Silver

Chapter 37 - then

The next day, Alistair had booked us in for a whole day tour on another island. We were on a speedboat and the water was even rougher. The boat landed with a thud every time it passed through a wave. All the seats were taken outside, so we had to sit inside the boat. The air felt compressed and the boat was noisy. No one was able to tell us how long it would take to get to the island.

Alistair was quiet and pale.

I touched his hand, 'Are you okay?'

'Don't ask. Don't make me speak ...' He leant his head out the window and spewed down the side of the boat.

When he was done, he used his navy blue beach towel to wipe his mouth.

'I think I'm going to die,' he said.

'You're not going to die,' I said. 'It's probably just something you ate. The seafood...'

'Don't speak.'

Five minutes later, a girl up the front of the boat retched out the window. I could hear her crying, 'Get me out of here. I hate this boat. When's it going to end?' I could tell from her accent she was Australian. Her husband talked quietly and soothingly to her.

Finally we could see land ahead. It was getting closer and closer. I could see relief on Alistair's face. Before they let us get off the boat, a man reminded us over the loudspeaker, in an accent that was barely comprehensible, that the boat wouldn't return until 4pm. He told us that there would be morning tea, lunch and afternoon tea served on the island and paddle boats were available for everyone to use. 'Enjoy' he said lightheartedly at the end of his little announcement.

'I can never get back on this boat,' Alistair said, just managing to stand up. He stumbled off the boat and we walked slowly along the rickety pier. I could see the brunette who'd been spewing as well, lying on a banana lounge outside a food hut. Her husband was standing beside her with his hands in his pockets. A local lady was offering her a bottle of water. I steered Alistair over there.

He collapsed on a banana lounge nearby.

'Water?' the staff member asked.

Alistair grunted. He shook his head and turned his body over to face away from her.

I put my hand out for the water. 'Thanks, I'll take one for him for later.' I placed the bottle of water down beside him.

The brunette was sobbing.

'Seafood?' I asked her husband, who until now I hadn't given much attention. He had dark brown hair sculpted like the roof of the Sydney Opera House. His eyes were green and his skin pale. When he smiled, it felt like a pirate radio signal.

'How did you know?' he asked. 'I ordered the noodles. Although you'd think crab would be safe to eat being this close to the sea.'

'So you didn't see the dead horse floating in the water at the ferry port?'

'Just the rubbish burning on the shoreline,' he laughed. 'I'm Jarvis,' he put out his hand.

'Sylvie,' I shook his hand. 'We're on our honeymoon,' I said, as if to explain this mess.

'It's our two-year anniversary.'

'Jarvis,' his wife cried out. 'Let me rest. I can't stand the sound of voices. You go. Go. Go swimming or something. Just go.'

Alistair looked as though he was trying to sleep. Jarvis titled his head to the side, an invitation to join him. I guessed that there wasn't much I could do for Alistair anyway. So I followed Jarvis. 

It was the beginning. A paddle out ceremony from following convention.