All That Glitters

Diver Down

The HMS Pogue's engine roared with life as it carried the four whom JJ referred to as "pirates" to the site of the now infamous Grady-White shipwreck. John B and Kie were messing around with the borrowed Druthers scuba gear. Pope left in charge of keeping them from hitting any more sand banks.

"So this ones empty. And that one's a quarter full. Why couldn't you have stolen gear that was actually ready to be used?"

"Borrowed, Kie." JJ reminded her.

"Whatever. This is only enough for one of us."

"I saw Sarah Cameron on the Druthers." John B blurted out.

"So? It's her dad's boat." JJ said.

"She saw me taking the gear. I told her I was filling them."

"You think she might snitch on you to her pops?"

"God I hope not."

"Guys, there's more pressing matters. Who knows how to dive?" Kie asked impatiently. They all looked around. It became apparent that they hadn't thought this through. None of them were trained in scuba diving. "Anyone?"

JJ spoke first. "It's uh... kind of a Kook sport."

"I read about it." Pope said.

"Great. Pope read about it so someones gonna die. So glad I signed up for this today, guys."

"I mean you just put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be." JJ re-enacted putting on the scuba mask and was overall just not taking it serious.

"If you come up too fast nitrogen gets in your blood which gives you the bends."

"What like bend over?"

"The bends kill you, JJ."

"R-right."

"I'll dive." John B raised his hand. "It's fine."

"Okay yeah. Lemme do some calculations first before you try anything stupid." Pope scrambled around the boat looking for a pen. "Why do we never have any pens on here?" JJ flicked a pencil out from his pocket with a smile. Pope took it and nodded his head as if to say thanks. "So it's about thirty feet down meaning you'd probably need about twenty-five minutes of air. And you'd need to make your safety stop at around ten feet."

"Right right."

"For two minutes."

"Ten feet. Two minutes. Got it." John B flashed some finger guns at Pope.

Kie rolled her eyes and promptly jumped off the side of the Pogue gripping her shirt in her hand. They all turned to watch her submerge.

"What was that?" Pope asked.

"I don't know but uh—I liked it. A lot."JJ said as he stared into the depths where Kie had gone in. John B cleared his throat and stood up. JJ shook his head and joined him. "So uh... when you're down there, use this–" he held up some sort of key, "stick this thing inside the hatch, twist, and pull, kay?"

"Stick in the hole, twist, and pull. I think I got it." JJ smiled and dropped the key in John B's hand. Slapping his shoulder.

"Yeah. My dad moved some weight back in the day."

"Who didn't." Pope replied as Kie re-emerged from the water.

"Hey! I tied my t-shirt to the chain around ten feet down. Make sure you do your safety stop there."

"Cool." John B began strapping himself into the gear. Making sure it was secure and done to Popes specifications from the book that he'd seen it from.

"Keep an eye on this. You gotta make sure you have enough air to decompress." He pointed to the air gauge. Handing it to John B.