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| just get into the boat, and throw the articles out from inside. Just as he was halfway in (head first) the little boat started to sway outward from the ship, therefore Alex quickly projected himself all the way inside. Once in the boat, Alex lay low, for he thought he heard some voices. ~*~*~*~*~ The huge rolling wave didn�t look like much at first. Ardeth was practically asleep, the sea was a dark abyss for miles and miles. However, the moonlight hit this particular wave, just right, just at the wrong time. It was now horrifyingly clear, that this wave was a little bigger then the boat could handle. Ardeth immediately sounded the alarm. Evie was awakened by Rick�s rapid movement, as he jumped out of bed and scrambled to find a pair of pants. When all was explained to her, Evelyn�s first thoughts were her son. The door to his room was locked, she had to get Alex out of his room and somewhere safe. As Rick ran up the stairway to Ardeth, and Evie was running down the hallway to the boys� bedrooms, the boat took on the first huge wave. It wasn�t so bad, this wave didn�t have a cap and the harshest movement was when the boat sat (what seemed upright) at a 45 degree angle going up and coming down the wave. Evie had to grab Christopher�s doorknob and hang on for a moment, before she could unlock it and let the hysterical boy out. She then stumbled to Alex�s door, but when she opened it, no one was there. She quickly checked under the bed, and the closet�still no one. Evelyn panicked, and ran out of the room, down the hallway, into the open air of the night, the winds were picking up and an awful whipping noise was coming from somewhere at the stern. Curious Evelyn looked toward the life boats. Where on one, a small portion of tarp was pulled up, and cracking in the wind. ~*~*~*~*~ It dawned on him too slow. Alex was blissfully unaware of what was going on, kind of snickering at all the screaming and howling (which he though was coming from the kid on the boat, either the kid himself, of the grown ups about something the kid did). However, Alex didn�t get the last laugh, he felt a chill race up his spine, slight weightlessness, then a hard cracking jerk, as the support cord gave way and dropped his little boat onto the surface of the ocean. He was slightly aware of the ear piercing high pitched scream of his mother, but the fact that everything around him was very dark, and very wet, was what flung Alex into a panic attack as he tried desperately to free himself from the tarp which was increasingly closing in as it was being drenched by both waves and spray. Penny ([email protected]) December 23, 2002 Kit tied off the tow rope quickly, then coiled the remaining rope loosely around his arm. The yacht pitched, causing him to almost slide halfway across the deck. Instead, he collided with the old guy with the broken wing. "Get out of the way, you old fart!" The woman was screaming for her husband, about the kid, who was in the lifeboat, bobbing around like a cork in water. Then the old fart had to add his screamin' two cents worth into the pot. "Buncha screamin' me-mes," he thought, as he climbed the rail, with rope in hand. That was when the woman suddenly turned her attentions to him and screamed louder, if that was possible. "RICK!" What do you think you're doing Christopher? COME DOWN THIS INSTANT!" The last thing he heard through the wind, as he went over the side was the woman screeching, "RICK!" He had taken a quick look, gauged the distance between the yacht and the lifeboat, then he had jumped. He hadn't counted on hitting the water like a baseball hitting a concrete wall, but at the last second, the yacht pitched and he wound up zigging when he should have been zagging and POW! Salt water filled his nose and mouth. It stung his eyes so bad for a second he thought he was blind. He fought the rising panic, that threatened to claim him. He had to calm down quick and find that dumb kid. Stupid! Stupid! Stupid, he thought, feeling the anger rise. What the hell was that damn kid thinkin' anyway? Didn't he know his folks were going nuts? Didn't he care? Kit would never have pulled a stunt like this! Never even thought about it. Mom and Pop had been too special to pull crap like this. Kit searched through the pouring rain for the lifeboat, still trying to get his bearings, when he saw it. That dumb, damn kid! He was hanging onto the inside of the boat and screamin' his fool head off! Dumb youngin' had the wisdom of King Solomon's horse, Bubba! Kit took a deep breath and started making his way through the waves toward the boat and the half drowned towheaded nutria inside. When he popped up on the side of the boat like the Honey Island Swap Monster, it almost made him laugh. The kids expression was priceless. "Last time I saw a mouth like that, it had a hook in it!" he shouted. "Cripes! You nearly scared me to death!" "Good! Serves your ass right! You already scared the hell outta your folks. Where I come from, turn-about is fair play, fool!" "The little boat pitched, causing Kit to almost loose his hold. "Help me up Squirt!" It took another five minutes of Alex pulling and Kit pushing to get Kit over the side. Once in the boat, Kit fought to tie off the rope. He glanced at the kid across from him, who hung on for dear life. "Your old man ever hit you?" "NO! NEVER!" Kit shook his head. "Pity," he mumbled. "If you was my kid, I'd carry a two by four around!" Once the rope was tied off, Kit stood, fighting to hang on. With one hand, he waved at the yacht and shouted, "PULL US IN!" The lifeboat rolled and pitched, jerking Kit off his feet and sending his head into one of the wooden benches. The last thing he remembered was the kid shouting, "Jesus!" and thinking his Mom, Pop, and Papere would be glad to see him. He was swimming. The salt burned his nose and eyes so bad he wanted to cry, but if he opened his mouth, he'd drown, but Pop had told him, you did what you had to do, when people depended on you. You jumped in feet first and gave it all you had. Where the hell was that kid? Evie touched the shoulder of her dozing husband, who came instantly awake. "He's coming around, Sweetheart." Outside the storm had stopped except for the soft pats of rain that fell from the sky. Close to four hours had passed, after both boys were save back on board and Christopher O'Malley had yet to wake up and take the medicine, Rick O'Connell was gonna pour down his throat! "GOOD! Cause I've got a bone to pick with this one too!" "Evie's voice was soft, remembering the 'Bone' Rick had picked with their son earlier. "Don't be too hard on him. He saved Alex." "I know that Evie, but he could have waited for me to go with him," Rick fumed. Evie brushed a lock of hair from the side of Kit's head, revealing a reddish purple lump, the size of a goose egg. "Would you have let him go if he had?" "HELL NO!" "See?" she nodded. "I think you're angry not so much because he beat you to the punch, but because he scared you as much as Alex, being out there in the lifeboat." "Bull! Why the hell would that scare me? I don't know him from Adam!" "I think you know him better than you think you do, Sweetheart," she offered as she touched her husband's hand. "I believe you and Christopher are like two peas from the same pod. That's what scares you." Rick grunted and the boy moaned. "Not...Christopher...They call me...Kit..." Rick looked down into the worst blood shot eyes he'd ever seen. "Your eyes look like hell, kid." "Yeah?...You should see 'em...from my side." "Yeah, well," Rick heard Evie clucking quietly and glanced up to see her shake her head. "Okay," he said turning his |