Calculo

CARRIED OUT TO SEA

SUDDENLY I COULD SEE LIGHT TROUHT THE DARKNESS OF THE WATER. BUT I COULD LIVE NO LONGER WITHOUT AIR. SO I TOOK A DEEP BREATH- OF FRESH, CLEAN AIR! IT WAS A MIRACLE. I WAS ON TOP OF THE WATER!
AS I DREW IN THE LIFE-GIVING AIR, I BEGAN TO TAKE STOCK. I MOVED MY ARMS FIRST AND WAS SURPRISED TO FIND THAT THEY WERE STILL THERE. THEN I TRIED MY LEGS; THEY WERE STILL A PART OF MYBODY, TOO, AND I COULD MOVE THEM.
I COULD SEE, BUT I COULD NOT HEAR. THE WATER HAD BEEN SO HEAVY AGAINST MY EARS THAT FOR THE MOMENT MY HEARING WAS GONE. I WAS ALONE IN AN ANGRY BUT SOUNDLESS SEA.
THEN I BEGAN TO SWIM, AWKWARDLY INDEED, BUT WELL ENOUGH TO GET INTO QUIETER WATER BEYOND THE RECKS. I WAS SURPRISED THAT I COULD FLOAT SO EASILY UNTIL I NOTICED THAT I WAS HOLDING ON TO A IECE OF WOOD.IT WAS PAINTED GREEN AND WAS ABOUT AS LONG AND AS WIDE AS MY BODY.
I RAISED MYSELF OUT OF TEHE WATER AS MUCH AS I COULD AND SHOUTED HELP! MY HEARING WAS COMING BACK , AND MY OWN VOICE FRIGGTENED ME.
THEN I SAW THE SHORE, FAR AWAY, AND I KNEW THAT NO ONE COULD HEAR ME. I COULD SEE CARS MOVING SLOWLY ALONG THE SHORE ROAD AS THOUGH THEY WERE FULL OF HAPPY PEOPLE QUITE UNINTERESTED IN ME.
A LITTLESAFER
I NOTICED SEVERAL BOARDS STILL HELD TOGETHER IN ONE PIECE, LIKE A RAFT. THEY WERE FLOATING TOWARD ME. I SWAM TO THEM AND CLIMBED ABOARD. THE RAFT WAS BIG ENOUGH FOR ONLY HALF OF MY BODY, BUT I LAY ACROSS IT AND FELT SAFER. I WAS HIGHER OUT OF THE WATER NOW.
I KEPT THINKING OF THE DANKERS FROM BELOW THE MANEATING FISH. BUT I QUIETED THIS FEAR WITH A LITLLE REASONING. IN A TIDAL WAVE, MOSTFISH WOULD SURELY SEEK THE SAFETY OF THE OCEAN BOTTOM. MY PANIC LEFT ME AND I LOOKED AROUND. IT WAS THEN THAT I SAW THE OTHERS.
ON THE TOP OF A HIGH WAVE I COUNTED SEVEN CHILDREN.
SOME WERE HOLDING ON TO PIECES OF BROKEN BUILDINGS; TWO WERE HOLDING ON TO A FLOATING TREE. HELLO! I SHOUTED. BUT THEY DID NOT SHOUT BACK THEYJUST LOOKED AT ME WITH GLASSY EYES.
LATER I LOKED DOWN FROM THE TOP OF ABIG WAVE AND SAW A SMALL BOY ON A BOAR. HE BEGAN TO WORK TOWARD ME AND I TOWARD HIM.
“WHAT´S YOUR NAME?” I ASKED.
THOMAS FUJIMOTO. YOURE MISS MCGINNIS?”
“YES,” I SAID, AND WE FLOATED CLOSE ENOUH FOR ME TO TAKE HIS HAND FOR A MOMENT.
“WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THE WAVE CAME IN?”
“IN THE SCHOOL WASHROOM,” HE ANSWERED. SO THE WAVE HAD GOT UP THAT FAR. THAT WAS WHY I HAD SEEN SO MANY CHILDREN.
“HOLDON!” I SAID AS WE FLOATED AWAY FROM EACH OTHER.
TIME HAD LITTLEMEANING NOW, FOR MY BODY WAS FULL OF PAIN. I COULD FEEL CUTS ALL OVER ME. I HAT BITTEN THROUGH MY LOWER LIP AND COULD NOT CLOSE MY MOUTH WITHOUT PAIN. I WAS GETTING COLDER. A STRONG WIND WAS BLOWING, AND A COLD RAIN HAD STARTED.
A BETTER RAFT
MY RAFT WAS BEGINNING TO FALL TO PIECES. THEN I SAW A LARGER ONE COMING TOWARD ME.
FINALLYIT FLOATED NEAR ENOUGH FOR ME TO SWIM TO IT. THIS ONE WAS BIG ENOUGH TO LIE ON. BUT WHEN I MOVED A LITTLE TO THE RIGHT OR TO THE LEFT, IT TURNED OVER AND I WAS IN THE WATER AGAIN. IT SEEMED TO ME THAT I CLIMBED ABOARD THAT THING A THOUSAND TIMES.
NOW I BEGAN TO HEAR PLANES OVERHEAD, I GOT ON MY KNEES ON THE RAFT AND WAVED MY ARMS. AGAIN AND AGAIN THIS MADE MY RAFT TURN OVER. EACH TIME I WOULDCLIMB ABOARD, BALANCE MYSELF CAREFULLY AND WAIT FOR THE NEXT PLANE.
WHILE I WAITED, I COUNTED THE THINGS THAT FLOATED BY. I COUNTED EIGHT HENS, PROBABLY FROM MR. NAKANOS HOUSE NEXT TO OURS. THEN THERE WAS FAY´S PURSE, WICH SHE HAD CARRIED THE FIRST TIME I EVER SAW HER.
A MOMENT LATER MY OWN PURSE WENT FLOATING BY. IT HAD BEEN SAFELY PUT AWAY IN MY ROOM.
AND THERE WAS A PICTURE OF MRS. NAKANO WICHMR. NAKANO ALWAYS KEPT ON A TABLE IN THEIR LIVING ROOM, A BOOK TITLED LITERATURE AND LIFE AND DOTTIE´S WRITING TABLE FROM HER BEDROOM.
SUPPER HOUR
THE SEA WAS CARRYNG ME AROUND A POINT. LAUPAHOEHOE HAD DISAPPEARED LONG AGO. AND NOW OOKALA WAS COMING INTO SIGHT. WHEN I SAW THE HOUSES OF OOKALA, I BEGAN TO SHOUT AGAIN. BUT IT WAS GROWING LATE. PEOPLE WOULD BE SITTING DOWN TO SUPPER WITH THOSE...