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“Hold your finger right here.” Harmony waited on Boy to put his finger on the pressure plate before taking hers off.
Between the lights from Boy’s eyes and those on her goggles, she’d had enough light to work by well into the night. Her shoulders were killing her, but the long hours would be well worth the pain and effort if she managed to fix the engine. She crossed her fingers and held her breath before hitting the start button. For a moment nothing happened but then a low whine filled the night air. Before celebrating, Harmony ran over and adjusted the pressure plate.
“Take you finger off.”
Harmony stood perfectly still and listened. After a long few moments, the high pitched whine turned into a low, smooth rotating noise.
She grinned and patted Boy on the shoulder. “We did it! Have you ever heard a prettier sound in the entire world?”
“Certainly. A newborn baby’s first cry, birds singing, crickets at night, people laughing...”
“Stop.” She held up a hand to forestall whatever else was on Boy’s no doubt long list, and knowing him, it would likely have gone on all night if she’d let him.
“I mean for us; right now; this very moment. We’re going home.”
Instead of celebrating, Boy turned toward the unrolled balloon.
She followed his gaze and sighed. “Technicalities. I know. We still have to pull up the balloon and fit its mouth on the ring.” She patted Boy’s head. “Let’s appreciate our little victories as they come along, eh, or we’re just going to get discouraged.”
Harmony hobbled over to check the friction engine’s gauges. The numbers were perfect. Her big toe hurt like hell, but the engine was back up and running. She wanted to scream, “take that bad luck and shove it up your ass,” but figured there was no reason to tempt fate. Tomorrow she would figure out how the three of them were going to get the balloon back in place, but tonight she was going to leave Boy watching over the friction engine, to make certain nothing else went wrong with it. In the meantime, she planned on heading out onto the beach and cleaning off in the ocean. She smelt like three kinds of rotten shit. It would be great to wash the grime out of her hair and spend some time relaxing in the water.
“Do you mind keeping an eye on the friction engine for me?” Harmony gathered the tools and apple cores. She liked a tidy deck; even more so now it felt like everything would soon be back to normal.
“I’ll be happy to. Molly’s below deck now, straightening up. That should keep her busy the rest of the night. I thought, after things were more organized, I would go down there tomorrow and see what’s broken beyond repair. There’s no point in carrying dead weight when we are ready to take off.”
Harmony nodded. “We might even think about throwing some of the good stuff over too. I hate to but I’m already worried about our water level, if it’s going to be enough to get us back to a good water source.” She smiled. “The engine’s running and there aren’t any tears in the balloon. We have a lot going in our favor, so I refuse to dwell on the negatives tonight.”
She headed down toward the tool box and called over her shoulder. “I’m going off ship, to clean up some. You’re in charge while I’m gone.”
After gathering some clean clothes, soap her mother had made and a piece of cloth with which to dry off, Harmony climbed down toward the beach. She hadn’t set foot on it since hauling the balloon back onboard. Once both feet were on the sand, she stood still and breathed in the fresh air coming in off the water. There was a full moon, the sand was still warm and the breeze was just right. If she hadn’t been stranded on this damn island, it would have been a perfect night.
“No negative thoughts tonight. I’m going to enjoy my bath. In the morning I’ll figure out what needs to be done and how we’re going to do it.” She took in a long sniff of the rose scented soap. Of course that made her think of her mother.
“Stop thinking. It’s only going to make you sad. I refuse to be sad on such a beautiful night.” She looked up at the moon. “I bet if Griffin were here he would say something really sweet, and maybe even try to kiss me.”
The breeze caressed her bare shoulders so she closed her eyes and pretended it was Griffin. Harmony snorted. “Damn, girl, get a grip. You sent him off with Walker. Griffin’s probably already found someone he likes better. You’re too contrary for any man to yearn after for very long. He deserves a woman willing to stay home and give him babies. What do you know about raising babies? Not a damn thing, that’s what.”
With all of her earlier happy thoughts now replaced by ones of Griffin with another woman, Harmony muttered curse words all the way to the water’s edge. In an ill-tempered fit she tossed everything onto the sand, pulled off her shift and threw it down with the rest of her stuff.
“Damned men. Who needs them anyway?” She pointed at the center of her chest. “I fixed that damned engine all by myself. I pulled that damned balloon up all by myself. I cleaned that damned deck up all by myself. I don’t need a damned man.” She picked up the rose-scented soap and marched into the water, where she scrubbed her scalp and body with far more force than necessary. It wasn’t until she’d let the low rolling waves wash over her for a while that she calmed down again.
Harmony carried the soap back onto the beach, placed it on top of her dirty clothes and then went back in to enjoy a swim. She refused to think about Griffin, her family or home. There was time enough for that later. For just a little while she needed to pretend that the people she loved and the home she hankered after weren’t so far away. And so she swam until she was too weary to do so for another second. It was only then she climbed out of the water and dressed.
After washing her dirty clothes, she headed back onboard. On her way to her cabin she noticed Boy wasn’t at the helm. Where the hell had he gotten off to? He’d promised to watch over the friction engine. He never broke a promise so something must have happened. What would have been important enough for him to do such a thing? Molly.
Harmony threw everything down and headed below deck.