you can't do this," JJ challenged the others, grabbing another beer. "Hey Pope, can you go a little faster?"
"Here we go, I'm moving," John B sighed, anticipating JJ's next move.
"It doesn't work," Pope replied, though he sped up nonetheless. "We've tried this 6,000 times."
"I got this. It's going to work this time," JJ said confidently.
Standing at the front of the boat, JJ held her beer a few inches from her face and tilted it, hoping to catch the beer flying from the bottle to her mouth using the boat's speed and the wind. However, most of it missed and ended up in Kie's hair and on the boys' faces, prompting them to complain and ask her to stop.
JJ abruptly stopped her antics and was just about to turn around to rejoin the Pogues when the boat jerked suddenly. The next thing she knew, she was flying into the water, disoriented and struggling to orient herself. Her body contorted in a way it wasn't used to, and her muscles groaned in protest. Desperately, she picked a direction and hoped it was up, as she was running out of air fast.
John B, Kie, and Pope lost their footing in the boat, causing John B to brush his head on the side, but otherwise, they were fine. Once they checked each other and confirmed their safety, John B glanced around and realized JJ wasn't on the boat. Panic surged through him as he flew up from the floor and scanned the water frantically for any sign of JJ. Just as worry gripped him, JJ finally broke the surface about ten feet away. Relief washed over him like a wave.
"Thank God," he muttered, before diving into the water towards her.
"You okay, JJ?" John B asked, swimming towards her.
"I think my heels touched the back of my head," she groaned. When John B reached her, he checked her over as best as he could while swimming to make sure she wasn't injured. Once JJ caught her breath, they began swimming back towards the boat together.
"Pope, what did you do?" JJ asked accusingly.
"Sandbar. The channel changed," he replied matter-of-factly.
"No shit," JJ retorted.
"Ugh, this is probably going to mess this whole place up," John B complained.
Pope climbed onto the ledge of the boat and peered down into the water. "Guys… I think there's a boat down there."
"Shut up. What?" John B said, incredulous.
"No way," Kie added.
"What?" JJ questioned from the water.
"No, no, guys. I'm serious. There's a boat down there," Pope said, dead serious. The rest of the Pogues, except JJ who chose to stay in the water, climbed up to where Pope was, and sure enough, there was a boat.
"Holy shit, he's right. Let's go," Kie said excitedly.
John B pulled his wet shirt off and rejoined JJ in the water.
"You think there's a dead body down there?" Pope asked, his curiosity piqued. Of course he'd ask that. No one responded.
Kie jumped in, followed by Pope, and they all swam down towards the boat.
'Whoa. It's the Grady White!' John B thought as they approached.
Once they all returned to the surface to catch their breath, JJ gasped, "You guys saw that, right?"
"Yeah," Pope said excitedly. John B and Kie exclaimed their agreement as they all laughed in excitement.
"That's a Grady White!" JJ finally exclaimed, "A new one of those is like 500 grand easy." They pulled themselves back into the HMS Pogue, and JJ continued, "That's a primo rig."
"Yeah, that's the boat I saw when I surfed the surge!" John B interjected.
"Maybe it hit the jetty or something," JJ wondered aloud.
"You surfed the surge?" Kie questioned, her expression revealing her surprise and concern.
She clearly wasn't thrilled about that revelation.
Neither was JJ, but after the initial anger over it, she was mostly just unhappy that she wasn't there to surf it with him. She realized he was right; she had no right to lecture him on being reckless when it's the type of stunt she herself would have pulled. If she had still been at the beach, she would have been the first to jump in on the idea.
"That's my boy. Pogue style," JJ threw in her support. When John B looked over at her with his eyebrow raised, remembering her initial reaction, she shrugged to show her change of heart. He nodded; they always could communicate without words. JJ appreciated it because sometimes it was the only way they could communicate when things got too emotional.
"What the heck?" Kie mumbled, clearly perplexed, but she backed off.
"Wait, wait, do we know whose boat that is?" Pope chimed in with the million-dollar question. Someone give him a gold star.
"No, but we're about to find out," John B replied confidently, opening a hatch in the boat.
"Dude, it's too deep," JJ objected immediately, already anticipating the plan he was concocting.
"Oh, for the weak and feeble, JJ," John B retorted cockily as he pulled out the anchor. And damn if cocky didn't look good on John B. JJ shook herself out of that thought quickly.
"Well, I'm not resuscitating you, just making that clear up front," JJ insisted stubbornly, though a worried look in her eyes clearly stated the opposite.
John B climbed up to the edge of the boat.
"John B," Kie started, trying to get his attention, likely attempting to talk him out of it. Pope and JJ knew that was impossible, though. John B was stubborn once he got an idea in his head.
"What?" John B asked anyway, turning to face Kie.
Before Kie could get a word out, Pope stated, "Diver down, fool."
John B gave a salute. "Diver down."
"Yeah, he is," JJ said with a smirk as she playfully pushed him off the ledge into the water, where the anchor quickly carried John B down to the bottom.
JJ's heart filled with fear as she started counting the seconds, waiting for John B to reappear.
The three Pogues peered into the water, anxiously scanning for any sign of John B about to break the surface.
"Should we go get him?" Pope asked worriedly, as time seemed to stretch on with still no sign of their friend.
JJ could hear her heartbeat pounding inside her chest and forced the panic down that threatened to rise. Finally, John B's head broke the surface, coughing and gasping for air, and JJ let out a sigh of relief.
"God, that took forever!" Kie exclaimed.
JJ silently agreed, unable to speak as her heart began to calm down.
"Any dead bodies?" Pope asked, obsessed.
Finally, JJ found her voice and added, "Looting potential?"
"No, no," John B responded, still breathing heavily. Then he held up his hand, revealing something small and metal. "I found this motel key."
"A key?" Pope asked, sounding a little too disappointed that it wasn't a dead body.
"Yes, a key, Pope! Great! We salvaged a motel key!" JJ said exasperatedly. She had almost had a heart attack for a motel key.
John B climbed back into the boat, and they pulled up the anchor, ready to head out, their fishing plans forgotten.
John B had just started pressing the gas when Kie said, "Guys, we should report the wreck to the coast guard. Maybe we'll get a finder's fee."
JJ liked the idea. "Yeah, and not have to work all summer! Thanks, Agatha, ya batch."
With that decision made, they set their path toward the reporting station.
