Comfortable Distance

by Kenna White

  “Light air is fine with me,” Dana said, sitting comfortably for the first time since they left the dock.

  “Aunt Dana is a wuss.”

  “I am not. This is only our second time out. I’m entitled to be a little cautious.”

  “Do you know how to sail, Jamie?” Juliana asked eagerly.

  “A little,” Jamie said.

  “I like going really fast. It makes my stomach jiggle.”

  “It makes my stomach turn over,” Dana muttered. A large sailboat had motored into the middle of the harbor and raised its sails, propelling the craft toward open water.

  “Wow. That’s cool.” Juliana watched as the boat sliced through the wind.

  “He’s on port tack,” Jamie said.

  “The wind on the left?” Dana said, trying to remember the terms.

  “Yes and sail on the right. That’s how you sail up wind even in light air. Work back and forth across the wind, taking what you can find.”

  “Have you ever sailed a Laser?” Juliana seemed consumed with Jamie’s knowledge of sailing.

  “Yes, many years ago.”

  “Did you tip over like we did?”

  “Many times.” She chuckled. “I was a slow learner.” “How old are you?”

  “Juliana, that isn’t polite to ask,” Dana quickly said.

  “I don’t mind. I’m forty-five, Juliana.”

  “Wow. That’s old.”

  “Juliana!” Dana scowled.

  Jamie burst out laughing.

  “She’s right. I am old.”

  “Forty-five isn’t old,” Dana said.

  “I’m twelve. I’ll be in seventh grade this year.”

  “Good. You’ll enjoy that. You’ll probably have Andrea Larson for science if you’re going to North Junior High.”

  “You know her?” Juliana seemed amazed that Jamie knew anyone in her world.

  “Sure. I’m a science teacher, too.”

  “At the junior high?”

  “No. I teach at Capital State University.” Jamie smiled at Dana as if acknowledging Juliana’s curiosity. “I teach advanced marine biology.”

  “What’s that?”

  “The study of plants and animals that live in or around water.”

  “Wow.” Juliana’s eyes widened. “Like sharks and stuff?”

  “Yep. Like sharks and stuff.”

  “Juliana, will you leave Dr. Hughes alone already?”

  “No problem. Maybe someday I’ll have Juliana in one of my classes. By the way, I need to apologize for yesterday, Dana.”

  “Apologize for what?”

  “For sticking my hands up your bottom.”

  “Oh.” She blushed.

  “It was an accident, I assure you.”

  Dana noticed the little sailboat was drifting closer to Jamie’s research boat.

  “Juliana, pull that rope. We’re getting too close. We need to turn around.”

  “I got it,” Jamie said, using a pole to snag the bow and point them in a new direction. “Pull the boom to the other side and straighten the tiller.”

  “I wish Jamie was in the boat,” Juliana muttered, adjusting the rope. “She’d go fast.”

  Jamie chuckled then gave them a push with the pole.

  “Thanks,” Dana said, steering them into open water.

  “Have fun.”

  “Bye, Jamie,” Juliana said, waving big.

  “Bye, Juliana.” Jamie saluted with a grin then went back to work.

  Wednesday promised to be warmer. The breeze was intermittent but the harbor was filled with day-sailors out to enjoy an afternoon on the water. The students were eager to join the bigger boats in the bay. Dana felt comfortable enough to go without her hoodie. She allowed Juliana to man the tiller while she handled the ropes. They spent the first hour fighting with the sail and the other boats in their path. Their spirits weren’t dampened when they realized the other boaters were having the same trouble. The little spurts of wind encouraged them.

  “Let’s head over there,” Dana said, swinging the boom to the other side. “There are too many boats on this side of the harbor.”

  “Do you think Jamie will be out there?” Juliana pushed the tiller and changed their course.

  “I don’t know. I can’t see her boat.”

  “Maybe she can help us find some wind.” Just then the sail billowed and the boat lurched forward.

  “There you go,” Dana said happily. She trimmed the sail, testing how snug to keep the sheet. They bobbed along, making slow but steady progress.

  “I don’t think she’s out here,” Juliana said disappointedly.

  Dana squinted into the afternoon sun, catching a glimpse of a boat further up the shoreline. It seemed to be anchored and from the look of it, it could be Jamie’s boat. Dana pointed and Juliana steered toward it.

  “Jamie?”Juliana called as they got closer,but no one answered. The boat seemed empty. “Jamie, where are you?”

  “I don’t think she’s there,” Dana said, moving to the other side for a better view.

  “What are those bubbles from?” Juliana asked, leaning over the side. “Do you think it’s a whale or something?”

  “I think those are air bubbles from a scuba diver. Jamie does that. She must be underwater.”

  “She scubas?” Juliana declared, obviously impressed with another of Jamie’s talents.

  “Yes. That’s what the black wet suit she was wearing is for. I imagine a lot of marine biologists scuba dive. They can get a closer look at what’s going on in the ocean.”

  “Wow. Scuba diving.” Juliana’s eyes lit up at the thought.

  “Don’t get any ideas, young lady. I am not taking scuba lessons with you.”

  “Oh, heck,” she groaned.

  A blast of bubbles broke the surface and Jamie’s head popped up. She removed her mouthpiece and pushed her mask to the top of her head.

  “Hi, sailors,” she said.

  “Hello,” Dana released the rope until the sail fluttered and fell limp.

  “Hi,” Juliana said, leaning over the side with a wide grin of fascination.

  “How’s it going today? Did you capsize or run aground?” Jamie teased, grinning up at the child.

  “Nope. There are too many boats out here. We get going and have to turn to keep from hitting someone.”

  “Some days are like that. I like your wet suit,” she said to Dana. “Makes sailing easier, doesn’t it?”

  “It took a little getting used to,” Dana replied, unconsciously checking her zipper. “I noticed people in the bigger boats don’t wear them.”

  “They are less likely to capsize. The little boats have a more transient center of gravity.” Jamie swam to the ladder on the back of her boat and climbed onboard.

  “Did you catch anything?” Juliana asked, watching her every move.

  “I wasn’t fishing. I was collecting algae samples.” She removed her bulky tank and weight belt, then held up a mess pouch full of tiny baggies.

  “What’s algae?” Juliana asked.

  “Photosynthetic marine organisms.”

  “Oh.” That seemed like more than enough information to quell her curiosity.

  Two blasts of the instructor’s whistle told Dana they had ten minutes left and should begin steering for the marina.

  “Will you be diving tomorrow?” Dana asked.

  “Maybe. If I am, it will be further up toward the bulkhead.” Jamie pointed toward the pile of concrete and rocks extending into the water. “I want to get a few samples from there.”

  “What are you doing with the algae?” Dana asked, wondering if she would understand Jamie’s answer.

  “I’m charting oxygen saturation in the algal flow. I’m collecting samples on either side of the fish ladder next week. It can be an indication of salmon migration habits through the fish ladder.”

  “We went there,” Juliana said. “Last year our class saw fish jumping up the ladder.”

  “Exactly. And we want
to keep them coming back. How are things with you and the key chain lady?” Jamie asked in Dana’s direction.

  “Quiet,” she replied, tossing a glance at Juliana then back at Jamie as if to say she’d rather not talk about it in front of her niece.

  “Quiet is good, I hope.”

  “Yes. Thanks for asking.”

  Another blast of the whistle meant time was up.

  “We have to go,” Dana said, looking across at the line of small sailboats heading up the channel toward the Yacht Club. “Maybe we’ll see you tomorrow.”

  “I’ll look for you. You’ll be the Laser going forty knots. Right, Juliana?” Jamie smiled and winked at her.

  “Yeah!”

  Thursday, day four of the lessons, alternated between misty cool and partly cloudy. The sailing class spent their afternoon in the bay coaxing minimum speed out of a nearly windless sky. Dana and Juliana wore rain jackets most of the day, flipping the hoods up and down against the occasional rain. Dana was ready to call it a day when a puff of wind scooted them across the harbor, lifting their spirits.

  “I thought Jamie was going to be out here,” Juliana said.

  “Me, too.”

  “This is a bummer. I hate it when there’s no wind.” Juliana pulled the sail one way then the other, trying to find propulsion.

  “Did you know Christopher Columbus spent an entire week in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean without even a breath of wind? They had to just sit and wait for a breeze to keep them going. But he didn’t give up. I think waiting for the wind is all part of sailing.”

  “I bet Christopher Columbus wished he had his iPod to play.” Juliana grinned.

  “I’m sure he did,” Dana laughed.

  “Hey, I wonder if everyone on Christopher Columbus’s ship all blew at sail at once if it would move.”

  “I don’t know. But I doubt it.”

  “I’m going to ask Jamie. She’d know. She knows all that scientific stuff.”

  “Probably so.” Dana had to agree. Jamie did have a great deal of experience and knowledge about a broad range of subjects. She hadn’t yet found a topic about which Dr. Hughes didn’t have a well of factual information.

  “I bet Jamie went to school forever. She’s smarter than anyone. Except dad, of course,” Juliana added proudly. “Dad is the smartest person in Olympia. Then Jamie’s second.”

  “Smarter than Mrs. Grover, your sixth-grade teacher? I thought she was the smartest person you ever met.”

  “Dad’s smarter. So is Jamie. Mrs. Grover is smart but she doesn’t know about sailing and law stuff. And don’t tell anyone, Aunt Dana, but Mrs. Grover is biased.”

  “Biased?” Dana didn’t think that word had entered Juliana’s young vocabulary yet. “Biased about what?”

  “About a lot of stuff. I heard dad talking to her on the phone.”

  “Oh, really?” Dana held her breath, afraid Juliana was about to confess her first brush with homophobia.

  “When he hung up he said a bad word and called her a Republican,” she said disparagingly.

  Dana burst out laughing.

  “That’s okay, Juliana. We have to be tolerant,” she said through a snicker, relieved it wasn’t something terrible.

  “What’s a Republican, Aunt Dana?”

  How in the world was Dana going to explain Republicans to a twelve-year-old?

  “It’s a political affiliation. It has to do with your beliefs in how the government should be run.”

  “Dad said we’re Protestant. It’s on my passport.”

  “No, that’s religious affiliation.”

  “Don’t Republicans believe in God?”

  “Sure they do. Most of them, anyway. Political and religious affiliation aren’t the same. At least, they aren’t supposed to be,” Dana muttered under her breath. She wondered how she got into a conversation about politics with a twelve-year-old. Just then a gust of wind filled the sail and hurled them toward the middle of the harbor. Juliana pulled the sheet down snug and held onto the side as they picked up speed.

  “LOOK!” Juliana squealed and pointed. “There she is. There’s Jamie.”

  “Where?” Dana bobbed back and forth to see around the outstretched sail.

  “Over there on the other side.”

  Jamie’s research boat sat anchored off the point.

  As they moved closer they could see someone sitting on the side of the boat.

  “Jamie,” Juliana called.

  “I don’t think that’s Jamie.”

  “That’s her boat.”

  The woman on the boat looked up from her magazine. It wasn’t Jamie and it wasn’t the blonde with her on Monday, either.

  “Where’s Jamie?” Juliana asked unabashedly.

  “Dr. Hughes?” the woman said.

  “Yes,” Dana said, looking over the side for signs of air bubbles. She assumed if Jamie wasn’t on the boat, she was diving for samples.

  “She had to go in to have her tanks filled. Something about the valve. She should be back soon. Are you Dana and Julie?”

  “Juliana,” Dana said. “Yes.”

  “She said to tell you she’d be back. I think she wanted to ask you something.”

  “What?” Dana said.

  “She didn’t say.” The woman shrugged. “Oh, she did say for you to try a tight sail on a port tack this afternoon. Something about light air.”

  “Do you sail?” Juliana asked.

  “No. I’m just her lab assistant. I don’t do any of this stuff,” she said, pointing to the scuba equipment hanging on racks around the deck.

  Dana guessed she was barely twenty and a college student. Judging from the fashion magazine she was reading and her glittered fingernail polish, she didn’t have much interest in marine biology. She did look good in her hip hugging jeans and skin-tight top though. Dana waited for a few minutes, checking her watch and scanning the harbor for Jamie’s dinghy. Finally, she gave up.

  “Juliana, I think we need to spend more time sailing, not sitting. What do you say?”

  Juliana gave a last look toward the marina where Jamie would have gone.

  “Okay. I guess so,” she said reluctantly.

  “Will you tell her we were here?” Dana said to the assistant who was applying a layer of sunblock to her face.

  “Sure.”

  They steered back into the middle of the harbor, both of them occasionally looking back for signs of Jamie. But the instructor’s whistle blew without a glimpse of her or her dinghy.

  “Could we wait a little while longer?” Juliana said, squinting out toward the point.

  “We better not. Everyone else is heading in. Maybe she’ll be out tomorrow,” she said, heading for the Yacht Club. She could see disappointment on Juliana’s face. She had to admit she was just as disappointed. Dana gave a last look toward the point then headed for the dock.

  Chapter 8

  Jamie stood at the laboratory table reading a report while Lindsay, one of her lab techs, waited expectantly for her to finish.

  “You’re assuming Trichodesmium?” Jamie said, flipping the page and reading more.

  “I think so, Dr. Hughes.”

  “Blue-green algae instead of green. Not Chlorella?” she said, rereading the first page.

  “It could be, I guess.” Lindsay shrugged, something that brought a smirk to Jamie’s face.

  “Let’s try again. This time remember you’re looking for starch as well as carotenoids, Lindsay.” Jamie handed her the papers and headed for her office. “Rerun your sample and see what you get. You may be right, but let’s make sure.”

  “By the way, Dr. Hughes. You wanted to know when it was one o’clock.”

  “Is it one already?” Jamie looked at her wrist but she wasn’t wearing her watch.

  “Actually, it’s almost three. I reminded you it was one a couple hours ago. Were you supposed to do something?”

  “Three?” Jamie scowled as she checked the time on her cell phone.

  “Was it
important, Dr. Hughes?”

  “Yes, and I’m late. Lock up when you’re finished, Lindsay. I’ll see you Monday morning. We’ll run the proteins through the electrophoresis and see what we get.” She rushed into her office, grabbed her keys and headed for the parking lot. It was Friday, Dana and Juliana’s last day of sailing classes. She wanted to be there to congratulate them on their success. She drove up highway five and into downtown Olympia but was stuck in traffic behind a slow procession of logging trucks.

  “Come on,” she said, impatiently drumming her fingers on the steering wheel as she waited through three light changes. She zipped into a parking place then trotted toward the Yacht Club dock. She got there just as Dana and Juliana were inching their way up to the platform.

  “Good afternoon, ladies,” she said, striding up to them.

  “Hello,” Dana said, grabbing the dock cleat.

  “Toss me your line.”

  Dana tossed the bow line up to her and waited while Jamie tied them to the dock.

  “Hi, Jamie,” Juliana said, grinning broadly. “We passed.”

  “Good for you,” Jamie said, offering her a hand and pulling her ashore. She then extended a hand to Dana, helping her onto the dock. “So sailing classes were a success?”

  “I think so,” Dana said, removing her life vest and tossing it on the pile. “We didn’t crash and only capsized that once.”

  “Dad said maybe I can take junior sailing classes next summer.”

  “And will you be taking junior sailing classes next summer, Dana?” Jamie said.

  “No. I don’t think so. These little boats are better suited for younger sailors.” She smoothed her flyaway strands of hair.

  “Lots of adults race the Lasers. They have quite a following.”

  “They’ll have to do it without me.” Dana unzipped her wet suit a few inches.

  “Aunt Dana said her butt was sore,” Juliana said, beaming brightly. “But not mine. Maybe I’ll be a Laser racer.”

  “If you do, I’ll come watch,” Jamie offered.

  “I’ll be the one on the shore, covering my eyes.” Dana gave Juliana’s ponytail a tug. “You scare me sometimes, missy.”