Wakeboarding (A Quiet Island)
A Mastercraft X46 moves through the middle arch of the smaller suspension
bridge. A man with short, bleached hair holds the steering wheel and screams
loudly, turning and pointing to the man sitting in the back of the boat and
then towards the woman on the wakeboard being towed behind it. Once through the
arch, the man holding the steering wheel makes a sharp turn towards the
mainland, causing the woman on the wakeboard to drive towards the island, lose
her balance, and crash into the water. The man holding the steering wheel
screams loudly, turning and pointing towards the man sitting in the back of the
boat and then towards the woman floating in the water. The man holding the
steering wheel powers the boat down and reaches into the fridge for two
Desperados.
The woman on the wakeboard floats on her back, her wakeboard pointing upwards.
She has sponsorship from a wetsuit company, she has forty-nine thousand
followers on Instagram. She lies on her back, floating, looking at the clear
sky above her.
The waves from the wipeout have made their way to the shore. A man fishing off
the edge of a small green casts his line out into the strait. He is wearing a
black Adidas sweater, pale blue jeans, and an old pair of cream Reebok
Classics. He works in the island’s largest abattoir electrocuting animals and slitting their throats, he has
eight-year-old twin girls, he has a motocross bike, he has other things. The
man fishing off the edge of a small green casts his line out into the strait
and looks up at the clear sky above him.
The man holding the wheel of the Mastercraft finishes the Desperado and screams
loudly as he pulls down hard on the throttle and hovers his finger over the
brake release button. He turns and points towards the man sitting in the back,
and then towards the woman on the wakeboard.
The man fishing off the edge of the small green looks towards the Mastercraft
and reels his line in. He looks down into the bucket next to his feet. A dead
bass looks back up at him, blood coagulated around its gills.
The wakeboarder looks up at the clear sky above her. She feels the power of the
Mastercraft pull her up into a standing position and smiles, her teeth large,
white, and incredibly beautiful.