Chapter Five

Tamara’s mother jumped onto the beach and fell to her knees. She bowed her head. Maybe she was praying. Tamara went over to her. I guess the woman thought she was never going to set foot on solid ground again. Meanwhile, Tamara’s father was gathering a couple of sacks from the boat. He seemed anxious to get out of here. The knife was still in his hand as he lifted his wife up off Lesley Choyce the stones and began to bully her towards a small trail that led inland.

I ran to Tamara as they started to hurry off. “Where are you going? You can’t just go wandering off into the wilderness. You don’t know anything about this place. You could die out there.”

Tamara didn’t look at me. “We could have died out on the sea, but we didn’t. Now we have safely arrived and we are free. I thank you. Now you must leave us alone and tell no one we are here.”

I didn’t know what to do. I stood there trying to figure these people out. What could I do? Just let them wander off, maybe to starve or fall off a cliff or something? Or what if I went home and phoned the police to come find them? Then what? Tamara’s father would go at them with a knife and he would get thrown in jail. They might all get sent back. There were no happy endings.

I heard my father’s voice. Just be reasonable. Think through all the options. As far as I figured I had just one option: trust.

“Tamara,” I shouted. She turned around. “You have to trust me. If you don’t come with me, your whole family will be in big trouble. I’ll take you to my house. It will be warm. There will be food. We’ll take care of you.”

But it wasn’t enough. They were having a hard time scrambling up the steep path, but these were stubborn, desperate people. They’d make it out of here, but where would they be then?

“You can hide at my house,” I said finally. “My mom and I will hide you and tell no one until you have a safe place to go to. Trust me.”

They stopped. Tamara was speaking to her father and mother. They were arguing. I didn’t take a step towards them. Her father was glaring at me with mistrust. I rubbed my arm. Silently, I let go a little prayer of my own. All my life I had been doing everything for me. The sailing, the competitions, the glory. But nothing ever felt quite like this. These people needed me. I could help them and no one else could. And I guess I needed them too.

The parents were still arguing. As far as I could tell, the mother wanted to trust me but the father didn’t trust anyone anywhere. He would get his way, I was certain. He was the boss. Tamara was talking too, but they were ignoring her. She was getting mad.

Then Tamara stopped arguing. She looked back at me. I hadn’t moved. Trust me, I said silently over and over in my head. Please let me help.

Tamara walked away from her parents and back down the slope towards me. Her eyes were fixed on mine. Her father started to yell something at her, but she didn’t turn around. She walked straight up to me and took my hand, then turned around and looked at her parents.

It was pretty rough going to get back to Deep Cove. We hiked over some of the wildest country I had ever seen. I managed to keep my bearings as long as I knew where the sea was. Tamara and I talked the whole way. I didn’t let go of her hand, not even once. Her parents remained silent and followed closely behind us.

I took the back way through the berry fields to get to my house. That way we could walk pretty well right up to the door without anyone seeing us. It was near dark when we got there. Boy, was I hungry, but Tamara and her family must have been much worse off.

When I got to the door, I was pretty nervous. How was I going to explain this to my mom? I decided to knock.

She opened the door and blinked.

“I invited some people over for supper,” I said matter-of-factly. “They’re new in town.”

“Hello. Pleased to meet you,” Tamara said.

My mother saw the blood on my sleeve. It looked worse than it actually was. “What happened to you?”

“I cut it on a sharp rock. It’s nothing. Can we come in?”

My mother said nothing but stepped aside. We entered in a silent parade. Before we all settled down in the living room, Tamara’s father whispered something to her. In a low voice she said to me, “Do not tell her who we are. Just say we are friends.”

Do you know how hard it is to keep secrets from my mother? I wanted to say. Besides, they didn’t look like anyone from Newfoundland.

Dinner was haddock and potatoes and a huge salad. After the food was set on the table, my mother grabbed me by the arm and pulled me into the kitchen. She was furious with me for not explaining what was going on.

“Who are these people?” she demanded. “I don’t trust that man. I don’t like any of this. What are they, drug smugglers?”

“Just relax, Mom. I had to promise them I wouldn’t tell you who they are.”

My mom folded her arms. “That’s a promise you’re going to have to break, buster. Those people are sitting at our table. They’re eating our food. I want to know who they are.”

I tried to think what my father would do. I didn’t think he’d ever been in a situation like this.