"Come on, man," JJ grunts as he, Pope, and John B pull the life boat up the shore of the island. Kie, Sarah, Cleo, and I sit in the sand, watching as they haul it out of the water. "Come on, boys," John B grunts. "That's good," He finally pants as they drop it into the sand. "Good job, guys!" Sarah calls. I look around at the abandoned island, the palm trees swaying and casting giant shadows over the enormous rocks and cliffs. "Good job," Kie nods.
"Whoa," JJ says. "JJ, you alright there, buddy?" John B asks. "Yeah. Still a little dizzy," He mutters, sitting down on the sand next to me. "Okay, anybody know where we're at?" He asks. "Deserted beach. Unknown island," Pope says as he and John B join the circle. "Alright, I'll take that as a no," He sighs. "Plan A, huh, Pope?" He asks. "That went well," He shakes his head. "This is the lowest we can go," Pope sighs. "We literally have nothing else to lose!" He screams.
"The cross, gone," He says. "The gold, gone," Sarah mutters. Pope flops back onto the sand in defeat. "Seriously, if we had a nickel for every time we got beat up, I'd say we're at a dollar fifty," He shakes his head. "That's more than I got on me," Kie mutters. "That somehow doesn't make me feel better," Sarah sighs. "Yeah, you're right," John B shakes his head. "But, I mean, we've... we've had some good stuff happen, right?" He shrugs.
"Name something," Pope groans. "Uh... the boiler room?" He shrugs. "What, I mean if the boiler didn't explode, I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe," He sighs. "I couldn't have gotten the zodiac and gotten us outta here," He says. "That wasn't luck," Cleo shakes her head with a smile. "That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it," She says. "Stealing my thunder, Cleo. Um...," He sighs. "Sorry," She shrugs. JJ shakes his head, pulling me close to his side. I lay my head on his shoulder, wondering how John B can see a good side to this at all.
"Okay, Pope. You're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy," He says. "And I lost all his inheritance," Pope mutters. "You know what?" John B asks as he stands up. "Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life," He grins, motioning to the waves. "We are in the Caribbean. It's our own little slice of paradise!" He says, gesturing to the island. With my best friends, with my family. I don't know. I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else," He says.
"Look, and while you guys were complaining about every little thing... JJ?" John B grins, helping JJ off the ground. "Hmm?" He grins. "I was looking at those burly lefts," He grins, pointing to the waves. "There's some slabs out there," JJ smirks with a smile. "Just a few," John B smirks. "Kie, y/n, you see that? I know you wanna get out there," He smirks at us. "No boards," Kie says with a smile. "Well, we can bodysurf till we make some boards?" He suggests as JJ helps me up, wrapping me into a hug. "Lame," I laugh.
"Pope? Come on, man," John B grins. "They do look pretty tasty," He smiles. "Oh, yes, they do," John B says. "There's nobody around. We could squat here for a bit," He says as he stands up. JJ kisses my head and I pull back slightly to look up at him, the wind blowing both of our hair around. "Kind of belongs to us now, huh?" Pope grins. "You got a point," John B grins. "Seven-way split?" Pope asks as he does the Pogue handshake with John B.
"This can be our surf trip?" I smile up at JJ, kissing him. "Poguelandia," He smirks in an accent. "Oh boy," John B sighs as he pulls away from me, turning to the group. "I claim thee Poguelandia," He says in the same accent. "I like the ring of it," He says. "I'm gonna make a flag. It's gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra. Smoking a J... in crocs," He nods as we laugh.
"I could use a J," Kie nods. "Can we vote on this?" Sarah laughs. "Shall we get to work?" Pope asks. "Let's get to work," John B nods. "Let's start working on provisions," John B nods. "Set up shop," He nods. "Sarah, till death do us part?" He asks. "Till death do us part," She smiles as he helps her up. "Welcome back to the Pogue life," He grins. "Full Pogue," She nods. "Full Pogue. Ooh," He smiles. "Welcome to the Pogues," Pope says as he helps Cleo up. "Thanks," She nods.
"Going full Pogue," Kie nods as she takes my hand and I pull her up too. "What is a Pogue, anyway?" Cleo asks. "Going full Pogue," JJ smiles at me with a nod. "What is that handshake you do?" Cleo asks. Pope starts explaining it to her as JJ slings his arm around my shoulders, leading me to the water. "We made it," I whisper. "We made it out alive," He nods. "Poguelandia," I smile. He grins, nodding back to the tree, where he carved 'P4L' with his army knife.
"I love you, JJ, don't forget that," I whisper. "Never," He nods, pressing his lips to mine. "That water's waiting," He whispers, grabbing my legs and lifting me onto his shoulder. I scream happily as we run, the rest of the Pogues quickly following.
My dad had this quote from Euripides. "The ocean washes away all the evil men do." But I'm not sure that's true. I don't think the ocean washes away anything. If anything, the ocean makes you remember.
~~~~~~
We sit around the fire late that night, roasting fish on sticks above the flames. We laugh and talk. JJ tells stories and never stops kissing me. Cleo teaches us how to spin a knife between your fingers. Kie argues with John B about how many fish we should be killing. Sarah tells me the full story about how her and John B ended up getting married. And for now at least, everything is okay.
