Date: Sun, 30 May 2010 18:39:26 +0100 From: paxos@hushmail.com Subject: Ash Cloud - Chapter 7 "I'm not hungry." "Suit yourself." Fabio slices himself spiced sausage and presses it onto a dry cracker. "Can I give him some water?" Fabio looks toward the mast. "Okay." Toby scuttles below, returning with a beaker brimming between careful fingers. He steps around ropes and cleats, barefoot along the baking deck. Captain Bob's skin across his shoulders is cracked and raw. His hands, tied behind the mast, are swollen. Toby kneels beside him. Fabio snorts. Jack comes up into the cockpit and looks forward. "He'll die unless you untie him. Then what would your uncle say?" He laughs. "My uncle don't care. Captain Bob... a very stupid man." "Everyone hates you, you know." Fabio looks at Jack. The boy is naked. He sits on the deck by the cockpit, hugging his knees. Fabio bites the cracker and tastes the meat on his tongue. "You a funny boy, Jack." He drinks from a wine bottle. Toby tips the water into the open mouth of Captain Bob. The captain is trying to say something. Toby leans forward. Fabio looks up. "Wind!" The pennant at the top of the mast is flapping. It stops. It flaps again. "Okay boys, we get ready." Fabio stuffs the rest of the cracker into his mouth. He checks the gun in his belt and moves toward the mast. "Captain Bobs. Time for you to go in cabin." He forces the captain's chin up and looks into his eyes. "You behave?" He brandishes the gun in front of the captain's face. "Toby, untie him." Fabio stands aside, the weapon at the ready. The boy helps Bob to his feet. He leans heavily on the boy to make it back to the cockpit. Jack and Toby help him down the steep ladder and back to his cabin. "Back on deck boys." Fabio points to the ladder with the gun. Jack and Toby are alone. The wind is picking up. They hear Captain Bob groan. A cabin door slams. Fabio is back in the cockpit. He raises the main sail and spins the wheel. The Aurora turns. The boom wavers, then snaps to starboard. The sail flaps then fills. The boat moves at walking pace. "This better, no?" Toby, wary of the boom, hurries up the port side to the bow. --- "Take the wheel." Jack hops down into the cockpit. Under his control the Aurora feels alive. The wind is up. Fabio puts his hand onto the boy's brown shoulder. Jack tries to shrug him off, but he does not let go. His thumb feels the vertebrae in the boy's soft neck. He rolls his hand over the ball of Jack's shoulder, feeling the softness of the skin and the lines of the boy's bicep. Jack turns the boat. The sail pulls and tips the boat down toward the water. She picks up speed. "Not too much, Jack." Fabio looks to the bow, where Toby is sat looking forward. He looks down at Jack. At the naked boy. He sees the boy's calves. Heels. White buttocks. The boat leans. Fabio looks at the sails. Then back to Toby. The boy has turned. He is beckoning. "What he want?" "Not sure." Says Jack, gripping the wheel. "What you want?!" Fabio shouts. "He can't hear you." The Aurora cuts through the sea. Behind, a wake froths. "What he want?" Toby is waving him forward. Fabio's hand leaves Jack's neck. He steps out of the cockpit. He moves forward carefully, holding the safety rail. Jack turns the wheel a fraction. Then spins. The wind pours off the coast of Africa into the Mediterranean. It races in turbulent gusts driven by high pressures from the desert. It rips and slides. It floods across the sea. It swipes the sail of the Aurora and slams the boom from port to starboard. Fabio opens his mouth. He raises his hands to protect himself. He sees the full sail. The aluminum boom as it swings. He tries to duck. --- Jack spins the wheel back. The boom swings, pauses, then snaps back to starboard. Toby is on his feet. Jack is looking into the wake. --- Night thickens. The Aurora, free, tears through the darkness. Captain Bob is at the wheel. Toby and Jack, wearing harnesses, are standing on the port side of the boat, leaning against the spray, almost vertical, leaning back.