The towing speedboat turned once more, this time to port.
“Left, left,” Nick yelled out.
Cathy squealed in nervous delight as the giant banana began to skid due to the sudden turn in the opposite direction. For a few seconds Nick thought they were about to crash again, but both his wife and son were able to keep the inflatable upright as they shifted their weight just in time to prevent it from toppling over.
Scott raised his right fist in triumph. He was pretending the banana was some sort of horse in an ocean rodeo. “Woohoo! I’m a sea cowboy!”
Nick squinted, keeping his eyes on Oliver’s movements on the boat. “Steady there, buckaroo! I think he’s going to make another turn again.”
They sped along the beach, and a few Indian families stood on the shore and cheered them on by waving and clapping.
Nick was living in the moment and it felt like a natural high, like the times he took those ecstasy pills back in his college days. “Yeehaw!”
The speedboat quickly pulled back towards the deeper area of the sea. Nick had been momentarily distracted when he kept his eyes on the people cheering him from the beach. The giant yellow banana suddenly shifted to his left, and Nick tried to lean in that direction but he overcompensated, and the inflatable soon tilted at ninety degrees.
“Look out,” Scott said, but it was too late.
The giant banana promptly spun out of control as Nick was thrown off, spinning head over heels as he hit the water. Scott and Cathy had managed to lean the right way, but it wasn’t enough as the sudden loss of Nick’s forward weight made the whole craft unstable. The boy tried his best to hold on, but the tumbling banana threw him off as well.
Cathy was the last one still riding the banana boat, yet she too had to let go a split second later when the inflatable’s nose flew up slightly in the air after cresting a small wave. She yelled out before plowing backwards into the water.
Nick shook his head while twisting his head around on the surface. “Everybody okay?”
He could see Scott floating a few meters to his right, and the boy gave him a double thumbs up with a grin. Cathy bobbed farther ahead, coughing repeatedly.
Nick started swimming towards her. “You okay, Cat?”
Cathy made a choking noise. “I… just drank my third mouthful of saltwater today!”
The speedboat had slowed and was now turning to pick them up. Kim stood up from the rear of the small craft and cupped her hands again. “You guys okay?”
Nick nodded and held up his right thumb. “We’re doing great.”
“You’re holding up the ascend signal, Dad.”
“What?”
Kim leaned forward and yelled even louder. “I said the thumbs up sign means ascend!”
Nick was confused. “What do you mean?”
Oliver had expertly maneuvered the boat until it got close enough for them to climb onboard. After cutting power to the motor, he leaned over and held out his hand. “It’s a diver’s term, Mr. Dirkse. Thumbs up for ascend, thumbs down for descending underwater.”
Nick climbed onboard with Oliver’s help. “Oh, I see, what’s the sign for ‘I’m doing well’ then?”
“The okay sign.”
“Got it.” Wiping the stinging salty wetness from his eyes, Nick turned to look at his daughter while Oliver began pulling his wife into the boat. “So you know all these diver signals now?”
“Sure,” Kim said. “I think I’m going to take the Open Water Diver course. I’m already memorizing all the hand signals.”
Cathy sat on the rear seat, brushing her wet hair back. She looked up at Nick with some concern. “Isn’t that dangerous?”
“It’s fine as long as you follow proper procedures,” Oliver said as he pulled Scott into the boat.
Nick grinned. “He’s the expert, honey.”
Cathy looked away. She had heard the stories about scuba diving accidents, and it worried her. “I don’t know.”
Kim frowned. “Come on, Mom. It’s no different than allowing me to drive a car.”
Cathy knew her daughter wouldn’t be stopped and she was legally an adult anyway. “Alright, but be careful.”
Kim’s downcast face quickly changed into a smile. “Thanks, Mom.”
After sitting down beside his mother, Scott took his dive mask off and adjusted the steamed up eyeglasses he wore underneath. “Can we do it again?”
Cathy shook her head. “That’s enough for me. My head still feels like it’s underwater.”
Oliver pointed at the other gear he had stowed on the boat. “How about some waterskiing?”
Scott raised both arms. “Alright, me first!”
Cathy looked worriedly up at her husband, who just chuckled mildly in response.
24
LUNCH IN THE EARLY afternoon consisted of rayereha, a local dish of spicy red curry made with tuna, and some roti flatbread. The portions were small for they had spent most of what little they had to procure the boat that would take them to Lemuria.
Placing the now empty plate down on the dusty tile floor of the old hut, Vaikom Menon sipped the last of the coconut juice from his glass before getting up and walking out onto the rickety wooden porch. After the confrontation with his father, he had spent last night at the eastern side of Kavaratti Island, well away from his family’s abode.
He hated himself for not having the courage to say goodbye to his sister Sita, but he didn’t want to break down and cry in front of her. Vaikom loved his family dearly, and he couldn’t quite understand why his own father disapproved of his cause. I’m fighting for him, and all the other local inhabitants of these islands. Maybe one day he will appreciate what I’ve done, and what I’m about to do.
They had everything but a plan. Vaikom knew the security staff at the resort were armed, and violence could be a real possibility if things got out of control. He figured the media would have to be filming live at the opening ceremony, and if one of them had a chance to penetrate the resort and begin a protest while the cameras were rolling, then it might be enough to make an impression. The problem was they weren’t sure how they would get inside.
The resort staff might spot the boat in an instant, even before we can get to the shore, he thought. If that happens none of us will get to the island.
His close friend Mullappally “Muli” Tharoor was a vegetarian, and he only ate the roti flatbreads, using some mint chutney and raw onions as a dip. With his hunger sated, he too walked over to the front of the porch, and sat by the low wall. “What are you thinking about, comrade?”
Vaikom smiled. Muli was a fanatical communist, and he always addressed his friends as comrades. “I think they might intercept the boat before we get close enough to wade into shore.”
Muli shrugged. “Then we all jump into the water and swim until we get to the beach. At least one of us should make it.”
“We’re just renting a fishing boat. She is slow, and their speedboats can easily catch up. If they reach us too far out then it will be too great a distance to swim for shore.”
“You really believe their security will be on alert for us?”
“All the VIPs will be there,” Vaikom said. “Even the administrator for Lakshadweep will be present. I heard they will be flying him in by helicopter.”
“Very good,” Muli said as he unbuttoned his blue collared shirt, revealing a printed t-shirt emblazoned with the red hammer and sickle, the universal symbol for communism. “I shall stand beside him while wearing this and the press can take our photograph.”
Vaikom shook his head. “You need to stop fantasizing. We’ll certainly end up in jail again after this.”
“Ah, true,” Muli said. “But there will be a difference. This time the outside world will know what is happening.”