Island of Lost Girls - Jennifer McMahon [42]
And what must it have been like the last moments aboard theHunley , trapped in an iron coffin, the smell of sweat making the thin air seem heavy? Rhonda stared at the faces of the soldiers, searching them for any trace of a sense of what was to comefor just the faintest hint of fear or sorrow.
TheHunley , she knew from her fathers daily lectures, was finally found in the waters of Charleston Harbor on May 4, 1995. Dives showed that it appeared to be intact. It took five years of planning and preparation, of discussion and debate, but on August 8, 2000, theHunley was raisedpulled out on straps with a crane and carried to land. It was placed in a tank of cold water to keep it preserved. Over the months that followed, the submarine was opened and the sand and silt sifted through. Clem checked the Internet every day, sometimes several times a daya man truly obsessed, not wanting to miss a single detail. He told Rhonda each time something new was found: a wallet, a canteen, a sewing kit, buttons, a tobacco pipe. But what Clem and Rhonda were waiting for, what they both held their breath in anticipation of, each day, was the bodies. Eventually, they would find the remains of those men. And they did.
At first, it was just three ribs. Then leg bones. Skulls. Bone by bone, scientists discovered the bodies of the crewmen. The placement of the remains suggested that the crew remained in their stations right up until the end. Turning the hand cranks, pumping away as they sank.Right up until the end, Rhonda thought as she studied the drawing shed done when she was ten. Then she looked up at her father and wondered what the one thing that could save her might be.
On May 21, 2001, the remains of the captain of theHunley , Lieutenant George Dixon, were found at the front of the sub. He too had stayed in his place, held his position until the very end.
On May 25, 2001, Dixons legendary gold coin was found inside the sub, the dent from the bullet clear. One side of the coin had been sanded down and given a scratched-on inscription in Lieutenant Dixons cursive:Shiloh April 6, 1862 My life preserver .
Clem had tears in his eyes the day they found the coin. The day he learned the story was true.My life preserver , scratched into a piece of gold carried in Dixons pocket the night he drowned. It made Rhonda think of how you could hold off the inevitable with dumb luck and good timing, but in the end, when your time came, it came. The submarine would sink. The rabbit would snatch you. Whatever happened, youd go down, life preserver or not.
JUSTINES SWEAT SUITtoday was pastel blue.
Rhonda had inherited her mothers straight brown hair, her plump face and body. When Rhonda looked at her mother, she thought to herself,This is how I will look in thirty years , and the thought somehow comforted her. Justine at fifty-six, Rhonda thought, was pretty in a frumpy, housewife kind of way. She wore her shoulder-length hair cut in a pageboy. She had it colored to cover the gray. The lines on her face had grown deeper over the years, but were the same lines that had always been there: the wrinkles around her eyes that showed when she smiled and the ones around her mouth that showed when she didnt. She was ten years older than Clem but looked younger than he.
I need a six-letter word for deceive, Justine said, not looking up from the puzzle on her lap. She put the end of the pencil in her mouth, nibbled on the eraser.
Mislead, said Rhonda.
Thats seven letters, dear.
Delude, said Clem, not looking up from his own puzzle.
Thats it! cried out Justine. Thats the one. Thank you, sweetie. She began penciling busily.
Im going to go look for the photo albums, Rhonda announced. Shed told them she was working on a new drawing and wanted some