“We should be getting under way,” Neil said to Frank, who was sitting with his back to him. Frank stared into the bronze glow of his whiskey and in a single swallow tossed it off. When Frank didn’t reply, Jeanne asked, “Where are we going?”
“It’s my judgment we should sail out the bay to the ocean,” Neil replied, looking at Frank’s back.
Frank turned on the transistor radio on the shelf above the dinette table and after a moment located a working station. As they all began listening to a radio report of the events of the day Jeanne exchanged a strangely conspiratorial glance with Neil and then sat down beside Frank, instinctively placing her hand on top of his.
The nuclear war was exactly one day old and already, although someone claimed both sides were showing “restraint,” every European country and most parts of the United States had been hit. The U.S. retaliation against the Soviet Union was described as if it were even more devastating than the blows the U.S. had received. A statement by the President indicated that the war would be fought to the bitter end, no matter what the consequences. The President had said that he expected every citizen to do all he could to support the American effort to punish the Soviet Union for its unprovoked criminal aggression. A state of martial law had been declared.
Finally Frank reached and turned off the radio.
“I couldn’t get to Norah,” he said to no one in particular.
“No planes available?” Neil asked.
“Nothing to pay with,” Frank replied. “I have no money.”
In the silence that followed, Jeanne became aware of Neil’s unanswered call to get going hovering over the room.
“What are we going to do now?” she asked Frank gently.
“I don’t know,” Frank answered.
“Macklin got hold of a puller,” Neil said, “and they loosened the old shaft. Jim and I should be able to put in the new one and get the prop on in less than an hour. Then we should sail south.”
Frank turned in his settee seat to look past Jeanne at Neil, who was still standing at the foot of the companionway steps.
“What about Bob?” he asked. “What about Captain Olly? What about the rest of the country?”
It seemed strange to Jeanne to hear someone asking about Bob. It was like an inquiry into another lifetime.
“Bob is dead,” she said automatically.
“The radioactive cloudbank from Washington is still spreading,” Neil went on. “The fallout from everywhere will get worse. I doubt we can survive unless we get east and south Fast.”
Seeing Frank’s haggard face Jeanne realized with a shudder that he was in a state of shock, that he was barely there. She saw a vague flash of irritation cross his face when Neil spoke, but no comprehension.
“Then… we should get under way,” she said softly and stood up. Looking back at Frank, she saw him turning to pour himself another small glass of whiskey.
“We’ve got new food supplies in Olly’s smack,” Neil said to her. “I’d like you and Olly to transfer them to Vagabond and then you can begin storing them.”
“All right,” she answered, aware of how gently Neil was speaking to her.
“We’re running away,” Frank announced in a low, husky voice.
“I hope so,” Neil snapped back.
“What else can we do?” Jeanne asked quickly.
Frank tossed off his second drink, slid himself sideways, and stood up.
“When I know, we’ll do it,” he said. “Hey! You!” he shouted at the sleeping fisherman, who awoke, startled and blinking.
“You want to join us on an ocean cruise?”
Captain Olly squinted dazedly at Frank “I got a son I want to see,” Olly replied, frowning.
“Well, then, you’ll have to shove off,” Frank said. “We’re only taking cowards and deserters.” He brushed past Jeanne and Neil and up the companionway. Neil and Olly followed.
“What are we going to do with this load of filth?” Frank asked, stopping to stare at Conrad Macklin, who was sitting at the foot of the mizzenmast with his arms tied behind his back. Jim was on a settee seat guarding him, a bandaged forehead and bluish bruise on his lower ribcage indicating his wounds.
“I’m sorry we stole your boat,” Macklin said unexpectedly.
“I say we dump him overboard,” Frank went on fiercely, turning to Neil. “I tried to get through to the Coast Guard to come arrest him, but the man on duty said we’d have to bring him in.”
“To where?” Neil asked.
“Their station at Crisfield.”
“We’re not wasting time going back there.”
“Throw him overboard.”
A silence followed. Macklin looked expressionlessly at Frank. When Jeanne came up into the wheelhouse, he turned to her.
“I’m sorry about your girl,” he said. “Jerry didn’t mean to hurt her. She’ll be all right though.”
“SHUT UP!!” Frank shouted, taking a step toward Macklin and flushing with anger.
“Ignore him, Frank,” said Neil. “Jim, get into your scuba gear. We’re going to put the new propeller shaft in.”
While Jim went forward to change, and Jeanne and Olly began transferring the food from Lucy Mae, Frank sat down and put his face in his hands. Neil stayed where he was, facing Macklin.
“I panicked,” Macklin went on quietly, his eyes as expressionless as always. “Jerry was convinced that without food you were going to kick us off the boat before we’d cleared the Chesapeake. When I got back with that puller, he’d already taken over the boat without me. Ask Jim.” He looked up at Neil with an anguished expression that Neil couldn’t quite believe was genuine. “Take me with you. I can help.”
Frank erupted from his seat and grabbed Macklin by the throat, sending his head crashing back against the mizzenmast.
“Shut up! You stupid bastard!” he shouted. “You say another word, and I’ll kill you!”
Neil pulled Frank away.
“Help Olly and Jeanne,” he said to him quietly.
For a moment Frank stood looming over Macklin; Neil could feel him trembling.
“I can’t stand that kind of talk,” Frank said, finally moving away. “A man steals my boat, hits a woman in the face, has his crony almost kill Lisa, and expects us to forgive him. Jesus!”
As he led his friend over toward Lucy Mae, Neil couldn’t respond. It was disturbing to remember that he himself had been perfectly ready to steal a boat to go chase after Vagabond. And would he have let Macklin and Jerry stay if he hadn’t cleaned out that supermarket?
Now, left alone with Macklin, Neil knelt down to loosen the large removable section of decking that covered the engine. He took a flashlight out of the tool chest lying on the shelf above the engine to examine the position of the bent shaft.
“You need me, Captain Loken,” Macklin suddenly said to him in a whisper. “You need my medical skills. You need someone else aboard who’s got your cold will to survive. You can use me.”
Neil pushed himself back up to a kneeling position to look at Macklin in the dim light. Macklin was staring at him serenely.
“The others have too much heart to survive in this world,” Macklin went on. “You can use me, you know it. I didn’t want to take this boat. I can’t sail. Without Jerry I’m not about to turn pirate again.”
Neil looked back at him expressionlessly.
“Despite your cold will to survive,” he said, “the helpless people with too much heart have you tied to a mast and are getting ready to throw you overboard.”
Jeanne and Frank came into the wheelhouse carrying bags of groceries and disappeared into the main cabin.
“You know Frank won’t kill me,” Macklin whispered. “That woman wouldn’t let him. Only you are strong enough and cold enough to kill me, but you need another man like me. And you need a doctor. You know it.”