scrambled over you as you slept. Sometimes you could see their eyes glowing in the darkness like two points of fire. Lice had spread among the people in the hold and would now undoubtedly spread all over the boat.
But worse was to come. Around noon the engine stopped and the boat began to drift silently on the sea. The other times the motor had stopped my father had been able to get it started in a short while. There would be a few coughs and sputters and it would be working again. Captain Muoi would come out and reassure everyone that his boat was the best little boat in the world.
The engine failed at the hottest time of day. People sat as still as statues under any bits of shade they could find. The least movement brought you in contact with someone’s hot sweaty body, and sometimes there were cross words. The new baby fretted and cried in the heat. Anh, who could not take her eyes off the baby, begged to be allowed to fan him gently with her straw hat. It was easier to put up with the heat and crowding when you knew the boat was going someplace. But the silence of the engine and the drift of the boat made you feel hopeless.
The sun slipped halfway down to the horizon before word was passed through the boat that a part in the engine had worn out and a new one was being made by my father from scraps of metal. No one knew whether the new part would work. As the news spread, there was a buzz of voices, but soon after that, silence, as though everyone were concentrating on my father being successful.
Kim and I were restless. I didn’t think I could sit still for another minute. My mother spoke sharply to me. “When you squirm like that, Mai, you make it unpleasant for everyone around you.”
“Let me get up for a little while,” I pleaded. “Kim and I want to look out at the sea.”
Each day we were allowed to pick our way over the tight rows of passengers to make our way to the boat railing. Once we had seen a school of porpoises rolling along one after the other in the wake of the boat. Another time we had been amazed to see sailfish leaping into the air and flying about. The strange flying fish made me think the whole world was upside down. More often there was nothing but the endless stretch of water.
“Go ahead, but try not to disturb too many people.” I knew my mother’s voice was impatient because she was afraid for my father. The lives of everyone in the boat depended on him.
No one in the boat was in a good mood, and there were many complaints as Kim and I made our way over the tangle of arms and legs to the boat railing. Each day, each hour, the color of the water changed. This afternoon it was a deep green. “Almost like grass,” Kim said. I guessed she was thinking of how nice it would be to see land.
Suddenly Kim grabbed my arm and pointed. “Look!”
I looked in the direction Kim was pointing and saw a bit of timber floating on the water with something perched on top of it. Whatever it was moved. An animal? Something blowing in the late afternoon breeze? Then we heard a faint cry and saw the distant figure move as though an arm were waving to us.
“Someone is out there!” I shouted. The passengers scrambled to their feet and ran to the railing to see for themselves. The cabin door opened and we heard a roar. “What’s going on? You fools! Get back whereyou belong. The whole boat is listing. We’ll capsize!” It was Captain Muoi. He was right. I could feel the boat tilting as everyone hung over the side to get a better view.
They made way for the captain. “Quickly,” someone called. “We’re drifting away. We have to turn the boat around and pick him up.”
“How can we turn the boat when there is no engine?” the captain shouted. He was pushing people back to their places. In the excitement Kim and I were overlooked. We hunched down out of sight and looked out over the railing at the distant figure floating in the sea.
“He will drown,” I whispered to Kim. I couldn’t