"Remember, girls, what I told you when you first came onboard. If we're all going to get through this, we've got to stick together, help one another, and you've got do what you're told. If you want to ask questions or discuss things, or if think you've got a better idea, leave it till tomorrow. We've got to move fast."

The Captain stared at Ding-Dong, who was rubbing her eyes. I can still remember the look on the Captain's face. She blinked, and a drop of water fell from her eyelash while another fell from her nose. She wasn't angry with Ding-Dong or impatient. She looked tired, and the worried look I'd seen before was there in full force.

Then it hit me: I knew why she was worried. She was responsible for a boatload of teenagers! That would have been stress enough already, but now things had taken a nasty turn.

"Ding-Dong," she said gently, "without the rudder, we can't steer the ship."

"But don't you have a steering wheel?" the girl countered.

It was a bad moment to be naive. Captain Blackett drew a deep breath, but before she could speak, Cakey said, "Belle, keep quiet."

Ding-Dong glanced at her, understood, and fell silent.

"Without the rudder," the Captain continued, "we're at the mercy of the weather. Between the wind and the waves — and I'm not trying to scare you, girls — but without the rudder, the ship could be torn apart."

Her eyes scanned our faces, and she saw we understood.

"The good news is that the storm has blown us near Muktaphala, our destination. So what we're going to do is put you passengers ashore, and then we'll do our best to anchor the ship and make her fast. Then we'll join you.

"The rain's let up a bit, so we've got to move quickly. I'm glad you're all dressed, because you've got to come now, just as you are. We'll bring some slickers and life jackets in here and suit you up. Flannery's going to take you girls ashore first, the ten of you, and show you where to shelter. Then she'll be back for your teachers and some of the rest of us. In three trips, we'll all be ashore."

"I could row some people ashore in the dory," Wiggy offered.

"I can't risk losing you," the captain said. "You'll sit in the longboat with the others.

"I'm going back on deck. Shaylen is on her way with the slickers. Remember, girls, what I told you when you first came aboard. If we're going to get through this, we've got to stick together, help one another, and you've got to do what you're told. If you want to ask questions or discuss things, or think you've got a better idea, leave it till tomorrow. We've got to move quickly."

The Captain left after holding the door open for Shaylen and Brina, who entered carrying a load of slickers.

They handed them out, and we put them on in silence. I looked at Bossy and Poppy, the teachers. They were plainly frightened at being left behind.

Speaking for myself, the whole business had an air of unreality. I did what I was told: slipped my arms into the slicker, fastened it in front, pulled up the hood, and made it tight. Shaylen did a head count, then led us to the ladder. Brina brought up the rear.

We made our way down the ladder and into the longboat. Flannery sat in the end, near the motor. I supposed it was Flannery; I couldn't see her face in the darkness and rain. Two other sailors perched at the bottom of the ladder to help us into the boat.

Once the ten of us were packed in, Flannery took off. The longboat rose and fell in a sickening motion through the choppy waves. She cut across the rear of the Seward, and though I looked, I couldn't see any damage. It was pretty dark, though.

We continued to climb and drop through the darkness. I wondered how Flannery could possibly know where she was going at all. She had a searchlight, which she seemed to aim at random.

After what seemed like a half an hour (but was nowhere near that long, as Wiggy told me later), we pulled up to a dock. Wiggy jumped out and quickly tied up the boat. We all climbed onto the dock.

I don't know whether I can communicate exactly what I felt in that moment. All that I could see was whatever Flannery happened to light with her beam. Outside of that was total darkness. I had no idea where we were or whether we were safe. We could have been on the backside of the Moon, for all I knew. But I had to believe we'd be all right.

Flannery led us to a cave not far from shore. Yes, a cave! But there was a big wooden table by the door, and in one of its drawers she found three flashlights, the kind with a handle you pump to make electricity.

"I don't have time to show you around, girls," she said. "I've got to go back and bring the others. Take your slickers off and hang 'em in there" — she gestured to a dark, empty doorway — "and if you need the head, it's out here." She stepped back into the rain and pointed with her light at a latrine-like structure a few yards away.

"Stay in the cave until we come," she commanded. "If anybody needs the toilet, somebody go with them. Stick together, stay inside, wait for us. Clear?"

"Clear," we all repeated.

Flannery did another head count and walked back to the longboat.
 

As we slipped out of our life jackets, Mirina announced, "If anyone needs to go to the bathroom, now would be a good time, before we take our slickers off."

Not everyone needed to go, but we all trooped out together and checked out the latrine. There were three little booths, and they weren't as stinky as we expected. Since we had three lights, only two girls could go at a time, while the third light stayed outside. I was one of the last to pee, and it was definitely not the high point of my life. There was rain water everywhere and no room to move with the bulky slicker on. I'd wondered why all the girls ahead of me took so long, but now I understood: there was barely enough room to turn around! And of course there was no paper. Not that it would have helped, in that sodden place.

We returned to the cave and hung up our life jackets and slickers in the place Flannery showed us. It turned out to be a room cut out of the rock: an actual cloakroom, and there was no shortage of hooks. We found a pair of boots on the floor and some jackets were already hanging there. We also found a fourth flashlight, which Knickers quickly pumped up.

"That's pretty weird," I commented. "A cloakroom in a cave? It looks like somebody cut this room out of the rock. It's a lot of trouble to go to, unless..."

"... unless you're living in the cave," Wiggy said, finishing the thought. "I guess most of the time you could live outdoors, so this is probably an emergency shelter, don't you think?"

"Let's see how big it is, then," Cakey proposed, and the ten of us shuffled our way deeper into the darkness. We made a very compact group.

The first thing we discovered was that the cave, as big as it was, was only an entryway. At the back, in the far right corner, was a door: a metal door, like you might find in any ordinary building. It wasn't locked, so we pushed it open and went inside. We found ourselves in another large room with two sets of tables and chairs and a small bookcase crammed full of books. It was very dry and fairly clean, and — to our surprise — not at all stuffy.

Mirina sniffed. "The air smells pretty fresh in here."

"I see you've still got that cat," Cakey crowed, imitating an old TV commercial. "And George hasn't given up those nasty cigars."

"Hopefully it won't get stuffy later," Wiggy added. "Still, it's only one night. I hope."

There was also a very large pantry toward the front of the room, which had a cage-like door. It also wasn't locked, so we took a look inside. Right away, we found a fifth flashlight, which Donkey grabbed and started pumping.

The pantry was full of cans and containers of emergency food, two huge barrels of water (which we found to be drinkable), wool blankets, a large first aid kit, and other supplies, including a number of cigarette lighters and short fat candles.

We put a candle on each of the tables and lit them. Then we came to the end of the cave: two large dormitory rooms, filled with beds, ten in each room. There were no mattresses, sheets, or pillows, but the bed itself was of a hammocky canvas, and wasn't too uncomfortable. I noticed a slight draft: fresh air was coming from somewhere in each of the dorm rooms.

"Twenty beds," Wiggy said. "Ten girls, two teachers, thirteen crew: we're five beds short."

"It's just for one night," Mirina told her. "We'll make do."

Wiggy shrugged.

We each ate an energy bar and drank a glass of water. Then we settled around the tables, or sat on the floor and waited.

"It's been a half hour already," Wiggy observed, looking at her watch. "I want to go the mouth of the cave and see if I can see anything."

"Marcie, go with her," Mirina commanded.

"I was going to anyway," I told her, a little miffed at being told.

"Nobody goes anywhere alone," Mirina announced to everyone. "Go at least in pairs. One light, two girls."

"We're coming, too," Cakey said, and she and Ding-Dong stood up together. The four of us returned to the cave's entryway.

"I don't see a thing," Ding-Dong declared.

"Let's turn off the flashlights for a moment," Wiggy suggested, "and see whether we can see the ship's lights." She snapped her flashlight off, and Cakey followed suit. The four of us gazed into the black rain. The roar of the water falling from the sky was so loud that we couldn't hear the sea.

None of us spoke; there wasn't any need. We didn't see a light. We couldn't see anything. Cakey snapped her light back on. "Let's go to the dock," she proposed, so we put on our slickers and went.

It was probably a bad idea, because we had a hard time finding it at first. We followed the shoreline too far one way, then turned back. I was a little afraid that we wouldn't be able to find the cave, either, but at last we found the dock. It was empty, so from there we followed the path back to the cave.

"Anybody need the bathroom?" Wiggy asked. We all shook our heads.

While we hung our slickers in the cloakroom, Wiggy examined the items that were already there when we'd first arrived.

"These are man's clothes," she said, shining her light on the large pair of boots and a huge coat.

"A big man," Ding-Dong said.

"A cave man," Cakey quipped, and we all laughed.

"Don't tell Mirina that!" I laughed, "or when a real cave man comes, she'll say it's our fault!"

The girls smiled but didn't laugh.

"What do you think happened, Wiggy?" Cakey asked.

"I don't know," Wiggy replied.

"Why was the Captain so upset about the rudder?" Ding-Dong asked. "The boat will just float around, right? Why should it break?"

"Because if the wind's blowing one way and the current's going another, it can damage the ship," Wiggy replied. "If you've got a rudder you can point the ship in the right direction so you're not caught between the two forces."

"Sounds tricky," I said.

"What if Flannery's boat went over?" Cakey asked. "Then the adults would be stuck on the ship."

"Not really," Wiggy said. "They have the dory and there are the emergency rafts, remember?"

"Could they get to shore in those?" Cakey wondered.

Wiggy shrugged. "I think so. I hope so."

I shivered.

"Cold?" Ding-Dong asked.

"No," I said. "It was just a... a shiver. I'm fine."

She smiled at me.

"Maybe we'd better get back inside," Wiggy said. "We've been gone 40 minutes. They've got to be wondering. Oh, I'm going to leave my light out here so they can find it when they come." She opened the first drawer of the rough wooden table, and put it inside.
 

Marina and Knickers were waiting up for us. The others had gone to bed. We told them what little we knew, and even Mirina paled at the realization that the adults might not make it ashore.

"I've got to sleep now," Wiggy said. "I'm exhausted."

Ding-Dong, Cakey, and I echoed the sentiment, and Mirina said, "That's a good idea. We'll wake up if they come anyway."

Leaving one candle burning, we settled into the empty bunks, and fell deeply, soundly asleep.

© 2008 by Kaleigh Way

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