Chapter eleven

Thud!

Sam woke to the noise of a heavy line being thrown down on the hatch over his head. He flew up the companionway stairs in time to see a large female mallard lifting a spare braided spring line in her beak as she tried to make off with it, only to be pulled back forcefully to the boat.

“Shoo!” Sam yelled and swatted at the bird in the pre-dawn light.

Aside from her response of a hiss and quack, all was quiet in the still marina.

“Get!” He came up on deck, expecting the duck to fly off at his presence, but she persisted, tugging the tethered line upward in an attempt to take it.

On the third attempt, the force of the duck’s pull worked against her and snapped her down fast onto the deck. The duck sat up, pecked ferociously at the line, and started hissing at it.

Sam laughed at her antics. “You are a persistent little thing, even if your mission is doomed!” He watched the duck for a while as it continued its pecking and hissing.

Finally giving up, the duck waddled over toward the cockpit, and without hesitation, jumped down onto one of the ripped cushions to make herself at home.

“Oh, no, you don’t. I will not have you messing up my place. Now get!”

But the duck was unfazed. She looked directly at Sam, quacked once, and nestled her head down on her back to sleep.

“You gotta be kidding me!” Sam tried to wave the duck off the cushion, but she wouldn’t budge. She lifted her head up, hissed, and contorted herself again to sleep.

Sam threw his hands up in disgust. “All right, you can stay the night, but you’re going in the morning.” As he hopped back down the companionway stairs, he called out to the duck as he lay back down on his bunk. “I once had a girlfriend like you. I tried to shoo her away, but she just hissed at me too. She was persistent, too. I remember I told her I wasn’t interested in seeing her anymore when Angel and I started getting serious, but she wouldn’t take no for an answer. Wonder whatever happened to Kathy? She was pretty. She had long dark hair, and a laugh that was contagious. She was from New York, so she talked funny, but she was cool to hang with for a while. She didn’t like Angel, I can tell you that. And she didn’t like being dumped, either. I think she thought we were ‘the couple’ that other kids wanted to be. But in the end, it wasn’t meant to be, you know. Angel had my attention pretty quick, and Kathy didn’t want to let it go. Kathy. Yep. That suits you. Kathy, I’m telling you now, I don’t have room here for you. Tomorrow, you’ll just have to shove off. Good night.” With that, he rolled over and closed his eyes. It was pointless, this thing called sleep.