Date: Sun, 16 May 2010 16:29:29 +0100 From: paxos@hushmail.com Subject: Ash Cloud - Chapter Five Ash Cloud - Chapter 5 --- Quietly, Captain Bob opens the hatch and goes on deck. The early morning dew makes the boat shine. The cliffs glow pink. He stands and stretches and breathes in. He pads on bare feet to get the soft brush and the bucket and sets to his morning routine. A gull flaps and stops to perch on the safety line. A beady black eye keeps him in sight. Water runs over the gunwale as he scrubs, muscles rippling across his bare back. He works he way to the prow of the boat, refilling the bucket as he goes. He picks up Jack's shorts from where they lie, damp with dew. He drapes them over the safety rail facing the sun and continues to clean. He looks back toward the cockpit to see Toby bare chested, hair awry, rubbing his arms. Then a hand up in greeting. As he turns, from the corner of his eye, he sees a dark shape underwater, pass below the boat. Bob presses a finger to his lips. Holds a hand up to stop Toby. He looks below as three dark shapes flit across the vivid green. Still with one finger to his lips, he bends to rest the brush carefully on the deck and beckons Toby to join him. Looking anxious, Toby edges forward, hand over hand on the safety line until he is at his side. Captain Bob points. A fin breaks the surface then dips below again. Captain Bob leans down and whispers into Toby's ear. "Trust me, Toby, take off your shorts." He smiles at the blushing face. He mouths `Go on.' The knot in Toby's swim shorts is too tight to come loose, so the boy has to wriggle them down his slender hips. They drop around his ankles and he steps out. He looks at Captain Bob, his hands cupping his scrotum, but Captain Bob is scanning the sea. Finally he looks back to Toby and steps towards the edge of the boat, holding out his arm. In silence he lowers the boy into the sea. Naked, Toby treads water, looking up at Captain Bob. Bob is beaming. "Look behind you." Toby scoops water and twists with his knees. A bottlenose dolphin, snout out of the water, is looking at him. Toby is kicking and paddling his arms hard. The dolphin slaps the water with its beak, opens its mouth and chirps. "Oh my GOD!" He reaches out a tentative hand and feels the smooth grey body as the dolphin slides past him. It suddenly bucks and shoots away, a shimmering blur. Toby looks up at Captain Bob, eyes wide. Yards off, a pod crests. Water plumes from blowholes. Captain Bob points and the boy rotates in the water. "Your friend is back!" Toby reaches out and the dolphin stops. The snout waves then presses into the palm of his hand. He rubs the top and the dolphin nods up and opens its mouth. "Its got millions of teeth!" "Don't put your hand in!" "Don't..." Toby sinks underwater, distracted. The snout of the dolphin is nuzzled into his armpit, lifting him. He splutters. His arm rolls across the back of the dolphin. It starts to swim, pulling him along. He rolls off. "Oh!" A second dolphin approaches fast, then rockets upward into the air so close to him that Toby is showered with spray as it smacks back into the water. The boy is looking all around. "They've gone!" "Just wait there. See if they come back." Captain Bob hurries down the boat, returning with an old scuba mask. He lies flat on the deck to hand it down to the boy. "Tighten it by pulling on the ends. That's it. It's too big for you, but better than nothing!" Toby swims out a short distance from the boat, his white buttocks dappled with sunlight, his face underwater, goggle-eyed in the mask. Swimming turns to splashing. Four then five gray streaks run through the water toward him. They slow and turn. They roll beside him and allow him to touch them. He cups a hand against a dorsal fin. He is tugged then pulled through the water, foam washing over him. The dolphin picks up speed and he feels the water tear past from his head to the tips of his toes. He lets go. He is yards from the boat. He swims back. A dolphin is underneath him. For a moment he straddles it, his naked body pressed to it. Then it dips away. He treads water, then goes under trying to push the water up to keep submerged. He watches the circling shapes. The green water is speared with sunlight. The shapes are clustering. One is suddenly alongside him. It rolls and slaps the surface, then darts away to join the rest. As he watches underwater, they turn as one and disappear into the shadows of green. He breaks surface and tears off the mask. A strong arm pulls him out of the water. He presses into the man's side, water dripping from him, pooling at his feet. They both stare out to sea. Far off, a dolphin jumps. Bob looks down into Toby's face. He wipes away tears from soft cheeks, but they keep coming. --- "What was all that noise?" Jack clambers up into the cockpit. Toby, his shorts back on, is eating watermelon. "Nothing." "Was racket!" He grabs a roll, splits it open and adds scoops of jam and butter. "Are we staying here today Captain Bob? School can wait you know. There nothing important for weeks." "No, I have to get you boys back. Much as I'd like to stay." He is smiling at Toby, whose eyes are still shining. "Well, it's going to take ages to get back anyway isn't it?" "Could take a week, maybe more, depending on the wind." Captain Bob is wiping oil from his hands. "And on whether I can get this motor going." "What's wrong with it?" "I think it's the injector pump. We are going to need to go back to Ustica harbour before we set off. It's going to be a bit tricky sailing away from the lee of these cliffs, so I'll need you both to help." "Aye, aye Captain!" Jack says with his mouth full. Toby just smiles. --- The Aurora under sail leans into the wind. Captain Bob scans the island. Toby is wiping plates that Jack hands him from the sink, trying to keep his balance. "Guess what." "What?" says Toby. Jack fishes his mobile from the pocket of his shorts. "There's a signal." "Did your mum text you?" "Better than that." He hands Toby the phone. "Who's that?" He reads it again. "Who are you going to meet?" "Who do you think, stupid." --- "Well, okay, Jack. There really isn't much to explore in this port, though. Do you see the bar up there? No, higher. Yes that's it. We'll meet you there in, what, an hour?" Captain Bob looks down at the fat mechanic. "Quanto tempo ci vorrà ?" --- Captain Bob sits at a table with Toby, looking across the bay. The port is busy. The boy sucks cola through a straw from a tall glass. There is a beer in front of Captain Bob and a bag of groceries by his feet. There are people at four other tables, in the middle of their meals, and a waiter reading a paper. Heads turn towards the door. The other diners get up. Meals half- eaten. They cluster around the waiter trying to pay. Captain Bob turns to look at the door. Three men in suits have entered the restaurant. Along with bare- chested Jack. Along with Fabio in a white shirt and jeans. Jack and Fabio hang back. The men in suits sit at tables. One faces the door. Another faces the kitchen. The third faces Captain Bob. Two more men in suits enter the restaurant. A young man who looks about him. An old man, who looks straight ahead and makes his way to Captain Bob's table. He pulls out a chair. "May I?" He sits. He looks at Captain Bob. He looks at Toby, leans forward and strokes the back of his head. "Andare fuori e giocare... eh, you go outside with Jack, ragazzo." Fabio is at the table. "Come on Toby, my uncle and Captain Bob need to talk." --- "What's in them?" Asks Toby. "Cans of Italian tomatoes." replies Fabio. Two men in suits are sweating heavily in the bright sunlight, ferrying the crates from the van. "Why don't they take their jackets off?" Jack is standing by Captain Bob. "Why do we have to take them?" "Because no planes are flying so they can't ship them to England in the normal way." "So they asked us to take them?" "Yes." "There's a lot of them, won't they sink the boat?" "No, they'll be fine in the hold." "And Fabio's coming with us?" "Yes." "To look after the tomatoes?" "Yes." "They're not going to go anywhere." "Well, you eat like a horse, young man. Expect he wants to make sure there are some tomatoes left by the time we make it back to England." Fabio joins them in the cockpit. "Not much longer, Captain Bobs." He puts a hand on the boy's brown shoulder. Bob takes Fabio's hand off the boy. "These boys are my responsibility, Fabio." Fabio puts his hand back on the boy's shoulder and squeezes. --- comments very much appreciated. paxos@hushmail.com