Mary and Alvin Ch. 29

"Mama Jen is scared of the storm," Bonita said. "I'm not."

"I'm not scared of it," Jennifer replied, "I just don't like it."

They crowded around the table and filled their bowls.

"I hate to think you'll be out in this all night," Mary told Danni. "You know, I could fill a thermos with chili, you could take it with you."

"That would be great," Danni said, smiling.

Alvin sighed.

"What's wrong, Daddy?" Jennifer asked him.

"Just worried about those folks rented Annie Mac."

"Nobody has heard from them?"

He shook his head. "Harbormaster has tried a couple of times."

"Maybe they got to port and checked into a hotel, so they aren't hearing the radio," Mary suggested.

Alvin shrugged and finished his chili. When everyone had eaten, Danni prepared to go out into the storm.

"It seems like it let up some," Jennifer said.

"It's a lull," Alvin said, "It ain't ending anytime soon."

After Danni left, they gathered in the living room. Hannah lugged pillows and blankets down from her room and she and Bonita, along with their dogs, nested on the floor near the fireplace. Alvin made a big bowl of popcorn and the family spent the evening watching movies. When the girls fell asleep on the floor, Alvin and Mary turned off the television and the lights. Jennifer bedded down on the couch, while they went upstairs to bed.

It was chilly in their room and they cuddled close together. Mary kissed the side of Alvin's face and ran her hand across his abdomen, but she could tell that he was not in an amorous mood, so she settled for snuggling.

She woke up several times during the night. The sound of the wind was louder than ever. She had a sense that the whole house was swaying and was not sure if it really was, or if it was only in her half awakened imagination.

She finally fell into a deep sleep, and when she awakened, there was bright morning sunlight in her eyes. She sat up. Alvin was not in the bed, but she could hear the shower running. She got up and went downstairs.

Hannah was sitting at the kitchen table, eating a bowl of cereal.

"Where are Jennifer and Bonita?" Mary asked her.

"They went to go check on the animals."

Mary opened the front door, saw the pig on the porch and slammed the door shut again.

"Honey, there's a pig on the porch," she called up the stairs.

Alvin stuck his head out of the bathroom. "Did you ask him what he wants?"

"You're not as funny as you think you are," she muttered as she turned back to the door. The pig was still there when she looked out the window. It was munching on a small pumpkin.

Hannah walked up beside her and looked out. "What happened to the maze?" she asked.

Mary raised her gaze and saw, with a sinking feeling, that the storm had destroyed the corn maze. Here and there, a few ragged stalks still stood, but most had been flattened to the ground by the high wind and driving rain. The dooryard was strewn with dead brown corn leaves and clumps of wet hay, sprinkled with dots of red and yellow that Mary realized were the petals of the chrysanthemums she had so carefully placed along the passageways.

She opened the door and stepped out. Buster squeezed by between her feet and began yapping at the pig. The pig ignored him and kept gnawing at his pumpkin. Mary poked him with her toe.

"Shoo, piggie," she said, "go back to your pen." He paid no more attention to her than he had to the dog.

Hannah came out and jumped down off the side of the porch.

"Come on, Buster," she called, "Let's look around." Buster cautiously rounded the pig and hopped down the steps to follow her.

"Mama, look," Hannah cried. Mary turned to Hannah pointing at the front wall of the house. It was spattered with a what she quickly realized was smashed pumpkins. A dozen broken shells lay on the ground below. If they had hit the window, they'd have gone right though it, she thought.

Alvin came out and put his foot against the pig's read end and shoved. It shifted it's weight, but didn't leave the porch. Another pig trotted around from the side of the house with Jennifer following behind it. Her clothes were caked in mud.

"Found this dubber trying to dig his way into the alpaca pasture," she said. As the second pig trotted by, the one on the porch rose to his feet and followed it.

"Danni get home yet?" Alvin asked.

"No, she's still on duty. Probably will be all day. She called a while back, they got her directing traffic out in Searsmont. Lot of flooded roads that way."

"Where's Bonita?"

"She's clearing some of the debris out of the alpaca pasture."

She slapped the pigs on their rumps and marched them toward their pen.

Hannah picked up a pumpkin that was almost too big for her to get her arms around. "This one is not broke, so we still have one for Halloween," she said.

"Jesus, that thing got blown at least a hundred feet," Mary exclaimed. She looked at Alvin. "Are you going to check things at the wharf?"

"Thought I ought to."

"Why are you wearing your raincoat?"

"It's like to rain again. Maybe even get a few bad squalls in the aftermath."

She started to say that if it rained, he could just come home, but then she realized what he had in mind.

"You're going out to look for the Mitchells, aren't you?"

"Well, Ralph's been calling all around, no one has seen or heard from them."

"Baby, let the coast guard take care of that. It's too dangerous. You said there could still be squalls."

Bonita and Moosie came around the house. Bonita was carrying a bright red windbreaker.

"Anybody know who this belongs to?" she asked.

Hannah ran over to look at it.

"I don't think it belongs to any of us," Mary shrugged.

"I bet the hurricane blew it a hundred miles!" Hannah said.

"It was hanging from a tree by the road," Bonita said, holding it up. On the back there was a picture of a truck and the words "Big Al's Hauling, Lowell Mass".

"It blew all the way from Massachusetts," Hannah said.

"More likely, from a bag of donations outside the Goodwill," Alvin muttered.

Mary put her hand on Alvin's arm. "I really don't like the idea of you going out there, baby. But I know that you think it's what you have to do."

"It is what I have to do."

"No," she shook her head, "it isn't."

"Where you going, Papa?" Bonita asked.

"Oh, I'm just going to go have a look around, see if I can see Annie Mac."

"I'll go with you."

"You will not," Mary snapped.

Bonita frowned at her. "I'm a good sailor."

"You're a great sailor. You are also an eleven year old girl. You aren't going out when the storm might not be over. Bad enough I can't talk sense into Papa."

"I'm gonna go ask Mama Jen!" Bonita shouted. She ran off toward the pig pens, where her mother was shooing the last of the escapees back through the broken fence.

"Good luck with that," Mary muttered. "Come on inside," she said to Alvin, "I'll make you some sandwiches to take with you on your fool's journey."

***

The parking lot at the wharf was spotted with puddles but there was no significant damage. The kayak rack had blown over and Alvin scowled when he realized he would need help to stand it upright. Twenty years ago, I'd have hoisted her right back up, he thought. Hell, ten years ago.

He unlocked the boathouse and went inside. A little water had blown under the door, but his attention was drawn to a shaft of light filtering down from the ceiling. He looked up to see a patch of sky where a piece of the roofing had blown off. He'd have to get that fixed before winter.

It only took a few minutes for him to get SeaJay cast off and underway. The harbor was littered with debris. Alvin had to cross over and skirt the far shore to avoid a large tree that was slowly turning as it floated toward the sea. There were smaller obstacles; pieces of lumber, plastic trash cans, the carcass of a deer. As he passed the city park, he saw a small motorboat run aground on the rocky beach.

He crossed the ledge into the deeper bay and the water grew rougher. He set a course down the eastern bay. In his last transmission to the harbormaster, Jim Mitchell had said he was heading for shelter in Vinalhaven or Stonington. Alvin figured that if he made for Vinalhaven, then searched back and forth across the channel between them, he would have his best chance of finding them.

The wind picked up as he cleared Cape Rosier and it began to rain, but the sky cleared again by the time he reached Green Ledge Island. There were dark clouds in the southeast, but the water before him was rolling gently. He decided it would be safe to lock the wheel and go below to make coffee. Then he would begin his search in earnest.

As he ducked into the cabin, he heard a soft scuffling sound. Rats were always a problem around the waterfront and he wondered if they got gotten aboard the boat. It was autumn, the time they looked for winter shelter. He turned on the coffee maker, then listened carefully. He thought he might have heard something from the storage closet, so he stepped in front of it, gripped the door handle and paused. He heard nothing, but yanked the door open quickly, hoping to surprise whatever might be lurking inside.

"Jeezum crow!" he shouted, jumping back.

"Hi, Papa," Bonita said in a meek voice.

"Come on out of there," he said, "You been hiding in there this whole time?"

"No," she said as she climbed out of the closet, "I hid when you locked the wheel."

"How did you know when I locked the wheel?"

"It makes a sound. You can hear it in the cabin."

"Jeezum crow," he muttered. She knew something about his boat that he didn't.

"Don't be mad, Papa, I came to help you."

"You think I need help, huh?"

Bonita shrugged. "I don't think you ought to come out alone. You said there might be more squalls."

"Honey, I was sailing through storms before your mothers were born."

"Well, yeah, back then, but..." she bit her lip.

"But what," he asked, crossing his arms and raising one eyebrow.

Bonita shrugged and said nothing.

"But, I'm old now, is what you're saying."

"Well, you are old, Papa."

"I'm too old for this shit and you're too young, so together we are just right. So make yourself useful. Fix me a cup of coffee. And Mama Mary made ham sandwiches. Bring a couple up on deck. I got to radio the harbormaster and have him call the house."

He started up the stairs, then turned. "And Nita...thank you for wanting to help. But the next time you stow away on my boat, I'm going to keelhaul you."

"What's keelhaul?"

"Look it up. It's worse than it sounds."

When he was out of Bonita's sight, Alvin sighed, then chuckled. He took the radio handset from under the wheel and called in to the harbormaster's office. It took a while for Ralph to respond. No doubt he was as busy as popcorn in a skillet, he thought. When Ralph did answer, Alvin explained that Bonita was with him, and asked Ralph to call the house and let Mary know. Mary could tell Jennifer and Danni, he sure as hell didn't want to do it.

Bonita came up top with the sandwiches, a cup of coffee for Alvin and a juice box for herself.

"So, what's our plan?" she asked.

"Our plan?" Alvin chuckled. "Well if you agree, we'll head south to the bottom of the bay, then zig zag our way across. So, eyes wide open. Let me know if you see anything in the water. We have to keep a lookout for debris as well, alright?"

"Okay, Papa." She took her sandwich and climbed out to the end of the bow, where she sat crosslegged and scanned the water. Alvin watched her and grinned. He had to admit that he probably had a better chance of finding Annie Mac with the help of her sharp young eyes. And he couldn't deny that he relished her company.

***

Mary thanked Ralph and slipped the phone into the pocket of her sweater. She sighed and shook her head. It didn't surprise her that Bonita had snuck off to follow her grandfather. I shouldn't worry, she thought, she's with Alvin, she'll be safe.

She went out to tell Jennifer where her daughter was. She saw her with Yusef, stacking corn husks into a wagon. So much for our maze, she thought, but at least we are all safe and sound.

Yusef smiled at her approach.

"Hello, Yusef," she said, "I hope you came through the storm alright."

"Oh, yes," he nodded, "we are well sheltered."

Mary told Jennifer about Bonita.

"That little shit," Jennifer chuckled, "She sure is her Papa's girl."

"Yes, she is," Mary agreed. "Well, let me go find mine and see what's going on with her."

"I saw her with the dogs a little while ago, heading down toward the beaver pond. Is something wrong?"

"I don't know. She seems...off. Not herself."

"Problems at school, you think?"

Mary shrugged. "I hope not. She loves school."

"Yeah, I don't think I ever knew a kid who liked school so much."

Mary smiled to herself. I have, she thought. I was just like that myself.

She walked down the path under the trees. The storm had stripped the leaves from the maple and birches, but the pines still shaded the path, and she pulled her sweater tightly to her chest against the chill.

Hannah was sitting on the bench beside the pond. The dogs perked up their ears at Mary's approach and trotted over to greet her.

"Mind if I join you?" she asked her daughter.

Hannah shrugged. Mary sat next to her. For a minute, she just looked out at the pond.

"I guess the ducks have all gone south," she said.

"Or the storm blew them away," Hannah replied, looking down at her feet.

Mary put her arm around her daughter' shoulder. "Talk to me, sweet girl, tell me whats bothering you."

Hannah mumbled something that Mary could not make out. She leaned down closer. "What was that, sweetie?"

"I got my period."

Mary smiled, but felt a tear form in her eye. "Oh, baby, that is nothing to be upset about. Why didn't you tell me?"

"It's embarrassing," she said, shrugging. "It's too soon."

"Well, you're a little early, but that's okay. It means your growing up."

"It's not fair."

"Well, everyone grows at different rates. You and Bonita were born at almost the same time, but she's three inches taller than you."

"I'm not ready to be a grown up."

"Well, honey, it doesn't make you grown up, you've still got some growing to do."

"It means I can get pregnant."

"Well, honey, you don't get pregnant like you catch a cold."

Hannah rolled her eyes. "I know all about that stuff, Mama."

"Well, let's talk about that sometime, just to make sure that what you know is right, okay?"

Hannah groaned. Mary squeezed her and kissed her head. "Well, when you have questions, you come ask me, okay?"

"Alright, Mama."

"But we need to talk about this now. It's a matter of health. What have you been doing about it? Did you get pads somewhere?"

"I made pads out of toilet paper."

"Oh, honey, that won't do."

"Well, I think I'm done for now."

Mary stood up. "Come on, baby, let's go up to the house. It's cold down here. You want some lunch? I was thinking we'd have tomato soup and grilled cheese."

"Okay, Mama."

They walked back up the path and into the pasture. Buster and Moosie ran off to where Jennifer and Yusef were working. Mary wondered if Hannah had Moosie with her because she had known Bonita's plan, but she decided not to ask.

Mary put the soup on the stove to warm, then went into the living room and turned on the television.

"Papa said don't turn on the TV anymore. He said we were using too much fuel," Hannah said.

"Papa's not here. And I want to watch the local news and see if they say anything about when the power will be back on."

Hannah heard a sizzle and walked over to the stove. The soup was bubbling hard and spattering drops on the burner.

"Mama," she called, turning down the heat, "the soup is boiling over."

Mary did not answer, so Hannah went into the living room. Her mother was standing in front of the television, one hand covering her mouth. Hannah looked at the screen and saw a weather map, captioned with the words, "Severe squalls heading into lower Penobscot Bay."

***

Alvin took SeaJay to within a hundred yards of Gunning Rock on the eastern side of Vinalhaven, then turned and crossed the bay to within sight of Isle Au Haut. He brought the boat around and made the pass back on a slightly more northern course. As they neared the Halibut Ledges, Bonita jumped up and pointed. She'd spotted a boat in the distance. Alvin turned toward it, but before long he recognized that it was a lobster boat. Nonetheless, he steered toward it and drew up alongside.

The lobsterman introduced himself. "Natty Benoit, out of Southwest Harbor."

"Alvin Faulkner, Londonderry. This is my granddaughter, Bonita."

Natty tipped his hat to her. "You folks out looking for that lost family?"

"Yes sir," Alvin said, "Feel a duty. It was my boat they hired."

"Well, I come out to see that my traps made it through, but I'll be keeping my eyes open."

Alvin thanked him and moved on. They were halfway across on their next pass when Alvin began to feel apprehensive.The sky was getting dark to the southeast and he detected a slight change in the wind.

"We need to get going toward home," he told Bonita, "That's a wicked squall looks to be heading our way.

"Okay, but I'm going to keep looking."

"You do that, honey."

By the time he could complete a broad curve to starboard and point the bow toward home the squall was bearing down on them and he felt the first drops of rain on his skin. The mainsail filled with wind and SeaJay picked up speed. The rain stopped and Alvin felt confident that they would outrun the storm.

Suddenly, Bonita jumped up and began to yank on his sleeve. "Papa, Papa, look over there!"

Alvin looked where she was pointing, but saw nothing but white capped waves.

"I don't see anything, Nita."

"There is something in the water! I saw it!"

Alvin scanned the water intently, but still saw only rough water. He looked over his shoulder. The darkness had crept closer.

"I still don't see it, honey. What did it look like?"

"I don't know but I swear there is something there, Papa. I know I saw it."

"I believe you, Nita, but we need to make speed to harbor." He looked at her and saw that she was near tears.

"Papa, we have to look."

Alvin stared at her for a minute, recognizing the surety and determination in her eyes. He drew in a deep breath, let it out slowly, then spun the wheel and began to run across the face of the oncoming storm.

Bonita leaned over the rail, peering ahead. Alvin didn't have to turn his head to see the storm, it filled his vision on the starboard side. Raindrops began to streak across the deck, driven sideways by the rising wind. I can't hold course long, he thought, there will be swells behind this wind large enough to swamp us.

"We need to get out of this, Nita," he shouted.

She did not take her eyes from the water, but held up one finger to him. "Wait, Papa, please," she pleaded.

Alvin shook his head but held course. Another minute, maybe two, and then he'd have no choice.

"Now, Papa, hard to port," Bonita shouted. Without a thought, Alvin obeyed.

"Keep turning, Papa! Keep turning!"

Alvin saw something in the water, but before he could get a good look at it, he felt the boat rise.

"Nita, hold on tight!" SeaJay tipped and for a few seconds Alvin feared they would capsize. The wheel tried to spin out of his hands, but he gripped it until his wrists ached, and the sails caught the wind and pulled the boat into line.

Bonita climbed on to the foredeck and stood, gripping the mast and peering out at the heaving water.

"Nita, get the hell down from there!"

"I can see better from here," she replied. She pointed straight ahead. "Hold course, Papa."

I used to be the captain, Alvin thought, amused despite the tension of the situation.