A N D R E A C U R T I S
140
I crouch, glancing up and down the shore. I see the barrel at
the highest spot on the point. Daniel’s great hope.
I don’t want to be a killjoy, but we have to be realistic.
We can’t sit here and wait for someone to come. We have to
leave this barren rock. Today. Soon. And we have to find some-
thing to eat or we are definitely not going to make it anywhere.
I’m rising, bracing my back with one hand, when I
hear the
hwah
of a seagull. It’s floating overhead, wings
outstretched, and I remember the bird that landed on the
lifeboat. Was that only yesterday? The seagull flies away and
then back toward me, searching for something in the water.
I search, too, but see nothing.
It feels as if the solid rock beneath my boots is spinning.
I close my eyes, and when I open them I
do
spot something
in the water. It’s out by the point, drifting slowly, partly
submerged. It’s long and dark.
I swallow the ache in my throat. “Daniel?” I call, fear
unmistakable in my voice. “Daniel?” He’s up and by my side
in seconds. “A body,” I say. “I think there’s a body.”
I don’t let my eyes leave the object. Daniel searches the
water where I’m pointing, then launches himself up the
rock toward the barrel, where there’s a better view. Up high,
we can see there are actually many things in the water.
And in a little cove on the other side of the point, something
white is draped over a large rock.
The other object has moved closer to the same cove. If we
want to retrieve it, we’ll have to negotiate a steep slope. Daniel
goes ahead, and I follow in my slippery boots. He gets to the
white thing first. It’s heavy and dripping wet. He turns it over in
his hands, water pouring onto his feet. A pillowcase.
