THE FIX
Jamari was making good time considering she could now see the crack in her board. It was growing by the mile and there’s no question that if it wasn’t fixed soon, the board would crack in half. Les had passed her on his premium, fiber board. Jamari tried to soothe the burning in her stomach. She thought about how light and fast that board must be. Still, considering the crack and time wasted trying to figure out a plan, Jamari was still mid-pack. Not bad. Only 1 mile to go before hitting the 5 mile mark. The 5 mile mark meant lots of slot mouths.
Jamari couldn’t risk it. She bent down, secured the paddle to her board. Made sure her ankle strap was on nice and secure, stood up, and dove out far in front of her board. She’d swim to the edge of mile 5 with her cracked board trailing behind. Mile 5 was sanctioned for help. It was standard practice. So, hopefully Uncle had a sense of what was happening and he’d be there with Phineas to putty up the crack.
Jam took off with a solid freestyle stroke. Each hand crushing through the water and propelling her forward. Amazing that in a world, which was now 95% water there were hardly any places to swim. But, Jamari had spent lots of her days leading up to the race in the tank. Tank work meant she had her form down. The feeling of really being able to propel herself forward with each stroke was exhilarating. It was the reward after so many days training by swimming in one place. Stroke, stroke, stroke, lift head and breathe. Jamari got into a rhythm just like Uncle had taught her.
She let her mind wander and dream about bringing her whole family to the Uppers. When she got into this zone, she was unstoppable. Jamari passed Les and then Lynn and Zephyr. She could imagine their faces, a swimmer making more ground than a paddleboarder. The choppy water was helping, of course. It’s always easier to control your body than a board.
Jamari arrived at the 5 mile mark just a few feet ahead of the pack. She’d have to mount her board now. Everyone knew that the slot mouths started swimming in schools starting at mile 5 and you don’t want to get into a slot mouth’s path. Her uncle told her the slot mouths never existed before the storm. But, now they were the most dangerous part of the deep water. A slot mouth had an opening wider than a human body. When it feeds, it creates a sucking power similar to a super vacuum and everything in its wake gets consumed. Not to mention the slot mouth’s teeth. A slot mouth has initial, entry teeth and then another set of teeth every 12 inches. A slot mouth can be 7 to 10 feet long, so after getting sucked in, that’s 7-10 chomps with those blades until you’re pulverized. It’s not the way Jamari wanted to go out. So, she mounted the board, sat straddling it, drifted and waited. The other paddleboarders would pass, sure, but Jamari knew Uncle had to be arriving soon. He’d have a fix. A fix was the only thing that would help her win.