Based on a true story.
“Hey! We’re sailing!” said Alicia. “And here I was beginning to think it would never happen.”
“Yeah, but something about those storm clouds behind us tells me it’s a good time to get out of town,” said her father.
Alicia looked past him to the clouds moving in over the lake. “I think you’re right,” she said.
“What do you say we turn on the motor and get out of here?”
Alicia responded by bending town turn the ignition key and press the black button labeled “Start”. The boat picked up speed and Alicia looked ahead.
The sky ahead looked even worse.
Whereas the clouds behind them were just moving, in front of the boat there was no visible sun, although it was the middle of the afternoon. The clouds had solidified into one giant dark mass that made Alicia wonder if going faster was really such a good idea.
Her dad turned on the autopilot and went to sit up on the front of the boat.
Alicia watched the skies and tried not to worry. Her dad was an experienced sailor. He knew what he was doing.
After a while he turned back to her and said, “My gut is still saying we should turn back. What do you think?”
Alicia was so relieved. “I think so, too,” she said.
She could tell her dad was disappointed, and so was she. They had been planning this trip for months, but they could always do it another time when the weather was more favorable.
Alicia turned off the autopilot and took the helm while they came about. Her dad took down the sails and started closing up the hatches. Soon Alicia heard loud swearing coming from the cabin.
Her dad had many different kinds of swearing and Alicia knew them all. There was the playful swearing, when she knew he wasn’t trying to be taken seriously. There was the profanity he spewed when unpleasantly surprised. Then he swore when he was really mad and Alicia knew to just lay low until he blew over.
This sounded like a cross between the last two. He kept swearing as he grasped his right hand and wrapped it in paper towels.
“You OK?”
He didn’t answer and Alicia knew better than to press the issue. As long as he wasn’t collapsing on the floor of the cabin, she assumed he would live.
He took the helm again with his makeshift bandage and told Alicia to call her mother and tell her they were coming back into harbor and would need a ride.
Alicia made the call in the relative dryness of the cabin as the drizzle outside turned into sheets of rain.
“It’s raining sideways here!” said her mother. “Stuff is flying past the window. I’m expecting to see a bike and a witch go by any minute now.”
“Mom!” Alicia struggled to get her mom on task. “We’re heading back into harbor. We’ll be there in about forty minutes, can you pick us up?”
“The wind is so strong out here, I’m afraid to drive in this weather.”
Alicia relayed the message to her dad who said, “That’s fine. We can hunker down until she gets here.”
Alicia told her mom, who assured her she would leave as soon as the wind died down.
Alicia started to put away her phone when her dad told her to call his friend, Teddy. “Tell him I’m down to one hand and am going to need help docking the boat.”
“Having fun out there?” Teddy said when he picked up the phone.
Alicia explained the situation, but Teddy said he was stuck at a party several miles away from the harbor. “Hang on, I’ll ask around and see if I can get someone else out there.”
They hung up and Alicia reported the conversation to her dad, who told her to try Mel.
Mel didn’t pick up. Alicia left a voicemail.
Try Dave.
Dave didn’t pick up. Alicia left a voicemail.
“Got any other ideas?” she said.
“Yeah, come here and take the helm while I stabilize the traveler for the main.”
Alicia wasn’t thrilled about going out into the storm, but she told herself it was only water.
Could have fooled her. The rain was coming down so hard it felt like tiny pinpricks all over her skin. She was soaked within seconds. It wasn’t until she took the helm that she realized how low their visibility was. She couldn’t see past a few feet beyond the boat. She had absolutely no idea where they were.
The instruments were illuminated in the sudden darkness. The anemometer informed her the wind had jumped to thirty knots and was shifting wildly. Even with the sails down, they were heeling over at about 45 degrees. Alicia braced herself with one leg against the seats of the cockpit and squinted to see as much as she could, hoping something wouldn’t come hurtling out of the darkness too fast for her to react.
Her dad soon came back to take the helm from her. “Find something for me to wrap this in so I don’t have to look at it,” he said.
“Where’s the first aid kit?”
“In the cubby hole under the nav station.”
Alicia looked, turning on the boat’s running lights while she was down there. She found a case of La Croix and several flares, but no first aid kit.
She reported this to her dad, who said he knew there was a first aid kit on board, but he didn’t know where.
“That’s helpful,” Alicia said as she turned back to the cabin, full of cubby holes and compartments hidden behind and underneath cushions.
She knew it wasn’t in the galley, because she’d just spent the morning stuffing all the galley compartments with food and cooking supplies.
So she started ahead of the galley and the nav station, methodically opening and closing all the little doors. She got thrown about the cabin every time the wind shifted, which caused her to give up on putting some things away when it proved too much trouble. She found several books and magazines, a bottle of vodka, and more flares. Still no first aid kit.
In the head, she found various bug sprays, painkillers, and nausea medications that had probably been sitting in there for decades. She also found a bottle of rubbing alcohol and a roll of self-adhesive gauze that was so old it was misshapen. Alicia couldn’t find where the gauze ended so she gave up, grabbed a knife off the nav station, and was in the process of making her own end to the gauze when her dad told her to forget about it and just hang on.
So Alicia threw the gauze on the nav station and hung on. She sat at the entrance to the cabin, so she remained relatively dry, but she was close enough to help if her dad needed something. She spent the rest of the trip watching the rain come down and the lightning reflect off the surface of the lake.
Mel called back saying Melissa (Teddy’s wife) had called him saying Alicia’s dad was hurt and needed help docking. Alicia told him they were about twenty minutes away from harbor.
“I’m on my way,” he said.
They hung up and Alicia watched as the skies started to clear and the sun re-emerged.
Teddy called back saying he was still working on getting someone out there, but that there would be someone at the yacht club who could help them dock if they didn’t have anyone else. Alicia told him Mel was on his way and not to worry any more.
Her mom called. “The storm is letting up, so I’m on my way,” she said. “Melissa said your dad is hurt?”
“Yeah, he just slammed one of the hatches down on his hand, so he needs some help docking. I got hold of Mel, so he’ll meet us and help us dock.”
“OK, well, I’m on the highway now, so I’ll be there shortly.”
Alicia acknowledged the information and hung up.
As the skies cleared, her dad turned the autopilot back on and came to help her look for a first aid kit. She brandished the roll of gauze she had found and he used the knife to cut a strip and wrapped it around his finger.
He then set about cleaning up the boat and putting the bumpers out so they could dock while Alicia took the wheel.
As they approached the harbor mouth, Alicia saw blue and red flashing lights. She noted a fire truck, an ambulance, several police cars, and even the police department’s and fire department’s boats. She wondered who had been hurt in the storm to warrant so much attention.
When they got to their dock, Mel was waiting and helped them tie down the boat as Alicia expertly maneuvered it into their slip. Alicia’s dad was just thanking Mel for coming over when the flashing red and blue lights made their way over to their dock. A couple EMTs emerged from the back of the ambulance with a gurney and made their way down the dock. Alicia watched, curious to see which boat they were heading for, when they stopped in front of her.
“We got a call that a man on board this boat was incapacitated.”
“What?” said Alicia and her dad together.
“A Mrs. MacEwan called and said a man was injured.”
Alicia’s dad held up his hand. “Yeah, I jammed my hand on one of the hatches so I needed help docking. I wouldn’t call that incapacitated.”
“Are you sure that’s the extent of your injuries? She gave the impression it was very serious.”
Alicia struggled to smother her laughter and she could tell her dad was doing the same. “I’m sure,” he said. “Thank you guys for coming out, but it’s really unnecessary.”
They gave him one last look-over, as if to make sure he wasn’t about to pass out on the dock. They glanced over the boat and Alicia, like they might be hiding an invalid in the boat somewhere.
Then they shrugged and left.
Alicia’s dad laughed. “Didn’t you tell Teddy I just hurt my hand?”
“I did. I don’t know where Melissa could have gotten the idea you needed an ambulance.”
“Leave it to Melissa to turn an ordinary scrape into a life-or-death situation.”
The end.