Free The Deepest Waters, A Novel by Dan Walsh Page A

Micah each day. It seemed on every other level, and in every other part of her body, Laura felt either nothing or pain. Just looking into Crabby’s happy face sparked something inside her, very close to feeling loved. Crabby also diverted her mind from deep thought and reflection, which itself was a gift.
    Still on the bow, Laura looked down to the main deck. Only a few women and children remained in line, waiting for a cup of water and today a choice: half rations of gruel or hardtack. One of the children called them “rock biscuits.” Micah had laughed when he’d heard it, said that’s what he’d call them from now on.
    Micah sat behind the wooden table, helping Smitty distribute the food. Laura looked down at Crabby; the dog’s face looked as content as if she were sitting on the finest porch or the greenest lawn. Laura finally stood up, deciding she had no choice but to acknowledge the day had begun. Crabby also stood but stayed right beside her.
    The seas were still calm, the water almost glassy. She could see the reflection of the clouds and sky all the way out to the horizon. The wind seemed half what it had been the night before. The sails were not taut and stretched as they’d been before.
    Suddenly, Crabby started barking. Women behind Laura gasped and yelled. She turned to see a woman behind her climbing over the rail. Crabby ran to the woman and grabbed her dress in her teeth.
    “Let me go,” the woman shouted and pulled at her dress.
    “What are you doing?” an older woman yelled. “Get back or you’ll fall.”
    “Leave me alone,” the woman said. Her dress ripped, and she went over the rail.
    Everyone screamed at the sight. A large splash.
    Laura looked over the rail as a dark blue shape passed by.
    “She’s gone over,” someone shouted.
    “Do something, save her!”
    Children screamed.
    A man’s voice yelled from high overhead. “Man overboard.” Laura looked up and saw Ayden Maul balancing on a rope, pointing down toward the woman splashing about, not ten feet from the side of the ship. She was already amidships. In a few moments, the ship would pass her by.
    But no one did anything.
    Laura hurried down the steps and ran along the rail, her eyes fixed on the woman, now near the back of the ship.
    “Captain!” Micah yelled.
    Laura turned to see Micah holding the end of a long coil of rope and standing a few feet from the captain.
    “Go ahead, Micah,” Captain Meade said. “But I fear you’re too late.”
    Micah pulled off his shirt, revealing a startling sight. From his neck to his waistline, his skin was horribly discolored, his back a tangled mess of rippled scars. He tossed the shirt to the deck, wrapped the rope around his forearm, then dove overboard. Crabby ran to the spot, stood against the rail, and barked. Micah swam toward the woman now trailing behind the ship. Laura looked back at the coil of rope, unwinding as if on a spool.
    All the women on deck ran toward the back of the ship to watch.
    The woman in the water was already floating facedown. Micah was halfway there. The ship moved forward, forcing Micah to swim harder to close the distance. Laura looked back at the rope on deck. It was almost gone. He reached her just as the rope snapped tight.
    “He’s done it,” a woman yelled. “He’s got her.” Everyone cheered and clapped. But Micah had only been able to grab her hand. Both were now being dragged behind the ship about fifty yards.
    “You men,” the captain said. “Haul them in.”
    Three crewmen pulled hard on the rope. When Laura looked back, Micah was on his back, one arm around the woman’s shoulder, the other holding onto the rope.
    “That’s remarkable,” a gray-haired woman standing next to her said. “He must be as old as I am. I didn’t even know they could swim.”

     
    Thirty minutes later, the woman was resting on deck, a blanket around her shoulders. She appeared to be just over thirty. Some older women, thankfully the kinder ones, had