by Greg Weisman
Forty long minutes later, Charlie arrived. He greeted her with a smile and asked how long she’d been waiting.
“Just a few minutes,” she said.
“Yeah. I know Rain said eight sharp, but punctuality isn’t really one of her strengths.”
“Her father’s on the boat.”
“Yeah, he gets it ready, and Rain’ll come with the tourists. That’s the system.”
“Oh. Okay.”
“He didn’t want any help?”
“Um. He didn’t seem to remember me or expect me or anything me. So I decided to wait up here.”
“Well, come on. I’ll introduce you guys. And don’t worry. Alonso’s cool.”
“You call him Alonso?”
“Never.”
“Right.”
So Charlie made introductions. It was immediately obvious Rain had neglected to mention Miranda would be joining them. Alonso’s face darkened briefly; the thought crossed his mind Rain was trying to turn the charter into a party cruise for herself and her friends.
So Miranda made it abundantly clear she was there to work. “Rain said with three kids you’d need three babysitters—but you don’t have to pay me.”
“Of course I’ll pay you, Miranda.” Alonso knew Iris would not be thrilled about the extra expense, but he was a soft touch. “The same as Charlie. It’s not much.”
“That’s fine, Mr. Cacique.”
“Call me Alonso.”
Miranda glanced at Charlie, who shook his head as subtly as he could manage.
Alonso caught it. “Charlie, I’ve been trying to get you to call me Alonso since you could talk.”
“Yes, sir. You have, sir.”
Mr. Cacique tossed up his hands in defeat. “All right, let’s put you two to work. Rain should be here any minute with the Kims.”
Rain and the Kims were not there any minute. In fact, they didn’t arrive for another two long hours. Punctuality might not be one of Rain’s strengths, but this one wasn’t on her. This one you could blame on Wendy, John and Michael Kim. Or perhaps on a certain lack of momentum, determination or discipline on the parts of their parents, Fred and Esther Kim.
Eight-year-old Wendy had been tired and had refused to get out of bed, even if it meant skipping breakfast. Six-year-old John had thrown a fit in the dining room over getting sausage patties when he wanted links. Four-year-old Michael had refused to put on sunscreen. Then when they were finally ready to go, Wendy declared herself famished. Thirty-six-year-old Esther assured her daughter there would be food on the boat. But when Wendy asked if there would be waffles on the boat, her mother gave up and gave in (and an appalled Iris found herself making fresh waffles in a kitchen she had already cleaned for the morning).
En route to the docks in Timo Craw’s taxi, Michael remembered he’d forgotten his favorite yellow plastic shovel back at the Inn. Rain pointed out there was nothing to shovel on the boat. But thirty-nine-year-old Fred—in a state of pure exasperation—told Timo to turn the cab around.
So at 10:15 A.M., Rain and the Kims finally came aboard the Spirit of the Ghosts to find Alonso, Charlie and Miranda in a virtual stupor from the heat and boredom.
Alonso had to literally shake his head clear, but with a little help from Charlie and Rain, the vessel soon shoved off. Within minutes they were out on Próspero Bay and heading through what locals called the Chapel Ceiling (the gap between Sycorax and San Próspero’s closest points, which had once reminded someone of God reaching his finger out to Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome).
Miranda, meanwhile, had volunteered to help Mrs. Kim with sunscreen and life vests in the cabin. Normally, Alonso, per his insurance, would never have left the dock unless all minor guests were already in their vests, but after sitting in the sun for hours, he got a little fast and loose with the rules. (Don’t worry. I’ll never bark a word of it.)
The boys loved the vests and couldn’t get into them fast enough. But Wendy declared a vest would make her look like a baby and so refused to put it on—until Miranda put hers on first. Then the younger girl cautiously complied, keeping her eyes glued on Miranda to make sure the older girl didn’t take hers off.
Michael still protested vehemently against the sunscreen, and Esther finally exploded: “Michael Kim, if you don’t put on sunscreen, you’ll have to stay below deck for the entire trip!”
This backfired. Michael was happy to stay below deck. He looked out the porthole and said, “I don’t like water.”
Wendy said, “That means he’s afraid of the water.”
Michael screeched, “Does not!”
When John understood that his younger brother was “getting to stay below,” he wanted to stay below too. At first, Wendy seemed disgusted by her brothers’ choice, but as soon as she stepped outside, she spotted a vestless Rain, let out an anguished cry and fled back below deck.
Miranda explained the situation, and both Rain and Charlie put on vests and entered the cabin to show Wendy. The girl, now in a funk, sat in the corner. She kept her vest on but refused to go back out.
Right about then, Fred Kim was getting seasick over the side of the boat, wasting a little more of Iris Cacique’s morning labor by depositing his breakfast into the Florida Straits. Once that was done, the green-looking father descended into the cabin to lie down for a few minutes.
Completely defeated, Esther Kim asked Rain if there were any games or puzzles on board. Now, as bad as all of this may sound, Rain had seen worse. She opened an entire game closet for the Kims. Miranda helped John choose Candy Land and even managed to coax Wendy into playing with her brothers and mother. However, eight people made the cabin feel pretty close, pretty claustrophobic. So Rain nodded to Charlie, and they both went topside.
Shaking his head, Alonso rhetorically asked, “They’re all down there?”
“Yep,” Rain said. “Miranda’s got them entertained though.”
“She’s a good worker.”
“Uh-huh.”
“Better than you two.”
“No argument.”
“All right. Chill for now.”
So Rain led Charlie to the foredeck and took the opportunity to tell him about the blue glow emitted by the zemi’s Searcher snake when they had first entered Pablo Guerrero’s study the day before.
“Does that mean one of those things was the zemi? I mean, ‘the’zemi, not just ‘a’ zemi.”
“I don’t know. I don’t think so. It was really quick. And I intentionally leaned the armband toward every one of those artifacts, and it didn’t glow again. But I do think it was trying to tell me there was info there we could use.”
“Well, that’s good. At least we won’t walk right past something important without a heads-up.”
“Right. So all we have to do is figure out where to walk.”
“Where to walk where?” Miranda asked, catching her two friends off guard.
“I’ll walk the plank,” Rain said, “if I have to spend more time with those Kim kids.”
“They’re not that bad,” Miranda said. “But what’s with their names?”
“Yeah,” said Charlie.
“What?” asked Rain.
Miranda stared at her. “Wendy, John and Michael? Those are the names of the Darling kids in Peter Pan.”
“These kids aren’t darling,” Rain said.
“Yeah, but how does that work?” Charlie wondered.
“I know,” Miranda said. “So you have a daughter first and name her Wendy because you like Peter Pan. Are you hoping your next two kids are going to be boys? I mean, what if John or Michael had been a girl? It’d throw off your whole scheme.”
Charlie offered, “I guess if John had been a girl, they’d have named her whatever, and no one would know they ever had a scheme.”
Rain couldn’t believe they were talking about this. “Maybe if John were a girl, they’d have named her Tiger Lily. And Michael could have been Tinker Bell.”
Miranda ignored her: “Maybe
there was no scheme at first. Maybe they just liked the name Wendy. Then they have a son next…”
“And they figure why not,” Charlie added.
“Then by the time Michael is born, there’s no way they’re not completing the set.”
“Or maybe it’s all a big coincidence,” Rain said.
Charlie shook his head. “You have no imagination.”
“I do too.”
He rolled his eyes. “No, you don’t. You get to see the magic, so you don’t think you need one.” As soon as he said it, he regretted it. He could see the hurt in her eyes.
“You get to see magic?” Miranda asked, amused.
“Yes,” Rain said defiantly. “Ghosts taught me Spanish. And my dead grandfather lives in this armband.”
Charlie slapped his hand across his eyes and rubbed it down the length of his face. Miranda didn’t know what to make of this. It didn’t seem quite funny enough to be a joke, but obviously Rain couldn’t have been serious. It must have been some kind of in-joke, and once again Miranda felt excluded.
Rain sighed. “See, I have plenty of imagination.” But she wondered if what Charlie had said was true. What if she had no imagination? No ability to make those fanciful leaps? How would she ever find the other zemis without the imagination necessary to transcend the visible world with her mind?
Now all three felt crummy. Charlie looked around, trying to find some inspiration to change the subject. It was a gorgeous day. The sun was climbing a cloudless sky, but the spray kept things cool. He glanced from the reflection of the sun in the water to Miranda’s light skin and asked, “Do you have sunscreen on?”
Miranda assured him she did. She knew his concern had more to do with getting out of an awkward moment than protecting her epidermis, but she was grateful for either impulse. She could help too, or so she thought. “How weird was that, last night? With the mosquitoes.”
Charlie shot a nervous look at Rain, who said, “Really weird.”
Miranda nudged her. “You were like totally a hero.”
Rain smiled and nodded with mock seriousness. “Yes. Yes, I was.”
Alonso’s voice called out from the helm, “Dolphins on the portside.”
Miranda and Charlie both had to stop and think which side he meant. Rain knew her ports from her starboards, though, and immediately crossed to the other side of the boat and pointed. “I see them.”
Miranda and Charlie followed in time to see an entire pod of bottlenose dolphins taking turns breaching in the bow wave of the boat, dodging the foam and froth like it was a game. This wasn’t exactly an unusual sight to Rain and Charlie, but it was still uncommon enough to be awesome. For Miranda, it was breathtaking.
Alonso called out again, “Tell the Kims.”
“They won’t come out,” Rain yelled back.
“Tell ’em!”
“Fine!”
Begrudgingly, Rain entered the cabin and informed the five Kims. Wendy and John ran out to see the dolphins, which made Michael want to follow. His mother insisted he needed sunscreen first, but he whined that he’d miss the dolphins. So they compromised, and Michael agreed she could put on his sunscreen while he looked at the dolphins.
Rain followed Esther and Michael out onto the deck, and a queasy Fred Kim followed her. Wendy and John—with Miranda and Charlie standing directly behind them, gripping their shoulders—were already on the portside, pointing and laughing at the dolphins. Michael, his yellow shovel gripped tightly in his little hand, ran right up to the edge, and Esther made a long motherly reach to grab his arm and pull him back from the brink. He said, “Ow!” loudly and fussed and squirmed while she applied the sunscreen.
The dolphins were truly putting on a show, cavorting and playing and showing off for the Spirit’s passengers. A few slid right up to the boat. Alonso cut the engine and let her drift.
Charlie led John aft and down the steps to the stern diving deck. Miranda followed with Wendy. Michael struggled to be released, and Mrs. Kim either gave up or felt she had slathered enough goop on the kid to let him go. He rushed off after his siblings, and Rain raced to catch up. The adult Kims followed, and even Alonso joined them.
Still firmly gripping John with his right hand, Charlie reached out with his left to stroke a dolphin that had sidled up close. John was astounded. “He let you touch him!”
“’Course he did,” Charlie said. “Because he knows I’m his brother.”
“You’re not his brother,” Wendy said suspiciously.
“I am. My last name’s Dauphin, and that means dolphin in French. My people and the dolphins go way back.”
“Yeah, well, he’s still not your brother,” Rain said, “because he’s a she.”
They all turned to look at the dolphin again, but it was disappearing beneath the surface.
“How can you tell it’s a she?” Charlie asked.
“Maybe I’m using my imagination,” Rain snarked back.
“Yeah,” said Alonso. “Or maybe she could tell by the size. An adult male is longer and thicker.”
“Don’t spoil the magic, Dad,” Rain said. But she wondered how she had known the dolphin was female. Why she was so certain of that fact.
Mr. Kim called out, “There are some on this side now.” He and his wife moved to starboard. Alonso followed them.
The kids didn’t budge. “I wanna touch one,” John said. Wendy and Michael concurred.
Something broke the surface near them, but it wasn’t the sleek, smooth, blue-gray skin of a dolphin. It was a wrinkly mottled brown-gray back. Wendy cringed. “Eww, what’s that?”
The creature poked its head out of the water. Rain practically gasped. “It’s a manatee!” This was a rare sight indeed. The manatee floated alongside the Spirit, watching the six children.
John looked from the manatee to Rain and back. “It’s looking at you,” he told her. The manatee turned to study John, and then Wendy, before lingering to gaze at Michael with small brown eyes partially hidden by layers of fat.
“She seems so intelligent,” Miranda said. “So human.” Now the manatee was a she too.
“I’ve never been this close to one,” Charlie said.
John stretched out his arm. “I can’t reach her,” he said.
Almost on cue, the manatee moved closer. Wendy and John reached out and touched her. Michael looked up at Rain and asked, “Can’t she come on the boat? I don’t like the water.”
“No, sorry,” Rain said, “but I won’t let you fall.”
“Okay.”
Charlie and Miranda moved John and Wendy back to make room for Rain and Michael. Michael reached out and touched the manatee. Rubbed her. Rain said, “Be gentle. Stroke, don’t rub.”
Pulling his hand away, Michael said, “Her skin’s loose.”
Very loose. It seemed to be pulling back and off the creature in folds.
“Gross,” Wendy whispered, but all six kids were fascinated, and no one else said a word as the process continued and the skin pulled away, revealing black tendrils beneath.
Miranda found her voice. “Is she injured?”
Rain said nothing. She’s shedding her skin. Like a snake. The black tendrils beneath the manatee’s skin moved like snakes, but Rain soon realized they were something else. Hair. Black hair under the water. Long black hair framing a caramel-skinned face and big brown eyes. It’s a woman! A human woman!
Two dolphins rose up to flank the woman. One carefully took the shed manatee skin in its mouth and swam away with it. The other dolphin nudged the woman, who nodded and lifted her face out of the water. She was young and beautiful, and she smiled at Rain and the other children.
Then she dove down beneath the surface, the water sliding off her smooth bare skin as she went. Then she was gone. Like she had never been there.
Rain looked around. No dolphins either. She rubbed her eyes and said, “You’ll never imagine what I just saw.”
She turned to look at Charlie and Miranda, their jaws hanging open. Ch
arlie slowly lifted his eyes to meet Rain’s. “I saw it, too,” he said.
Miranda couldn’t find her voice, but she nodded frantically.
John snickered. “I saw her butt.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
PROOF
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13
The three adults completely missed the best part of the show. Mr. Kim walked across the deck, saying, “Well, I think the dolphins are gone.”
His three children turned slowly to look at him, their faces registering enough awe to make him stop in his tracks. Wendy Kim spoke very slowly. “One of those dolphins was not a dolphin, Dad.”
Rain jumped in quickly. “It was a manatee! We saw a manatee over on this side.”
John said, “It was a womanatee. I saw her butt. Her naked butt.”
Wendy swiped at him but missed. “John, that’s not appropriate.”
“Don’t hit me. Use your words.”
“I didn’t hit you.”
“You tried.”
Still clutching his yellow plastic shovel, Michael ran to his mother. “She turned into a lady.”
Mrs. Kim looked mystified. She looked across at Rain, who offered a ridiculously comical shrug and raised her hands as if she had no clue what those crazy kids were on about. For support, she turned to Charlie and Miranda, who mimicked her precisely.
Alonso said, “Well, you’re all up on deck, so why don’t we set up lunch?”
A slightly green Mr. Kim suppressed a belch, but Mrs. Kim said, “Yes, that would be lovely.”
So Alonso, Rain, Charlie and Miranda brought out tables for the food and clean towels for the deckside picnic. They brought out Iris’ gourmet sandwiches, her homemade potato chips and pasta salad. They brought out ice chests with carafes of fresh-squeezed lemonade, bottled water, sodas and a few locally brewed beers. They brought out a key lime pie (made with Grandma Rose’s special recipe) and fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies. Plus cloth napkins, plates, and silverware. In short, they materialized a feast.