Out of My Heart: Chapters 20–26

We must have looked skeptical, because she added, “Let’s see....Look at it this way: a pontoon boat is like a floating living room with a sunroof!”

Trinity, however, had the foam-filled jacket around me and clipped in about ten seconds. “All set, kid!”
Hmm—I sure hoped I didn’t need to use this. Then I got to thinking about logistics—got that from Mom. I tapped, “Wheelchairs on boats?”

Karyn scoffed, “I’ve watched that movie about the Titanic like ninety-nine times. Trust me, ‘unsinkable’ boats can go down.”

“Well,” she replied, “I’ve seen that movie a million times as well. But since we have no ocean storms or icebergs in the forecast, just calm, placid lake water, I think we’re safe for this trip.”

As I was getting over both surprises, I looked from the boys to the lake behind them. I still couldn’t get over the colors. Azure, indigo, sapphire. I ran out of blue words in my head! I mean, I knew lakes were blue, or maybe green, but not all the ding-dang blues with glints of white at the ripples. I couldn’t stop staring. And it wasn’t at all like a swimming pool.

Swimming pools are tame, docile, chlorinated, and medicated. Okay, I read that in a book someplace, but it fit.

“Now first, a little vocabulary lesson. This part you’re sitting on is called the stern, or the aft.” He pointed to the front of the vessel. “And up there is the bow. So if I say I look toward the stern, you’ll know to look at the back of the boat and won’t miss a rare sea monster sighting!”

There was something I was curious about as well. I tapped out, “What’s the best part about being a boat captain?”
Captain Carter’s smile went huge, his teeth so white against his ruddy face. He didn’t seem to be the least bit fazed to be asked a question by a machine.

There was something I was curious about as well. I tapped out, “What’s the best part about being a boat captain?”
Captain Carter’s smile went huge, his teeth so white against his ruddy face. He didn’t seem to be the least bit fazed to be asked a question by a machine.

“Well, me ladies and gents,” the captain said, lowering his brim an inch. “I’ll simply say, ‘Thar she blows and off we go!”’ He paused, his eyes crinkling as he grinned. “Nobody really talks like that, except in the movies,” he confided. “But it is time for me to get to my wheel. Enjoy the ride!”

Then we both noticed a shiny black speedboat that left a massive white spume behind it as it roared past us at double our speed, so fast its front—its bow—was in the air! It seemed to disappear from view in seconds. I gaped after it. It must be awesome to have such power!

Then the thrum of the engine shook my chair as we started moving a little faster again. The boat turned in a wide arc—we were heading back to our starting point, I guess.

Was it the sunshine? The buffeting breeze? The rocking of the boat? Whatever it was, once we got back to the cabin, we all crashed. Even the counselors, and Karyn, who claimed she never slept during the day, were snoring away.

They still had plenty of food for us, and Jocelyn was right—it was pizza night. I ate mine without the crust—yummy sauce and cheese with bits
of olives and sautéed pepperoni.

Trinity made a sheepish face. “Ha! When we got back, we totally crashed. The pontoon ride will do it every time. We almost missed dinner!”

Athena—a silhouette against the glow—lifted her fingers toward the pine-cone sparks. Her dark hair looked glossy in the firelight, and she seemed to be entranced. She looked beautiful.

She maneuvered me to the perfect spot where I could feel the warmth of the fire mixed with the chill of the night.

“’Cause snakes are smart and know how to hide from noisy folks like us!”
“Hide where?” I tapped.
“Under leaves. Behind bushes. In the undergrowth. That’s their home. They know all the safe places to hide from birds and squirrels and foot-stomping campers.”

So, we had a snake come to visit us. And now they wanted us to go on a trek into snake territory on purpose? Actually, that sounded like a fair trade—I was up for it, ready to go and check out Cleopatra’s neighborhood.

“Hey, Firefly Girl!” Noah called out as the Panthers jostled past us. I did manage to wave back, but I’m not sure if he saw. Jocelyn noticed, however.

Penny had seemed to be sure that I was going to spend my whole time in the “forest,” but this was our first real venture into the actual woods.

“What’s up?” one of the guys called out.
Trinity, her voice betraying a hint of a quaver, repeated, “Skunk! Skunk!”

As for the skunk, it tilted its head as if to say, Who are all these noisy intruders in my forest? It continued to peer at us, but also began waving its tail. That couldn’t be good! As I thought about it, we were large and clunky and noisy. But the skunk had stealth, silence—and a not-so-secret superpower.

The skunk must have decided we weren’t worth the trouble to raise a stink—ha, I made a pun—because it started to trundle back to wherever skunks live in the woods. And that was when Santiago and Devin decided to roll themselves over to see what was going on, doubling back toward us. Harley and Charles whisper-shouted for them to stop, but the boys seemed mesmerized.

The skunk must have decided we weren’t worth the trouble to raise a stink—ha, I made a pun—because it started to trundle back to wherever skunks live in the woods. And that was when Santiago and Devin decided to roll themselves over to see what was going on, doubling back toward us. Harley and Charles whisper-shouted for them to stop, but the boys seemed mesmerized.

Karyn rolled over to me. “My dad got skunked once,” she told us.
“But he still smelled like a rancid bowl of cream of tomato soup when he finished. Mom finally went to the hardware store and bought some professional stuff, but I didn’t hug my dad for a while after that!”

I sniffed the air; no residual skunk smell—yet.

Santiago, whose legs were covered by a fuzzy purple blanket, rolled in with his Medi-Talker playing really cool, really loud salsa music. All right! Apparently the guys had managed to recuperate!

I sniffed the air hard, but all I caught was that crisp smell of branches on fire, and maybe a hefty dose of aftershave lotion.

Jeremiah ambled over and held out a very long stick with a marshmallow stuck on the end to Noah. “Here you go, buddy!” he said.