Chapter Nine

I woke not long after dawn with an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach. My first thought was that something had happened to my mother, that someone had taken her away. But it was just a fragment of a nightmare I was having. When I looked in her room, she was still asleep.

I threw on a coat and ran out the door. It was a gray, damp morning and the sky seemed full of ghosts as I climbed the slippery path back to where Tamara’s family had spent the night. As I got higher up, I broke clear of the fog bank that was hugging the cove and I could see the morning sun break through the clouds higher up … a good omen.

But it was not enough. When I reached the place where I had left Tamara’s family, they were gone. I frantically raced about, looking for some sign of the direction in which they might have gone, but there was nothing.

A terrifying sense of loss swept over me, a feeling of powerlessness and defeat. I’d like to say I was worried about Tamara’s family, that I was feeling bad for them, but it wasn’t that at all. I was feeling sorry for myself. I was thinking that I had lost Tamara for good.

There wasn’t a clue as to which way to go so I scrambled back down the hillside, slipping, bruising myself on the rocks along the way.

The fog had begun to clear a bit in the cove. From the hill, I saw a car pull up in front of the house. It was white with a light bar on top. The Mounties were back. My mother was right; she was a lousy liar.

I wanted to scream at them—it was all their fault. Why couldn’t they just leave people alone?

My feet finally found the gravel drive that led to our house. A cop was standing by the car. He gave me a curious look. But before I could get out a single insult, I was face to face with my mother.

“Greg,” she said to me. “Something’s come up. Something about some foreigners in a lifeboat.” Her acting was bad, real bad. “There’s probably some misunderstanding, but this officer says I have to go into St. John’s with him. They just want to ask me a few questions.”

I looked at the hulking Mountie. He had a gun on and a face like I’d seen on some bad guy in an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. “You can’t do that,” I said. That fear of losing my mother crept back into my skull.

“It’s just standard procedure,” he said in a voice cold as steel. He held up a piece of paper. “This court document says we can do this.”

Things began to blur before my eyes.

“It’s okay,” my mom said, now sounding a little more like herself. “I’m sure it’s all a misunderstanding. I’ll be home later today.”

The cop walked towards his car and waited for my mom to say goodbye to me.

She gave me a hug and whispered in my ear, “Tell our friends that whatever happens, we’ll help them. We won’t let them go back. I promise.” And then she gently pushed me away and walked to the police car.

I froze on the spot. I couldn’t tell her right then that Tamara’s family was gone. She’d react and then the Mountie would know they were around here somewhere. I watched as the car backed up and drove off. At that moment, I had the feeling that Tamara’s father was right. The authorities couldn’t be trusted. And it was my fault that my mother was in trouble.

I walked down towards the wharf looking for a friend, looking for Harold. He found me first. He poked his head out from one of the fishing shacks.

“Greggie, saw that Mountie up at your house. You should have sent him down here. Looks like somebody stole old Calvin’s dory—oars and all. Not something that usually happens around here. Must’ve been a tourist. Hard to figure.”

I could tell that he thought it was a big joke and that one of the local kids had probably just taken it as a prank. But I knew better.

“When was it taken?”

“Could have been any time last night. Calvin came down to go fishing this morning and nearly fell straight in the drink when he tried to climb into a boat that wasn’t there,” Harold said. Then his brow wrinkled. “Why?”

“Ravi, Tamara and Indra are gone. They saw the Mounties yesterday. They’re scared. Ravi thinks they’ll get sent back.” I looked out through the channel to the open sea. There were whitecaps out there from a strong easterly breeze coming up. “They’re out there somewhere. Even if I could find them, I don’t know if I could convince them to come back.”

I looked at my little Laser tied to the dock. I let out a sigh. “Well, I guess I better try.” I jumped down into the boat and began to undo the rope that kept the sail tightly furled around the mast.

Harold sat and scratched his jaw for a few seconds, then walked over to me. He scrunched down on his haunches to be at eye level. “Not gonna be a good day for sailing, mate,” he told me.

“What do you mean?” I asked, lifting the boom into place.

“Look out there. Winds will be up to fifty miles an hour before noon. Big nor’easter. Mean as she gets. Not fit for man nor beast.”

“Ravi doesn’t know the sea. They’ll drown out there.” I began to tighten the sail. I dropped the centerboard. “Wanna undo that line back there?” I asked Harold.

Harold just looked at me and held onto the side of the boat. “I’m not gonna let you leave this wharf.”

“The hell you’re not!” I shouted at him. I was just waiting to get good and angry with somebody. Harold was it. I kicked at his hand. He pulled his arm back and shook his fingers where my boot had connected.

He remained cool. “Let’s call the Coast Guard. Maybe they can send a ship by.”

“No,” I said. “Ravi wouldn’t let the Coast Guard take them. He doesn’t trust anyone in a uniform. He might rather see his family sunk to the bottom of the sea before they turn themselves in to the authorities. He has good reason not to trust anyone.”

Harold shook his head. His eyes were fixed straight on me. “Anyone but you, right?”

“Right,” I said, reaching for the mooring rope.

“Wrong,” he said. “Anyone but us. Now forget this bathtub toy and get your ass in my boat. We’ll find “em.”