It started out as another bad queasy day. I thought of my batch of coconuts on the back deck. To ease my seasickness, some nice cool coconut water sounded like just the ticket, and the fresh air probably wouldn't hurt either. The cabin was downright stuffy all closed up to keep the ocean out. Captain Fraingck let me borrow a cargo net he found on the reef to wrap around my coconut stash and keep them from rolling into the sea, so I scurried back there, and started gnawing on a nut at the top of the pile. Suddenly a huge rogue wave towered over me and came crashing down, everything on the back deck was awash in chaos, my bundle floated to port then to starboard as the boat recovered. I hung on for dear life, my bundle teatering on the edge of the rail, just my luck a second wave popped up from underneath lifting me and bundle up and over the rail and into the ocean! I cried for help but my cries were unheard. Luckily the bundle was tied on deck with a line that also tied all of Captn Fraingck's beachcombing treasures on deck. I clutched my coconut stem desperately as one by one, his treasures followed me into the sea. First the pretty bouy neckless he's making for Silver Lining, then the flying saucer radio antenna for finding fish, then his beat up bucket, a plethora of fishing floats and the bamboo pole for...well I don't know what the bamboo pole was for, but I guess you never know when you might need one, last a bunch of skeins of old just-in-case line. The main line holding us all together went so taught from the weight of it all, I was sure it would snap, and we'd be blown to sea. The nearest land was the atoll Fangataufa, the one where the French did above ground nuclear weapon testing, only rats allowed, but my worries about skin cancer would pale next to what I'd become after even a week there! And since it's a no sail zone, it could be centuries before anyone came ashore.
Somebody save me! Silver lining was flying, and so was all the stuff, I was getting whiplash at the end as we zigzagged between the big swells, and with each whip, I was doused for what seemed like hours under water, then coming up to spindrifts blinding my view. As I road to the top of one big crest, I could barely make out Silver Lining's top spreaders at eye level, rubbing the salt spray from my eyes, I saw Margo coming out on deck to toss an empty peach can into the water. She looked up and saw the string of Fraingck's junk trailing in the water, and she ran to the back deck to save us. We sailed down the face of the wave, and back up the next, I lost sight of her as Silver Lining sailed over the next peak, but when my coconuts and I were yanked over the same crest I was horrified to look down and see that she wasn't pulling the line in, but instead she'd grabbed the machete from the cockpit. Eyeing all that crap, a wicked grin spread across her face as she raised the machete high for a clean blow to the line. I squealed in terror, she hesitated, looked up towards the last bundle my bundle and squinting hard, I think she saw my tail waving in panic. Too slowly she lowered the machete, and before I was dunked again by the next whitecap, I heard her call in a resigned tone, "Logan your rat's drowning, and Fraingck, you better help him all your crap's in the water." I think I must have passed out then.
The next thing I remember I was waking up to Logan humming the "Hamster Dance" song, and pushing his index finger hard and rapidly into my chest. I must have coughed up a whole pint of seawater. Logan had told me that in his CPR class, they said the best music to match the human heart rate for CPR was the BeeGee's "Stayin'Alive" He's a smart kid, I guess he figured that since a rat's heart beats much faster, a different song was in order. At least he wasn't following Radio Lab's alternate suggestion of "Another One Bight's the Dust" which has the same beat as Stayin'Alive. After resuscitating me, he bundled me up and tucked me in with Kennan, who hasn't lifted his head from his books in days. I snuggled into Kennan's armpit, pressing my cold bare ears to his warm bare chest. He absently twirled my tail with his index finger as he read from his book aloud to me. All glowy and warm, I settled in for a nice long ratnap.
I think she's warming up to me, and Captain Fraingck owes me bigtime for saving all his stuff.
-Scurvy
No longer a Rat Over Board
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