Free Rising Tides by Maria Rachel Hooley

slackened.  “Don’t worry.  If we’re going to turn over, you’ll know well in advance.  The rising of the hull is normal.  It’s the way to build up speed in a cat.”
    “You forget,” I said, smiling weakly, “You have a clumsy person on board.”
    “Don’t worry.  You keep reminding me.”  Tyler glanced up at the sail.  “What a perfect day to go sailing.  There’s enough wind to keep us moving, and the water’s not choppy.”
    I closed my eyes and savored the feel of the air caressing my skin.  The momentum of the catamaran was smooth, reassuring in a gentle sway as it cut through the small waves.  Always before, I’d felt nauseated when I closed my eyes while moving.  I couldn’t sleep in cars when someone else drove.  But this time my body gave into the peace afforded by the ocean.  “There’s nothing else like this,” I said softly.
    Silence filled the air, and once I realized a reply wasn’t coming, I opened my eyes and peered at Tyler.   Immediately I blushed as I realized he had been staring at me.  His eyes were narrowed, hooded by his eyebrows, and his mouth twisted into a concentrated frown, as though examining each line and shadow crossing my face. 
    When I looked at him, he smiled and looked at the ocean.  “You finally look relaxed, Kelly.  I might make a sailor of you yet.”
    I laughed and pulled my legs closer to my body.  “If you say so.”  Rubbing my fingers against the wetsuit, I asked, “So what’s a diaper?  You did promise you’d explain that one, you know.”
    “So I did.”  He pulled in the sail slightly and we sped up.  For just a second, my fingers locked upon the rail before loosening to their normal grip.
    “Well?”
    “A diaper is a small piece of tough fabric that is designed to fit around your bottom side like a diaper.”
    I snorted.  “And why would anyone want to wear this?”
    Tyler pointed to the side of the cat we both sat upon.  “You said that it felt pretty uneven when the hull lifts out of the water.  Most people who sail cats like to really get the hull out of the water.  In order to counter-balance that rising motion, the sailors have to lean out from the hull.”
    My mouth dropped open.  Then I closed it and frowned at him.  I was about to speak when he waved me into silence.  “Now just a minute.  Let me finish.  The diaper is fastened to one of those steel wires,” he said, pointing upward.  “That way the sailor doesn’t have as many problems with balance.  It’s called flying the hulls, Kelly.”
    “Not if I did it, it wouldn’t.”  I replied, pushing a strand of hair from my eyes.  “I hope you left the diapers at home.  Sorry, but I don’t think you want to see how much trouble I can get into with that one.”
    Tyler tilted his head back and started laughing.  “Yeah, I gave you a break.  I didn’t think you were quite ready for that extreme yet, but next time is a different story.”
    Tyler cinched down on the sail again, and the hull lifted even higher.  I closed my eyes and tried to imagine me standing on the hull.  The picture never came, but something else surfaced, an image of the two of us.  With Tyler I had no past. I had no disease.  I didn’t have to think about the future.  Just now.
    That was all I had.
    “Come here, Kelly.  I want to show you something.”  I opened my eyes as Tyler patted a spot on the tramp next to him. I frowned, and he shrugged.  “Look, no diapers.  You’re perfectly safe.”
    “With you that’s a relative concept.”  I scooted next to him.  Once I had settled, Tyler placed the rudder stick into my hands.  “Oh, no.  No, no.  I’m not driving.”  I tried to give it back to him, but he moved his hands away so I couldn’t let go.
    “Yes, you are.  Move it to the left a little.”  In trying to respond, I moved it to the right.  “No, the other left, Kelly.  That’s it.”  He looked at the sail.  “See, you’re even