Why not? - English

13-17 Riptide Rescue

Is set during the episode.

I called my mother last night and asked her what she have had in mind to call Sam. It took a while for her to say that she was hoping for an idea from him about what to get me for my birthday. She had clearly noticed that I had been upset that she had blown my cover for the course and it had ended with me having to confess to her that Sam and I had become closer, but at the moment thanks to a few stupid rumors in town we had a difficult phase, which didn't make her call any better.

Even though I hadn't explained to her in detail what the rumors were about, my mother had insisted on clearing my mind about keeping secrets from Sam, just to let me have some fun with him later. Secrets were never good, no matter the reason and especially not in a developing relationship, she had said.

For better or for worse, I had to agree with her because Sam and I haven't said a word to each other since our argument yesterday.

"And Penny, how does it look? Is everything okay with Neptune?" Ben pulled me out of my thoughts and I jumped up to turn to him. I had just tightened the screws on Neptune's outboard motor because there was less to do today and thanks to Sam and me the air at the station was thick. So I had preferred to use Neptune's maintenance as an excuse to get out of there.

"Everything is perfect, as always. The engine has been serviced, the oil has been changed and the sonar and gauges are working perfectly," I went through the checklist I had made in my head aloud - it was strange how much you care about something like that and you could get used to it and incorporate it into your everyday life if you had to deal with it constantly thanks to the course.

"Sounds good. It's too bad that Neptune still has time for her annual check. Titan's, on the other hand, is already next week. I think about it with horror," objected Ben as he leaned on the railing and shook himself briefly.

"Why? Is there something wrong with Titan?" I wiped my greasy fingers on a rag before joining him on the platform out of Neptune.

"It Purrs like a kitten, but these inspectors always find something when they want to find something, right?" he replied annoyed and I couldn't help but grin. If he knew that I would do the inspection next week if I passed the practical part the day after tomorrow, he would definitely be a lot calmer.

"I'll ask Sam to check Titan again after you've done it. Four eyes see better than two," I suggested to him anyway as I put the tools back in the box.

"Why don't you do it?" he asked me skeptically and went down from the platform to turn on the kettle in the kitchenette.

"Oh, I... well, I think Sam would really be the better choice. As the son of a fisherman, he probably knows better what to look out for on such a big boat than I do, since I'm more of an expert on Neptune." I was really proud of myself for finding an excuse so quickly, because servicing a vehicle that I had to inspect always seemed a bit stupid - at least that's what they said during the course. It didn't mean that I wasn't allowed to continue carrying out repairs on the vehicles, but the recommendation from our course instructors was definitely that it was better not to see our signatures on the test reports the last three or four times before the inspection, because we could be accused of negligence if something were to happen and an investigation would reveal it.

"Right. Good idea, Penny," Ben then praised me and poured hot water into two cups while I walked over to him and opened the box with the tea bags. I wrinkled my nose at Ben's exquisite taste. Oriental peach, Caribbean apple-mango mixture and Chinese hibiscus flower were just three of them. When I went shopping I definitely had to remember to bring a few normal varieties for the ocean rescue center. I found another bag of peppermint tea, which was certainly not my favorite, but still better than Scottish thistle with vanilla."An emergency call just came in from the lighthouse. Mike got tangled in the rope while painting and was hanging upside down. Sam and Ellie are taking care of it and are painting the lighthouse now while Mike sits in the folding chair and watches them. I watched everything with my binoculars. Do you know why the two of them do Mike's work?"