stirred him up. Got any bait aboard?
Finegan has gone into the house and returned with a pair of shorts, and
tosses them to the guard, who rises to step into them. Finegan is
grinning at the situation, their nude guest.
60
Only the three of us. But if we fish awhile we
might catch something and then we can put blood
in the water.
The guard says,
Fishing sounds good. I haven’t had anything to
eat since the last of the dried food ran out.
______________________________
Finegan is throwing the net out over the water, waiting until the open
mouth of the net sinks, and then pulling the net along with ropes
attached to the four corners. One side of the net has floatation corks
and is the side that traps fish. The other sides are being pulled up
and toward the houseboat. Finegan pulls hand over hand along the ropes
that close the mouth of the net, pulling the catch onto the front deck.
Twigs, weeds, seaweed, small flopping fish, and a crab or two are among
the catch. The guard grabs the fish and crabs and puts them in a
bucket, brushing the trash back into the water. Finegan is curious.
So you’re the last here?
The guard says,
We were told to hold our posts, so that’s what
I did. . . Everyone else gave up and left.
Going home, ya know. I got no home. . . Was
foster raised and all and left that for the
Army.
The guard sits back, looking at Finegan, and sighs.
We couldn’t raise anyone after it hit. You seen
anything of a command post?
Suddenly the net starts jerking around in Finegan’s hands, and the
guard jumps up to help him haul it in. A small hammerhead sharp is in
the net, attracted by all the commotion in the water. Joey brings a
wooden bludgeon and starts whacking it in the head and the shark stops
thrashing. Barney is going crazy with barking, remembering the day he
lost his leg to a hammerhead shark.
______________________________
The camp grill is out and slabs of shark meat are sizzling. Finegan is
putting pieces in a pan at the side, for supper. The guard has been
stuffing his face, famished, and delighted at the houseboat setup.
This is great! You eat like this all the time?
(swallow) How’d you come by this setup?
61
Finegan says,
Mostly, I built it. I saw what was coming, the
coastline eating away and all.
Finegan is dumping the coals into the waterway and Joey is taking the
pans and dishes to be washed at the other side. The guard raises to go
wash his plate beside Joey.
Can you take me to land later? I got some
things back in the tower. I could swim it, but
everything would get wet . .
______________________________
The houseboat is pulled alongside the tower, tied to a post at the
corner of the lookout tower. The guard is lowering bundles down to
Finegan, who stashes them at the side. Finegan asks,
You got any booze?
The guard answers,
That was the first thing that went.
The guard heaves himself over the side of the lookout tower and drops
down to the deck of the houseboat. Finegan has his back turned,
stashing the last of the guard’s bundles, while the guard pulls a
pistol out of his jacket pocket. When Finegan turns, he looks started
and puts his hands in the air. The guard says,
The water’s up now, we can get outta here.
Finegan moves to the back of the houseboat and starts peddling away.
The guard is facing him, seating on some boxes at the back. Joey is
pacing back and forth on the roof, watching for objects under the water
and the best spot to cross over the barbed wire fence. The barbed wire
is just under the surface of the water now, with the tide in. Seeing
they are leaving the compound, the guard says,
All right! . . Boy, you come down here now
where I can see you.
The guard does not move from his spot, fearing Finegan more than Joey,
and keeps his eyes on Finegan. Joey appears overhead on the roof, just
behind the guard, with the wooden bludgeon used earlier to kill the
shark. He clubs the guard over the head. Finegan leaps to his feet,
rushing forward to disarm the guard.
______________________________
The houseboat has moored to the shoreline, temporarily, and the guard
is walking the plank toward shore. He is dressed, but has only a couple
of his bundles with him. He is protesting loudly.
62
Look, I just wanted to be sure you weren’t goin
to rob me or somethin.
Suddenly some men dressed in various Army garb emerge from the bushes
nearby. They are a mixture of African American, Hispanic, and white.
The guard is horrified to see them. He is backing up the gangplank and
encounters Finegan’s pistol in his back. The men in front of him are
unarmed but seem to be bearing a grudge against the guard. Trapped, the
guard addresses the crowd, edging forward.
Common guys, no hard feelings, eh? You’d a done
the same. . . What‘cha been eating? You look
pretty fit. . . I done you a favor, actually.
Finegan stands guard with his pistol, the only weapon in the vicinity.
Joey dashes across the gangplank to toss the grappling hooks back on
board, then pulls the gangplank onto the houseboat. The houseboat is
slowly moving away from shore in the now outgoing tide. One of the
soldiers on shore says,
Yeah? We might eat you, ass hole. Get his gun.
The group is frisking the guard, discovering that he is unarmed. When
they are safely away from shore, Finegan goes to the back of the
houseboat, tucking his pistol in his pant waist at the back, all the
while keeping an eye on the men on shore. He back pedals to move the
houseboat further out beyond any waves. The guard is in the middle of
the group of men, who are pushing him around and occasionally giving
him a punch. Finegan looks up at Joey, who is standing at his post on
the rooftop. Finegan says,
There was a shark in the water all right, but
not the one we ate. . .
63
The Orphanage
The houseboat is being pedaled up along a broad flooded ravine, in the
midst of farming country, fields cleared of woods but not all fields
planted so they have become overgrown in weeds. Trees can be seen