Coincidence - Alan May [92]
Pierre turned and swam toward her. He smiled and began to nudge her, wordlessly, like a playful dolphin, beckoning her to follow him. She laughed and ducked under the water, emerging behind him. Wrapping her legs around his waist, her arms around his neck, she began to nudge him back, then abruptly pushed herself off. She dived under again, coming to the surface a few feet ahead of him. She flicked her thumb in the water, splashing him on the nose, and began to swim away, grinning at him over her shoulder.
Not to be outdone, Pierre soon overtook her. And so the game continued, the two swimming in tandem, one overtaking the other, oblivious to their companions and the passage of time, as if they were the only people in the whole world.
Red dust filled their nostrils as the Floaties and ship’s crew made their way to Orongo late in the afternoon of their last day on the island. All of them, at one time or another during their stay, had already visited this awe-inspiring site, which was perched on a thin ridge with a crater on one side and a heart-clutching thousand-foot drop into the Pacific on the other. Dan had gone two mornings in a row to try to capture the birdman petroglyphs here in the diffused light of the rising sun. Now they were all assembling to watch the sun set against the black basalt cliffs.
Easter Island, they all agreed, was the high point of their travels so far. This was partly because of the amazing nature of the place itself, and partly because of the intense and poignant pleasure they felt in anything and everything since finding themselves still alive after their harrowing experience.
Looking out at the three small islets just offshore, some tried to put into words what they had most enjoyed about their four days here.
For Captain Marzynski, who had set foot on land that afternoon for the first time since they arrived, leaving the boat in Henry’s capable hands, it was simply that the repairs had gone off without a hitch. All of the parts had arrived on schedule, all of the equipment was functioning normally, and all of the items on the Lloyd’s inspector’s list had been checked off as satisfactory.
For Melissa, the best thing was the incredible feeling of connection she felt with Pierre. She’d been attracted to him from the moment she met him, but the hijacking had strengthened their relationship. They had been each other’s emotional lifeline throughout the whole awful mess. It was only now, she reflected, that she was even beginning to understand the true meaning of a serious relationship. All this, however, wasn’t really the sort of thing she wanted to offer the group as the highlight of her stay on the island.
“Swimming at Anakena Beach,” she said.
Then Pierre immediately said the same thing, with an adoring look in her direction.
Dave, sitting between Anika and Mac, said he had been thrilled to learn something new about the long ears versus short ears controversy—to find that, in fact, although the ears of the Moai were of varying sizes, the theory that this was a reflection of a significant social denominator in Rapa Nui culture might well have been based on a mistranslation. He would have gone on at length about the subject but realized in time that this was not the moment to do so.
“What about you, Mac?” he asked instead.
But Mac was lost in his own thoughts. Strange it was, he’d been musing, that he’d been to this isolated island in the middle of an ocean on the other side of the world from his home far more times than he’d ever been to the isles of Scotland. He’d never made it to the Outer Hebrides, and there’d been only the one time to the Isle of Skye in the Inner Hebrides and then to Orkney. That time with Caroline …
Now then. Best not go down that road, he told himself. This is no time to be dredging up old sorrows.
“Mac?”
He became aware that Dave was speaking to him, and the entire group looking