THE FALL
Jamari sat on her board watching the pack pass. It was quiet and Jamari thought maybe she should just swim directly into the slot mouths. Then this quiet would be her last moment. But, a motor in the distance drifted into her daydream. It was Uncle and Phin pulling up in their worn out skiff.
“The board is cracked, Uncle,” she said.
“Shh, the slot mouths,” he warned. True, the slot mouths were sensitive to sound. So, any type of noise would bring them closer to the surface. “Don’t worry. I saw,” he added, gesturing towards her board.
“I thought better to wait,” Jamari said.
“You did the right thing,” Uncle responded. “We’ll take care of you in two minutes and you can get back on track.”
“The whole island got you a new board!” Phineas said, hardly able to contain himself.
Uncle pulled the new fiberglass mini from the bottom of the boat and presented it to her. It was better than Les’s. It must’ve cost everyone at least a month’s worth of Saturday rations. It was beautiful.
“Not a lot of time,” Uncle said, as he put the board in the water. Without thinking, Jamari detached her strap. She let her old board go and swam to the new one. Phineas grabbed the oar and handed it over. Jamari smiled at Uncle and Phineas. Uncle balled his fist into the palm of his hand and put it over his heart. Jamari nodded knowing there was nothing she could say in response that would compare. So, she turned and steeled herself for the paddle of a lifetime.
After rowing for what felt like a good 20 minutes, Jamari could see the back of the pack. She dug deeper with each stroke, even though the muscles in her chest and arms burned and screamed for her to stop. They were approaching the channel now. Everyone knew, the channel was the choppiest. Staying on the board, that’s half the battle. The rest of the pack sat down on their boards hoping to get more stability, as they powered through the rapids. But, Jamari needed to make up time. She kept paddling. Her hope was to gain ground wherever she could. In a few more strokes, she’d overtake them, but only if she could stay on.
Jamari cleared the pack easily. She pulled herself further and further away. Trucking now at a decent pace, she let herself breathe. “The water’s not so bad,” she thought. Jamari even turned around to give her competition one last look.
It was the turn that did her in. When Jamari faced forward again, it was too late to do anything about the incoming wave. She braced and in a flash, she was in the water. As Jamari tried to gather her wits about her, she saw the mouth. It opened wide and she felt the pull immediately. Quickly, she released the board from her ankle. She pulled as much as she could the other way, but it did not help. She was wasting energy. “Think, think,” Jamari said to herself.
There, out of the corner of her eye, she saw the oar. She reached for it, barely holding on with her fingertips, as she passed. Her legs were inside the beast now. As her shoulders slid through its jaw, she turned and waited for that millisecond when the slot’s mouth would start to close. When it did, she jammed the oar into its mouth. The oar stood vertically and the jaw stayed open like a jacked up car. She’d seen one, pictured at the side of a road, in the history books. “Good,” she thought. The exit problem was solved. But, Jamari was still plastered to the beast’s throat by the power of its suction. The slot mouth was confused and began to dive deeper and deeper into the sea. “How long can a slot mouth suck while feeding?” she asked herself. And then the answer came. Suddenly, she was released from its hold. Jamari could swim now. She pushed off hard against the monster’s fleshy bits and flew out of its mouth, just as the slot snapped the plastic oar in half. Jamari took off for the surface. This time, she refused to look back.