Chapter Four
SHEBA’S ISLAND WASN’T much bigger than a soccer field. It was just a rock really, jutting out of the ocean at the end of a chain of tiny islands in Bonavista Bay. It had a hidden cove on the mainland side, where I could tie up the sub out of sight. The other side faced the stormy Atlantic. Her cottage was protected from the wind and sea on three sides by rock. The open side, all windows, gave her a spectacular view of the sunrise, and, according to her, of ghost ships, mermaids, dead sailors and other fantastic creatures from the deep. In truth, she had never claimed to see mermaids in Newfoundland, only to hear them.
Sheba was the friendliest and most interesting person I had ever met and I loved visiting her. She was tall and lean and had long bright red hair that fell over her shoulders and all the way down her back in tiny, shell-like curls. She wore brightly coloured dresses and lots of jewellery. She looked directly into your eyes when she spoke, and her eyes, as green as a cat’s, sparkled with joy. If there were such things as friendly witches who used magic for good purposes, that’s what Sheba would be. And maybe she was; I was never really sure. She lived with about three dozen animals — dogs, cats, birds, goats, lizards and snakes. It was a zoo. They made a fuss over you at first, but settled down after a while. So long as you didn’t mind sitting with a cockatiel on your shoulder, a cat on your lap and a goat nipping at your hair, you wouldn’t even know they were there.
Living in a place hidden in fog a good part of the time, Sheba had created a miraculous system of lights that brought sunshine inside her cottage on the darkest days. Her kitchen was an indoor hydroponics garden, year-round. She grew tomatoes, peppers, onions, oranges, lemons, spinach, mushrooms, garlic, herbs, flowers and all kinds of things I had never heard of before that she put in her teas. She made mysterious teas that affected your moods. You never really knew what to expect and she wouldn’t tell you.
I moored the sub to the rock, climbed out with Hollie and waved to Seaweed, who stayed on the bow. There was too much “society” on Sheba’s island for Seaweed.
“Keep an eye on the sub, Seaweed.”
Sheba looked greatly relieved when she saw me.
“Oh! Alfred! Thank Heavens you’re all right!”
She threw her arms around me and hugged me. She was about half a foot taller than I was.
“Hi, Sheba. Of course I’m all right. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because I read your cards two nights ago and they said you would be in danger yesterday. Were you in danger yesterday?”
“Well …”
“You were! I knew it! But you are all right now?”
“Yes. I’m fine.”
“Good!”
She slapped her hands together. “Come in and have tea. Watch your step. Ziegfried is still making repairs. He will be here tomorrow. Oh, Alfred, I am so happy! My two men will be here at the same time once again!”
I liked the way she referred to us as her “men.” Sheba always treated me as a full-grown man.
The tea had a licorice smell. A goat with sad eyes sniffed at the corner of the wood stove and was about to singe his whiskers.
“Edgar!” said Sheba. “This tea is not for you.”
Edgar looked at me. I shrugged. Sheba sat down opposite me, took my hands in hers and looked deeply into my eyes.
“So. Tell me what happened.”
“I don’t know … It started two days ago with a strange feeling.”
“Maybe. It was a dark feeling.”
“Like something terrible was about to happen?”
“Yes. Sort of.”
“Good. You must learn to trust those feelings.”
She poured the tea. I had learned to drink her teas without milk. Don’t curdle the passion of a flower with the discharge of a cow’s stomach, she had said.
“When we surfaced, there was a really bad storm.”
“I know! The worst storm in years. And then?”
“Well, the radio said there were three fishing boats lost.”
“So, you went out to look for them.”
“Yes. But two of them were already sunk.”
“How did you know?”
“I found them later, on sonar.”
“At the bottom?”
“No. One was at two hundred feet, the other at seventy-five. They were drifting down slowly.”
“Horrible! And then?”
“I found two men in the other boat.”
“Alive?”
“One of them … one of them …”
I felt a heaviness in my chest. Emotion rushed through me and my eyes started to water. I covered my face.
“Oh, Alfred! Let your tears fall. It’s good for you. Tears are rain from the heart. You must let your heart rain free or the rest of your body will dry up and wither.”
“It’s embarrassing. I never cry.”
“Of course you do! Everybody does. Ziegfried cries every time he sees a new kitten.”
I laughed. It was true. Ziegfried cried as easily as a little girl. I wiped my cheeks and continued.
“I didn’t realize I was so upset about it.”
“Of course! It is terribly upsetting! So, one of them was alive and one wasn’t?”
Every time I tried to speak, my chest got that heavy feeling and my eyes started. I took a deep breath. I noticed Sheba was crying along with me. She cried a lot too.
“He … he told me they were brothers.”
She held my hands again and gently shook them.
“And you were able only to save one of them. Is that what is bothering you?”
I took another deep breath. My chest started to calm down.
“I just wish I had been able to get there sooner. I was too late to save them both. He cried when I pulled him away from his brother.”
“Oh, Alfred. It is so awful, but you saved his life!”
“I know. I just felt so bad having to separate them.”
“So you left the dead brother at sea?”
“No. I promised I would take him too, so I went back.”
“Did you put him in your submarine and carry him to shore too?”
“Oh, Alfred! That was very brave! Now his ghost will not haunt the sea.”
I took a drink of my tea. It filled my mouth with licorice flavour and my mind drifted away to images of a forest, dark and misty, a forest I had never even seen before. It was peaceful but mysterious. Everything about Sheba was peaceful and mysterious.
“But tell me now what you want to do, Alfred. Where do you want to go next?”
“I want to explore.”
“Explore what?”
“Well …”
“Yes?”
“There’s something I want to look for.”
“And that is …?”
“It might sound silly because it probably doesn’t exist.”
Sheba looked so deeply into my eyes I felt like she could read my mind.
“Try me.”
Well, if I couldn’t tell Sheba, who could I tell?
“I want to look for Atlantis. But I know it probably doesn’t exist.”
She sat up straight and her face broke into a beaming smile.
“That’s perfect!”
“Do you think so?”
“It is so perfect, Alfred. For thousands of years people have been waiting for someone to find Atlantis again, and now, you are the one to do it. I am so happy!”
“But I’m not even sure it really exists. It might be just a myth.”
“Of course it exists! It’s waiting for you and your submarine to find it. Nobody has been able to find it because they didn’t have the means that you have, or the determination. It is your destiny. Oh, Alfred, what a wonderful destiny you have.”
I couldn’t help smiling from ear to ear. “Well, Jacques Cousteau looked for it with a submersible.”
“Did he live in his submarine? Did he travel around the world in it the way you do?”
“No.”
“Well?”
Sheba was great. How wonderful to know someone like her.