A Fine Cast of Characters - J. Dane Tyler [13]
“Wow, it’s ... weird.” Sam pulled her knees to her chest and hugged them.
Kelly nodded. It was weird. Kelly had chased storms as long as she could drive, and she’d never seen one like this. Maybe it was because it blew in from the open water, but...
Then it hit her. “There’s no wind. I mean, it’s moving really fast but there’s no wind. We should be feeling the wind.” She narrowed her eyes at the amorphous shape spreading and oozing over the water toward them.
It was closing fast. They had minutes before it hit.
No wind.
“Hey, Captain?” Kelly called over her shoulder, but her voice died amid the purple-faced guffaws of business men, clutching their bellies and collapsing on the gunwale, while the crew smiled and nodded, trying to look genuine.
“Captain?” she called louder, and Jurgen looked her way, his smile fading as he did.
He swatted Flanagan on the shoulder, and tipped his chin toward the horizon. Flanagan stood upright, put a hand across his brow to shield his eyes. He spoke to Jurgen, who turned to the business men. Flanagan stepped onto the gunnel and around to the deck, coming up behind Kelly and Sam.
“You’d better get inside the cabin,” he said, eyes on the pressing cloud and flashes of lightning. Kelly’s heart fluttered when she realized no thunder accompanied the sparks.
“It’s weird,” Kelly said. “No wind. No thunder. Plenty of lightning though, and that’s the lowest singular cloud I’ve ever seen. It’s like it’s sitting right on the water.”
“Might be a white squall.” Flanagan gave an absent scratch at his bare chest, hooking the other thumb into the pocket of his cut-off jeans.
Kelly turned to the cloud. “I ... I don’t think so. It’s got a cloud; white squall wouldn’t have that distinct a cloud.” She swallowed. “Would it?”
Flanagan never looked at her. He just shook his head. “I dunno. Looks bad though. Go on into the cabin, just ‘til it blows over.”
“Well, ya don’t have to tell me twice,” Sam said, hopped to her feet and minced over the deck toward the main cabin. She stopped and looked back. “Kelly? Coming?”
Kelly stared into the creeping, crawling cloud, so close now it blotted out the ocean behind it. “Uh ... Yeah, I guess.” She got to her feet, and the squat blossom of cloud diffused the daylight around her.
She and Sam went single file under the flying bridge and down to the main deck. “There’s no wind,” Kelly muttered again.
“What’s that?” Sam turned to Kelly, whose face was a quizzical scowl.
“Huh? Oh, I said ... it’s just weird there’s no wind.”
“Yeah, you were saying.”
Sam retreated into the cabin, and fished through her bags for a pair of shorts and a button-down, short-sleeve shirt to cover the expanse of tight, smooth skin and the skimpy bikini. One of the tubby bald guys groaned.
“Aw, babe, putting clothes on is the opposite of what you should be doing,” and he and the other chubby man belted laughter.
Sam didn’t smile. “There’s a storm coming, Edward,” she spat, “in case you’re too clueless to see.”
“Well the storm won’t be the only thing rockin’ the boat, baby!” He turned red with more rib-straining laughter as he and the pudgy partner in humor lost control of themselves in mirth.
Sam turned away and went deeper into the cabin. “Yeah, right. Like you could rock anything but a chair, you dried up, withered old ...”
Kelly blushed and tried to move from between them as Edward sobered and followed her. “Hey,” he said soft in the flat acoustics of the cabin. Kelly stepped onto the deck to avoid hearing them.
The storm was almost on them now. Kelly watched Jurgen and Flanagan on the flying bridge, pointing and whispering. In a second, Flanagan skittered down the ladder and dropped in front of the cabin door, and ushered Kelly back inside with an extended hand.
“Folks, we’ve got a little storm coming on. Looks worse than it is, from what I see. We can’t feel the wind and the sea’s still calm, but she’s moving quick and that’s a little weird. So we’re gonna batten down here and ride her out. It should get past us in just a few minutes, based on how fast it’s comin’.