Draft no 2: Finished read through of chapter five

Fixed some continuity errors with Henri and Birdie and the fishing scene

1 files changed, 48 insertions, 41 deletions

diff --git a/lbh.txt b/lbh.txt
index 334c8bd..ca298e8 100644
--- a/lbh.txt
+++ b/lbh.txt
@@ -356,7 +356,7 @@ Lulu walked around the Arkhangelsk, checking and comparing with her memory of it
 
 She watched the sun rise over the sea from the deck. The wind was already blowing strongly offshore. White peaks churned in the wind tossed sea, blending white and green and murky brown waters into the kind of messy chop no one wanted to sail. It looked like the winter sea. It was technically still summer, but clearly the sea was already thinking of winter. She was glad they'd made it in last night. If they were trying this morning they'd have never made it. 
 
-She signed and went to retrieved her sheet. Delos was waiting. She already knew she'd be yelled at for not helping out. She was always being yelled at for not cleaning up, not helping load, not helping unload, not helping keep the ship ship shape. She hated those words. Ship shape. It sounded stupid. Who wanted something ship shape? And why was swabbing even a thing? Normal people mopped. Why did sailors have to swab? Even the word made it sound harder. And it was, it was like moping while standing on the back of a horse. The thought of horses made her want to get back. Her father had promised her he would teach her to ride this year. She jumped off the bow into the soft sand and began walking back to camp. 
+She sighed and went to retrieved her sheet. Delos was waiting. She already knew she'd be yelled at for not helping out. She was always being yelled at for not cleaning up, not helping load, not helping unload, not helping keep the ship ship shape. She hated those words. Ship shape. It sounded stupid. Who wanted something ship shape? And why was swabbing even a thing? Normal people mopped. Why did sailors have to swab? Even the word made it sound harder. And it was, it was like moping while standing on the back of a horse. The thought of horses made her want to get back. Her father had promised her he would teach her to ride this year. She jumped off the bow into the soft sand and began walking back to camp. 
 
 ---
 
@@ -414,7 +414,7 @@ Her father arranged the tripod and tested it's balance with a kettle full of wat
 
 The long afternoon shadows began to race their way across the clearing they'd be calling home for the next six to eight months. Lulu turned and looked west. A little back from camp there was a line of oak trees that then gave way to the marsh where Delos would be anchored for the season. In the shade of those oaks they would soon construct great kilns that would be used to make the tar that brought them to the island in the first place. Across the flat reedy world of marsh was another line of oaks and then a no man's land of cypress swamp and brackish water that slowly, as you moved south, resolved itself into the southern fork of the Edistow River. Another half mile beyond that was Kadiatu's family's farm. Beyond that were the great pine forests of the low country where they would dig stumps and then haul them by barge and horse out here to the beach where they would burn them, slowly extracting the sap and then boiling it down into a sticky resin that sealed wood against the sea.
 
-They ate dinner as the sun set through the trees behind their half-finished hut. Lulu went down to the shore and rinsed her abalone bowl. The air had a hint of chill at the edge of it. The sea was cold on her feet. When she came back her father and Kobayashi were laying oak logs on the coals that had cooked dinner. It wasn't long before the fire was roaring and light filled the circle of dune. Lulu sat on a log of gray driftwood and watched her uncle play the fiddle while Birdie and her father danced in circles. Henri and Owen sat on a log next to her Aunt Māra and directly across the fire. Lulu smiled. She like winter camp, she liked her family. She knew enough of the world to know they were different. Perhaps even odd to most people. But she didn't care. She was glad they had a place to live their lives the way they wanted to, a place they could fish, a place they could weather storms. 
+They ate dinner as the sun set through the trees behind their half-finished hut. Lulu went down to the shore and rinsed her abalone bowl. The air had a hint of chill at the edge of it. The sea was cold on her feet. When she came back her father and Kobayashi were laying oak logs on the coals that had cooked dinner. It wasn't long before the fire was roaring and light filled the circle of dune. Lulu sat on a log of gray driftwood and watched her Uncle Cole play the fiddle while Birdie and her father danced in circles. Henri and Owen sat on a log next to her Aunt Māra and directly across the fire. Lulu smiled. She like winter camp, she liked her family. She knew enough of the world to know they were different. Perhaps even odd to most people. But she didn't care. She was glad they had a place to live their lives the way they wanted to, a place they could fish, a place they could weather storms. 
 
 She had heard someone once whispering in a shop, calling them pirates, but she didn't think they were. They had never captured a ship or found any treasure. She asked her father about it and he laughed and said no, pirates have much bigger ships than we do. But maybe someday Lulu. He had that twinkle in his eye that made it seem like anything was possible, like when he told stories around the fire on winter evenings and Lulu felt like the worlds he described were out there somewhere, waiting for her to discover. Worlds of pirates and ships and storms, talking animals, strange mythical creatures. Her father never failed to take what would always start as a normal story and turn it in someway that you never saw coming but afterward couldn't imagine turning out any other way.
 
@@ -684,21 +684,21 @@ Then she uprooted herself and walked toward the hut. Inside it was dark, she bli
 
 ---
 
-Birdie sat in the shade of a sago palm. It was the last palm, the edge of camp. After the palm was the beach. She watched the ocean from the top ridge of the small, shaded dune, squinting in the bright light of the midday sun. Birdie's real name was Māra, after her mother's sister, her Aunt Māra who was down at the shoreline, pulling in a fishing net with Henri. Birdie had helped them cast out the net and secure it to the buoys earlier in the morning. Now they were pulling it in.
+Birdie sat in the shade of a sago palm. It was the last palm, the scout at the edge of camp. After the palm was the beach. She watched the ocean from the top ridge of the small, shaded dune, squinting in the bright light of the midday sun. Birdie's real name was Māra, after her mother's sister, her Aunt Māra who was down at the shoreline, pulling in a fishing net with Henri. Birdie had helped them cast out the net and secure it to the buoys earlier in the morning. Now they were pulling it in.
 
-Birdie was waiting for her cousins to be done with their chores. She glanced up the beach toward their camp but there was no sign of Owen or Francis. She sighed and plucked at a sea oat, slowly breaking up the stem.
+Birdie was waiting for her cousins to be done with their chores. She glanced up the beach toward their camp but there was no sign of Francis or Owen. Aunt Māra had told her they were helping their father with the boat. Birdie sighed and plucked at a sea oat, slowly breaking up the stem and letting the breeze pick up and carry them off.
 
-Down the beach she would see the single mast of the Arkhangelsk. Most of the time she loved seeing the boat, but sometimes it reminded her of the awful day it arrived. After her father had told the captain of the Ave Marie it could not be saved, the rest of his crew shrugged and went off hunting the wild boar that were forever rooting in the jack pines. The captain sat on the beach and stewed. He drank rum all afternoon until finally he'd strode into camp shouting for her father, who eventually appeared. There was a good bit of quarreling in several languages until at some point Birdie remembered the captain drew his sword and her father had gone very quiet. Aunt Māra pulled all the children inside the teepee, but Birdie had stood by the door and watched as her father walked very slowly forward until he had placed his neck against the captain's sword, a move that had been so unexpected that the captain did not appear to know what to do. He stammered something Birdie could not hear, though she heard her father's voice quite clearly, I know how I will die and it is not by your hand. The captain had dropped his sword, spun on his heel and marched right out of camp in the direction of Charlestown.
+Down the beach she could see the single mast of the Arkhangelsk. Most of the time she loved seeing the boat, but sometimes it reminded her of the awful day it arrived. After her father had told the captain of the Ave Marie it could not be saved, the rest of his crew shrugged and went off hunting the wild boar that were forever rooting in the jack pines of the island interior. The captain sat on the beach and stewed in anger. He drank rum all afternoon until finally he'd strode into camp shouting for her father, who eventually appeared. There was a good bit of quarreling in several languages until at some point Birdie remembered the captain drew his sword and her father had gone very quiet. Aunt Māra pulled all the children inside the teepee, but Birdie had stood by the door and watched as her father walked very slowly forward until he had placed his neck against the captain's sword, a move that had been so unexpected that the captain did not appear to know what to do. He stammered something Birdie could not hear, though she heard her father's voice quite clearly, I know how I will die and it is not by your hand. The captain had dropped his sword, spun on his heel and marched right out of camp in the direction of Charlestown.
 
 A few hours later the crew of six returned from the woods with a wild boar so huge they staggered under the weight of the pole it was slung out on. Birdie's father had informed them of their captains departure, the news of which they barely acknowledged, bent as they were to the task at hand, namely butchering and roasting the boar. There'd been a great feast in camp that night, with music and dancing that didn't stop until long after Birdie was asleep. The crew had stayed on for a quarter of a moon, until the rum ran out and they too headed off down the road in the direction of Charlestown. 
 
 Birdie had been worried that the angry captain might return. For several nights she refused to sleep outside until her father finally coaxed the problem out of her. "My girl, you don't need to worry," her father had said, "he's gone." And indeed no one had ever seen him again.
 
-And so the little ship had been commandeered by Birdie, along with Lulu, Henri, their cousins Owen and Francis, and Kadiatu's boy Cuffee. They'd spent the autumn in the ship, every free moment they had, sailing the sands of the island, re-christening her the Arkhangelsk. Birdie was captain. They had voted, as free sailors did, and she had been elected. She had only been voted out once, when Lulu called a new vote after Birdie had ordered all the boys over the side to raid an enemy ship for the hundredth time, holding Lulu back. But Lulu's term as captain had lasted only a few days before Henri called a vote that put Birdie back in charge, and set the boys, along with Lulu, over the side to attack the forts and towns of the coasts they sailed.
+And so the little ship had been commandeered by Birdie and her siblings and cousins. That first year they'd spent the autumn in the ship, every free moment they had, sailing the sands of the island, re-christening her the Arkhangelsk. Birdie was captain. They had voted, as free sailors did, and she had been elected. As Lulu was always careful to point out the captain only had authority during pursuit and battle, the rest of the time the whole crew was in charge. Birdie did not argue. She had only been voted out of her captain position once, when Lulu called a new vote after Birdie had ordered all the boys over the side to raid an enemy ship for the hundredth time, holding Lulu back. But Lulu's term as captain had lasted only a few days before Henri called a vote that put Birdie back in charge, and set the boys, along with Lulu, over the side to attack the forts and towns of the coasts they sailed.
 
-Birdie was trying to decide what they should do today, with their new pot they should have new adventures, when she noticed a small sail rounding out of the northern river. The boat road the middle of the current. Birdie's heart leaped up. Don't do that Charles. She tried to send this thought to him somehow but before she could even begin to concentrate she watched as the boat slammed hard into the leeward shore of the bank, hurling two small figures through the air like dolls pitched from a catapult. She winced as they landed. She watched them get up. Down at the shoreline Henri and Māra were laughing as they folded up the net. 
+Birdie was trying to decide what they should do today. A new pot called for new adventures, but she wasn't quite sure what. Perhaps they should sail to the Spanish main and sack Campache. It had been a while since they'd done that. She was deep in contemplation of her battle plan when out of the corner of her eye she noticed a small sail rounding out of the northern river. The boat road the middle of the current. This jarred her out of her reverie. Don't do that Charles. She tried to send this thought to him somehow, but before she could even begin to concentrate she watched as the boat slammed hard into the leeward shore of the bank, hurling two small figures through the air like dolls pitched from a catapult. She winced as they landed. She watched them get up. Down at the shoreline Henri and Māra were laughing as they folded up the net. 
 
-"My sons sail like his father," said Auntie Māra as she walked by Birdie carrying the basket of fish on her hip, with the net slung over her shoulder. 
+"My son sails like his father," said Auntie Māra as she walked by Birdie carrying the basket of fish on her hip, with the net slung over her shoulder. 
 
 Henri sat down beside Birdie. "Did you see them" Henri giggled. "They hit so hard."
 
@@ -708,32 +708,27 @@ Henri sat down beside Birdie. "Did you see them" Henri giggled. "They hit so har
 
 "What?" 
 
-"It's fun I think?"
+"It's fun, I think?"
 
 "They're going to break the mast one of these days. Or lose the sail. And then how will we fish?"
 
-Henri shrugged, but didn't say anything. Birdie stood up. "I'm going to get my line." 
+Henri shrugged, but didn't say anything. 
 
-"Get mine too will you please?"
+Birdie stood up and started down the dune toward shore.
 
-"Sure." Henri took off down the path to the teepee where both their lines were coiled and hung from a rafter over the door.
+It took Francis the better part of an hour to get the boat down the beach to their camp. While she loved her cousins, they were not sailors. The did not come with Birdie and her family to Summer camp in the north. The left the island, but only went as far as Charlestown where they lived on Sullivan's Island. Birdie's Uncle Cole helped run a distillery, spending his days tending the vast vats of boiling sugar, turning it slowly to rum.
 
-It took Francis the better part of an hour to get the boat down the beach to their camp. While she loved her cousins, they were not sailors. The did not come with Birdie and her family to Summer camp in the north. The left the island, but only went as far as Charlestown where they lived on Sullivan's Island. Birdies's Uncle tk helped run a distillery, spending his days tending the vast vats of boiling sugar, turning it slowly to rum.
-
-No one on the tk drank. Her father didn't forbid it exactly, he simple did not associate with people who drank it. "When you drink or eat something you do not just drink the liquid or eat the flesh of the thing, you consume its spirit as well," he told her one day when she asked why he never drank rum. 
+No one in Delos's crew drank rum. Her father didn't forbid it exactly, he simple did not associate with people who drank alcohol. "When you drink or eat something you do not just drink the liquid or eat the flesh of the thing, you consume its spirit as well," he told her one day when she asked why he never drank rum. 
 
 "Different things have different spirits Birdie." He dipped a ladle of water and drank it. "The spirit in the rum, it is not a good spirit. To me it seems like not a good spirit anyway. Many people, it takes them and makes them do as it wishes, sends them nowhere but in search of more of itself. Your uncle for instance, it drives him to work all summer making it. Other people it just visits and then leaves with no problems, it all depends." He shrugged and swatted at a mosquito on his shoulder. "Some days it visited me and left, but some days it visited me and wanted to stay even after I no longer wanted it, so I decided one day not to let it in me any more."
 
-"It is not the way of our people I don't think. We did not have it back home. There was Vodka, but that was a drink of the lowlanders. We never drank it. Vodka has a strong spirit, but we did not need it. For us there is the sea, it has the strongest spirit as far as I know. I would rather stand on its shore for one minute and taste its salt air than have a lifetime of rum or vodka. The sea is the spirit I want to spend my time with, the sea is who I serve."
+"It is not the way of our people I don't think. We did not have it back home. There was Vodka, but that was a drink of the lowlanders. We never drank it. Vodka has a strong spirit, but we did not need it. For us there is the sea, it has the strongest spirit, as far as I know. I would rather stand on its shore for one minute and taste its salt air than have a lifetime of rum or vodka. The sea is the spirit I want to spend my time with, the sea is who I serve."
 
 Birdie had decided then and there not to waste her time with rum or vodka or anything with bad spirits. She too would serve the sea. She watched as Francis tried to bring the little boat in through the waves. It was an offshore wind, which mean the sail luffed whenever he tried to head straight in through the waves, but to take them at an angle meant the little boat pitched and tumbled and threatened to roll with every wave. Francis might enjoy catapulting himself out of it when there was a nice soft sandbar to land on, but rolling in this surf would quickly be the end of the boat, and quite possible Francis and Owen as well.
 
-Birdie considered swimming out to help them, but beyond the break was where most of the sharks hung out. She did not mind the sharks too much, most of them were harmless enough, but there were a few, the larger ones with very sharply pointed fins, that she avoided unless there were dolphins around. She walked down to the shoreline with Henri just as Francis finally road a wave through the break, somehow failing to capsize despite forgetting to lean back and counterbalance the roll of the boat. 
-
-
-**Scene of Francis and Birdie fishing** Make Francis an approachable enough character that there is tragedy when he dies. what makes him approachable, some level of vulnerability, cruel father? Drinking father? No cruel, a drunk. Who's getting worse. But where can I put a scene of that? First cool night, they have a bonfire, he gets drunk. Words with the father, hits Francis. 
+Birdie considered swimming out to help them, but beyond the break was where most of the sharks hung out. She did not mind the sharks too much, most of them were harmless enough, but there were a few that seemed to have bad tempers. It was always the larger ones with very sharply pointed fins. She avoided them unless there were dolphins around. She walked down to the shoreline just as Francis finally road a wave through the break, somehow failing to capsize despite forgetting to lean back and counterbalance the roll of the boat. 
 
-Francis was smiling as the boat road the last the crumbling wave toward the shore. His dimples shadowed into his tanned cheeks. His impossibly white two front teeth that Birdie was very jealous of. She unconsciously traced her tongue across her lone front tooth. She returned his smile, but tried to keep her gap tooth hidden. Owen leaped out the boat and tossed the bowline to Birdie, who helped him drag it onto the beach. 
+Francis was smiling as the boat rode the last crumbling wave toward the shore. His dimples shadowed into his tanned cheeks and showed off his impossibly white two front teeth that Birdie was very jealous of. She unconsciously traced her tongue across her lone front tooth. She returned his smile, but tried to keep her gap tooth hidden. Owen leaped out the boat and tossed the bowline to Birdie, who helped him drag it onto the beach. 
 
 "Did you see that?" Owen said breathlessly. "We flew Birdie, we flew."
 
@@ -747,7 +742,7 @@ His face dropped. He mumbled something about finding Henri and walked off down t
 
 "Did I?"
 
-She shook her head at him. He rolled his eyes at her and turned around. She wanted to say *I like you less when you act like your father* but she bit her lip and said nothing. She knew he didn't mean any harm, he just didn't think. But she knew Francis didn't have what she had. She could feel him floundering some times, like he was lost in a way that she never would be and so she bit her lip and kept quiet. 
+She shook her head at him. He rolled his eyes at her and turned around. She wanted to say *I like you less when you act like your father* but she bit her lip and said nothing. She knew he didn't mean any harm, he just didn't think. But she knew Francis didn't have what she had. She could feel him floundering sometimes, like he was lost in a way that she never would be and so she bit her lip and kept quiet. 
 
 He leaned against the gunwale of the boat. She came and stood next to him, thinking about what she should say, but she could come up with nothing. 
 
@@ -769,17 +764,19 @@ They both glanced down the beach in the direction Owen had gone, but there was n
 
 Birdie bit her lip, Henri had wanted to go, but she'd spent all morning with him and going without him suddenly sounded good, though she knew she would feel guilty about it the whole time she was out. "Okay."
 
-He seemed to sense the hesitation in her voice and sighed. "Owen probably talked him into going turkey bunting." Owen and Francis had somehow managed to kill a turkey with their homemade bow and arrow and Henri was obsessed with doing the same. Francis was probably right she decided. Lulu had gone up the river with Kadiatu and Cuffee. There was no one else around save her father. She smiled. "Alright, you push us out." 
+He seemed to sense the hesitation in her voice and sighed. "Owen probably talked him into going turkey hunting." Owen and Francis had somehow managed to kill a turkey with their homemade bow and arrows and Henri was obsessed with doing the same. Francis was probably right she decided. Lulu had gone up the river with Kadiatu. There was no one else around except her father and Aunt Māra back in camp. She smiled. "Alright, you push us out." 
 
-Francis went to bow and pushed the boat while Birdie pulled on the stern. They dragged her into the water and spun her around. Birdie jumped in as Francis continued to push from the stern. Birdie grabbed the foresail line and sat down on the port gunwale. The little boat was a lateen rig, like the tk, but with a single mast, a fore and back stay holding the sail and a cleated line that could be loosed and tightened to draw in the sail and come closer to the wind. Birdie unwrapped Francis's poorly cleated line and let the sail out to catch the offshore wind. Francis was up to his waist now in the water. Birdie leaned out to look past the sail and saw nothing but water. "Get in," she shouted. 
+Francis went to bow and pushed the boat while Birdie pulled on the stern. They dragged her into the water and spun her around. Birdie jumped in as Francis continued to push from the stern. Birdie grabbed the foresail line and sat down on the port gunwale. The little boat was a lateen rig, like Delos, but with a single mast, a fore and back stay holding the sail, and a cleated line that could be loosed and tightened to draw in the sail and come closer to the wind. Birdie unwrapped Francis's poorly cleated line and let the sail out to catch the wind. Francis was up to his waist now in the water. Birdie leaned out to look past the sail and saw nothing but water. "Get in," she shouted. 
 
-Francis heaved himself up over the side of the boat and rolled down into the bottom, Birdie drew the line in and turned the tiller to put them at an angle up the face of the wave. Near the top a gust of wind finally hit the sail the little boat leaped forward, sending them over the wave and rushing out, toward the next. Two more waves and they were beyond the break. Birdie watched the dark shape of shark cruise slowly under the boat and then the bottom dropped away and there was nothing but dark, blue green water. She pointed the boat as northerly as she could without luffing the sail. When she was happy she wrapped the line around the wooden cleat, looped it back under itself and sat back, letting her body relax for the first time since she'd hopped in.
+Francis heaved himself up over the side of the boat and rolled down into the bottom, Birdie drew the line in and turned the tiller to put them at an angle up the face of the first wave. Near the top a gust of wind finally hit the sail the little boat leaped forward, sending them over the wave and rushing out, toward the next. Two more waves and they were beyond the break. Birdie watched the dark shape of a shark cruise slowly under the boat and then the bottom dropped away and there was nothing but dark, blue-green water. She pointed the boat as northerly as she could without luffing the sail. When she was happy she wrapped the line around the wooden cleat, looped it back under itself and sat back, letting her body relax for the first time since she'd hopped in.
 
-She glanced at Francis, he was leaning over the side, dragging his hand in the water. Birdie pulled her handline out of her pocket and baited the hook, she dropped it gently into the water, letting the speed of the boat cutting through the waves carry it back away from her. She pointed the little boat toward the outer eastern edge of the bank. When they'd sailed by last month on their way in she'd noticed that there appeared to be an upwelling not too far out past the bank and it was near that updraft of cold water that she'd landed two huge tuna. She wanted to do it again, though she wasn't entirely sure she and Francis would be able to pull in something as big as she'd caught last time. It had take her father and Kobayashi a gaff hook and still a considerable effort to land the last one. But the tk was a bigger boat and much of the trouble was getting it aboard, up the side of the boat without it breaking the line or getting away. The skiff was only twenty feet long and worst case, she could always tie off the line and simply sail for shore to get it in. Although that would likely be very tempting to the sharks that hung around the outer edge of the break. 
+She glanced at Francis, he was leaning over the side, dragging his hand in the water. Birdie pulled her handline out of her pocket and baited the hook, she dropped it gently into the water, letting the speed of the boat cutting through the waves carry it back away from her. She pointed the little boat toward the outer eastern edge of the bank. When they'd sailed by last month on their way in she'd noticed that there appeared to be an upwelling not too far out past the bank and it was near the updraft of cold water where she'd landed her two catches that day. She wanted to do it again, though she wasn't entirely sure she and Francis would be able to pull in something as big as she'd caught last time. It had taken her father and Kobayashi with a gaff hook, and still a considerable effort to land the last one. But Delos was a bigger boat and much of the trouble was getting it aboard, up the side of the boat without it breaking the line or getting away. The skiff was only twenty feet long and worst case, she could always tie off the line and sail for shore to get it in. Although that would be very tempting to the sharks. 
 
-As they eased further away from the shore she saw Francis glance back at her more frequently. She could tell he didn't like to go this far out. At least not in the smaller boat. It was a calm day though, the wind was light, it was the best sailing day she could remember since they'd arrive, especially for a vessel this size, light and springy as she was. Bordie could feel her dancing across the water, almost giddy to be moving it seemed to her. Boats have their own character, this one like the zip and zig and zag, she like the lean too, which Birdie fought by leaning out over the water to counterbalance the wind. A flat boat is a fast boat her father always said. Tipping was more fun though. If you knew your boat well enough to know where she like to be, what was too far, what was not far enough. You had to spend time with a boat to get a sense of her, and then you had to spend time on the water to get a sense of different conditions and how she would handle each of them. Birdie had been sailing the twenty foot sloop her father had built and named Delos for three season now, and in every weather short of a gale. While her father had given Delos to her wife's sister and her British husband, tk, Birdie still thought of her as her own boat. Only Birdie ever took her more than 100 meters offshore. Only Birdie pushed her, though birdie did not think of it that way, she thought of it the way Lulu thought of horses, she just gave the boat its lead, let it go where it naturally wanted to go. A good boat you could trust like that and Delos was a good boat.
+As they eased further away from the shore she saw Francis glance back at her more frequently. She could tell he didn't like to go this far out. At least not in the smaller boat. It was a calm day though, the wind was light, it was the best sailing day she could remember since they'd arrive, especially for a vessel this size, light and springy as she was. Birdie could feel her dancing across the water, almost giddy to be moving it seemed to her. Boats have character. This one liked the zip and zig and zag, she like the lean too, which Birdie fought by leaning out over the water to counterbalance the wind. A flat boat is a fast boat her father always said. Tipping was more fun though. If you knew your boat well enough to know where she like to be, what was too far, what was not far enough. You had to spend time with a boat to get a sense of her, and then you had to spend time on the water to get a sense of different conditions and how she would handle each of them. Birdie had been sailing the twenty foot sloop her father had built and named Maggie for three season now, and in every weather short of a gale. While her father had given Maggie to his wife's sister and her British husband, Uncle Cole, Birdie still thought of her as *her* boat. Only Birdie ever took her more than 100 meters offshore. Only Birdie pushed her, though Birdie did not think of it that way. She thought of it the way Lulu thought of horses. She just gave the boat its lead and let it go where it naturally wanted to go. A good boat you could trust like that and Maggie was a good boat.
 
-They crossed into a different channel of wind and suddenly the water around them went dark. They were still within sight of the shore, an easy swim to the bank even, but here was were the ocean began in Birdie's mind. That deep blue that speaks of depth, real depth. That was the open sea. That was the point at which land, even if you could see it, became irrelevant to your life. You were out here, in the deep blue beyond. Free. Birdie closed her eyes and listened, taking in everything, the the wind whisping strands of hair in her face, the surge and tilt of Delos as she road gently up the now large swells, the churning froth of water foaming at her bow as she broke the crest and headed down toward the next trough. The mast creaked, the canvas seemed to gently sigh as the wind lulled slightly in the trough and the she felt Delos surge up again, catch that wind and fairly leap forward...
+They crossed into a different channel of wind and suddenly the water around them went dark. They were still within sight of the shore, an easy swim to the bank even, but here was where the ocean began in Birdie's mind. That deep blue that speaks of depth, real depth. That was the open sea. That was the point at which land, even if you could see it, became irrelevant to your life. You were out here, in the deep blue beyond. Free. 
+
+Birdie closed her eyes and listened, taking in everything, the wind wisping strands of hair in her face, the surge and tilt of Maggie as she road gently up the now large swells, the churning froth of water foaming at her bow as she broke the crest and headed down toward the next trough. The mast creaked, the canvas seemed to gently sigh as the wind lulled slightly in the trough and the she felt Maggie surge up again, catch that wind and fairly leap forward...
 
 "Birdie!"
 
@@ -789,25 +786,31 @@ Her eyes popped open, startled. "What?"
 
 She looked around. Maybe? They were definitely too far from shore to have any hope of swimming in if something went wrong. They might make the bank. But what did it matter really? They could just keep sailing out here forever... she smiled at Francis. "Sorry, we'll jibe round."
 
-He ducked as she jibbed around, something she rarely got to do in the bigger boat since jibbing with three sails was a rather violent maneuver. When the tk jibbed two booms came swinging across the deck at high speeds, which put tremendous force on the rigging and the boom itself. tk had broken her boom two years ago during an unintentional jibe that happened when her uncle fell asleep at the helm. This was why her cousins and their family no longer sailed north with Birdie's family. Birdie did not understand why her father, who was normally quick to forgive, even if his temper was sometimes quickly ignited, refused to forgive this incident, but she did know it had made it so no one else was in a hurry to jibe on purpose either. Since the wind never left the sails when jibing there was a lot of power in it, and with anything involving a lot of power, a lot care needed to be taken. The safer thing to do would have been to take, or bring the bow through the wind, which let the sail luff and slowed the boat, making for a gentler turn. But Birdie did not want to slow in this swell. Delos handled it well when she was moving, but slowed down she would bob like a cork in these waves and that idea did not sound like fun to Birdie. So she brought her stern around through the wind and waited, feeling for that moment when the boom would swing over, it was like that moment when you swing on a vine high up in to the air and you can feel yourself slowing slowing slowing but never stopping, instead you're suddenly moving the other way. And with a sudden snap of the boom, which Birdie slowed by tightening the line that held it, Delos came around and started her broad reach back to the shoreline.
+He ducked as she jibbed around, something she rarely got to do in the bigger boat since jibbing with three sails was a rather violent maneuver. When Delos jibbed two booms came swinging across the deck at high speeds, which put tremendous force on the rigging and the boom itself. Delos had broken her boom two years ago during an unintentional jibe that happened when her uncle fell asleep at the helm. This was why her cousins and their family no longer sailed north with Birdie's family. Birdie did not understand why her father, who was normally quick to forgive, even if his temper was sometimes easily ignited, refused to forgive this incident, but she did know it had made it so no one else was in a hurry to jibe on purpose either. 
+
+Since the wind never left the sails when jibing there was a lot of power in it, and with anything involving a lot of power, a lot care needed to be taken. The safer thing to do would have been to point the bow through the wind, which let the sail luff and slowed the boat, making for a gentler turn. But Birdie did not want to slow in this swell. Maggie handled it well when she was moving, but slowed down she would bob like a cork in these waves and that idea did not sound like fun to Birdie. So she brought her stern around through the wind and waited, feeling for that moment when the boom would swing over, it was like that moment when you swing on a vine high up in to the air and you can feel yourself slowing slowing slowing but never stopping, instead you're suddenly moving the other way. And with a sudden snap of the boom, which Birdie slowed by tightening the line that held it, Maggie came around and started her broad reach back to the shoreline.
 
-They'd come far enough out past the back that Birdie was able to head right back to it and beach the ship on the small spit of sand that stood above the water. It was somewhere between tides, which gave them about thirty square feet of somewhat dry land to stand on, though periodically a swell came through large enough to soak their feet as she and Francis stood on the edge of the sand, untangling and prepping the net.
+They'd come far enough out past the back end of the bank that Birdie was able to head right back to it and beach the ship on the small spit of sand that stood above the water. 
 
-If you had looked out from the shore you would have seen two children standing on the water, appearing in fact to walk around their boat, as if out for stroll on the water. Even though Birdie could not see herself that way, she everything around felt similarly magical. It was warm, but not hot. The wind and water together kept them cool in spite of the afternoon sun and sweltering humidity. Birdie took off her skirt, then her shirt, and dove naked into the water, dragging the net behind her with her foot. She slipped under and tried to kick like a mermaid, legs locked together. She surfaced well beyond the bow of the boat, treading water. "Come on Francis! It's so lovely. Oh, it's perfect really." She dove under as he took off his shirt and dove in. Under water everything was silent save the occassion squeeks and pops of shrimp running in the sand somewhere below her. A school of dark, silver-sided fish she could not recognize through the blur of salt water was swimming just beyond where she could touch. She came up for air.
+It was somewhere between tides, which gave them about thirty square feet of soggy sand to stand on. Periodically a swell came through with a wave large enough to soak their feet, but it was protected enough that she and Francis could stand on the edge of the sand and untangle and prep the net.
 
-"I see a school out here. Quick, Francis, tie the net to the stern and we'll drag it out behind us, then circle back. She threw up the anchor and scrambled into the bow. Francis pushed them off the sand and they slipped silently, slowly through the water, Birdie could see the school better from above, she directed him to turn the boat to port, then starboard, and then, when she could tell the net was fully extended she grabbed the boom and pushed it back, against the wind to stop them dead in the water. Here they were enough out of the wind that there were no waves to toss them. They slowed, and then stopped. Francis pointed them into the wind and they both leaned over as watched and the net slowly sank down, startling the fish as it touched them, they darted and shimmered in confusion. "Bring it round." Francis laid the tiller over and Delos slowly turned, catch a breath, then another, and with a snap the sail filled and the boat lept forward, back toward the bank. Birdie scrambled to the stern and looked back to see nearly the whole school of fish caught in the net. She let out a whoop. And looked at Charles. She was so excited she jumped on him and hugged him. 
+If you had looked out from the shore you would have seen two children standing on the water, appearing in fact to walk around their boat, as if out for stroll on the water. Even though Birdie could not see herself that way, everything felt magical to her out here. 
 
-They landed and pulled the net in, there were easily hundreds of fish. They could not even haul it all the way up out of the water. They waded out to inspect it, Birdie knew there was no way they could get their entire catch to shore in Delos, she would have sunk under the weight. Birdie looked at the writhing mass of fish trying to decide how they could divide it up, let some go without losing them all. That was when she noticed a strange line sticking out for the water. It was a slight thing, thin and gray. She had never seen anything quite like it, which was why it took her so long to realize it was a dorsal fin and it was coming straight for Francis faster than Birdie had ever seen a fin move. 
+It was warm, but not hot. The wind and water together kept them cool in spite of the afternoon sun and sweltering humidity. Birdie took off her skirt, then her shirt, and dove naked into the water, dragging the net behind her with her foot. She slipped under and tried to kick like a mermaid, legs locked together. She surfaced well beyond the bow of the boat, treading water. "Come on Francis! It's so lovely. Oh, it's perfect really." She dove under as he took off his shirt and dove in. Under water everything was silent save the occasional squeaks and pops of shrimp running in the sand somewhere below her. A school of dark, silver-sided fish she did not recognize through the blur of salt water was swimming just beyond where she could touch. She came up for air.
+
+"I see a school out here. Quick, Francis, tie the net to the stern and we'll drag it out behind us, then circle back. She threw up the anchor and scrambled into the bow. Francis pushed them off the sand and they slipped silently, slowly through the water, Birdie could see the school better from above, she directed him to turn the boat to port, then starboard, and then, when she could tell the net was fully extended she grabbed the boom and pushed it back, against the wind to stop them dead in the water. They slowed, and then stopped. Francis pointed them into the wind and they both leaned over as watched and the net slowly sank down, startling the fish as it touched them, they darted and shimmered in confusion. "Bring it round." Francis laid the tiller over and Maggie slowly turned, catching a breath, then another, and with a snap the sail filled and the boat leapt forward, back toward the bank. Birdie scrambled to the stern and looked back to see nearly the whole school of fish caught in the net. She let out a whoop. And looked at Charles. She was so excited she jumped up and hugged him. 
+
+They landed and pulled the net in, there were easily hundreds of fish. They could not even haul it all the way up out of the water. They waded out to inspect it, Birdie knew there was no way they could get their entire catch to shore in Maggie, she would have sunk under the weight. Birdie looked at the writhing mass of fish trying to decide how they could divide it up, let some go without losing them all. That was when she noticed a strange line sticking out for the water. It was a slight thing, thin and gray. She had never seen anything quite like it, which was why it took her so long to realize it was a dorsal fin and it was coming straight for Francis faster than Birdie had ever seen a fin move. 
 
 "Francis! Get out! Now!" Birdie dropped the net and ran for the bank. Francis was right behind her, but as Birdie scrambled up on the dry sand she realized the fin was curved, not straight. She started to laugh. At first Francis thought she had played a trick on him, but then teeth closed around his leg and he screamed. 
 
-Fortunately for him, they were not shark teeth, but it took a moment of screaming and terror and panic before either Francis or Birdie realized this, because seeing a curved fin might have made Birdie feel better, but dolphins don't bite. Except this one did. It bit and Francis fell to the sand and it began to drag him back into the water, Birdie grabbed his hands and pulled and Francis kicked the Dolphin gave up and darted off to deeper water. 
+Fortunately for him, they were not shark teeth, but it took a moment of screaming and terror and panic before either Francis or Birdie realized this, because seeing a curved fin might have made Birdie feel better, but dolphins don't bite. Except this one did. It bit and Francis fell to the sand and it began to drag him back into the water, Birdie grabbed his hands and pulled and Francis kicked until the Dolphin gave up and darted off to deeper water. 
 
-The sat panting on the sand, watching the fin trace circles around the boat. 
+They sat panting on the sand, watching the fin trace circles around the boat. 
 
-"Let me see your leg." Birdie went to the boat and pulled on her skirt again, tightening the tkbelt and pulling her knife from her belt. She cut back his pant leg and surveyed the wounds, there were five punctures, none more than a quarter inch across, and none very deep. But there was still plenty of blood and it looked like it would hurt. Birdie felt a wave a fear come over her and she wanted to run away from the blood and the torn flesh and the pain it must have been causing, but she quickly set that aside and went to work. She cut off Francis's pant leg to the knee, and then cut it into strips. She helped him down the water's edge—which was getting closer as the tide came up—and washed out the wounds with salt water. Then she wetted a few of the strips of torn pantleg and wrapped them gently around his leg. She tied to strips together and wrapped that one over the others, gently tying it to help hold everything in place.
+"Let me see your leg." Birdie went to the boat and pulled on her skirt again, and pulled her knife from her belt. She cut back his pant leg and surveyed the wounds, there were five punctures, none more than a quarter inch across, and none very deep. But there was still plenty of blood and it looked like it would hurt. Birdie felt a wave a fear come over her and she wanted to run away from the blood and the torn flesh and the pain it must have been causing, but she quickly set that aside and went to work. She cut off Francis's pant leg to the knee, and then cut it into strips. She helped him down the water's edge—which was getting closer as the tide came up—and washed out the wounds with salt water. Then she wetted a few of the strips of torn pantleg and wrapped them gently around his leg. She tied to strips together and wrapped that one over the others, gently tying it to help hold everything in place.
 
-"That's the best I can do. When we get in we'll go to Kadi's and her grandmother will know something to put on it so it won't get infected." She glanced over that Delos. "Let's get you in the boat."
+"That's the best I can do. When we get in we'll go to Kadi's and her grandmother will know something to put on it so it won't get infected." She glanced over that Maggie. "Let's get you in the boat."
 
 "No, let's deal with the fish first."
 
@@ -829,13 +832,17 @@ Birdie considered it. It was a lot of fish. "Are you sure you're okay?"
 
 "What do we do?" Charles stared at her.
 
-"I don't know." She thought for a minute. They could haul it all in, and risk crushing the dolphin. Or she could cut the net, let the dolphin out, but she'd lose possibly all the fish and she'd have a net to repair. She wondered what her father would do. And then she cut the net. She cut just in front of the baby dolphin, which had already eaten half of the fish in front of it, so there was no thrashing when her knife stabbed that fish. When she had a hole big enough for the dolphin to get out she worked the fish out first, and another came shooting out after it. Then the dolphin kicked once and shot free. It paused and seemed to eye her for a moment. I'm sorry Birdie said softly, staring at its big dark eye. It twitched and disappeared under the boat, out of sight.
+"I don't know." She thought for a minute. They could haul it all in, and risk crushing the dolphin. Or she could cut the net, let the dolphin out, but she'd lose possibly all the fish and she'd have a net to repair. She wondered what her father would do. She signed. She cut the net. She cut just in front of the baby dolphin, which had already eaten half of the fish in front of it, so there was no thrashing when her knife stabbed that fish. When she had a hole big enough for the dolphin to get out she worked the fish out first, and another came shooting out after it. Then the dolphin kicked once and shot free. It paused and seemed to eye her for a moment. I'm sorry Birdie said softly, staring at its big dark eye. It twitched and disappeared under the boat, out of sight.
+
+Birdie tried as best she could to keep the net closed while Francis pulled it into the boat. It took them a good twenty minutes to get it into the boat, but in the end they saved well over half their catch. The ride back into shore was shared with dozens of flopping fish, and once, Birdie thought she saw a dolphin streak by.
+
+After she had helped Francis limp back to their camp, and her father and Tamba had organized a trip upriver to see Kadiatu's family, Birdie came back out the beach to sail Maggie back to her home at her cousin's camp around the north end of the island. She pushed off, but the wind was blowing off shore, forcing her farther out than she wanted. She ended up right back at the bank. She took it as a sign. There was only a small spit of sand still above water, wet sand, but she ran aground on it and climbed out. She looked around for a fin, but saw nothing. A turtle swam by in the shallow water. Birdie sat down on the sand and lay back in the sun, feeling its warmth against the cool of her skin. She felt the chill of the wind as it dried the salty drops of water running down her arm. 
 
-Birdie tried as best she could to keep the net closed while Francis pulled it into the boat. It took them a good twenty minutes to get it into the boat, but in the end they saved well over half their catch. The ride back into shore was shared with six dozen flopping fish, and once, Birdie thought she saw a dolphin streak by.
+She lay back on the sand and closed her eyes, and she immediately felt something strange happening in her body, or to the world around her, she couldn't tell. At first she thought perhaps it was the linger pitch and roll of the boat, which stayed with you even after you got out. But then the whole world seemed to undulate, like a ripple passing through it. 
 
-After she had helped Francis limp back to their camp, and her father and Tamba had organized a trip upriver to see Kadiatu's family, Birdie came back out the beach to sail Delos back to her home at her cousin's camp around the north end of the island. She pushed off, but the wind was blowing off shore, forcing her farther out than she wanted. She ended up right back at the bank. She took it as a sign. There was only a small spit of sand still above water, wet sand, but she ran aground on it and climbed out. She looked around for a fin, but saw nothing. A turtle swam by in the shallow water. Birdie She sat down on the sand and lay back in the sun, feeling its warmth against the cool of her skin. She felt the chill of the wind as it dried the salty drops of water running down her arm. 
+She felt as if she were floating in the water, but she was laying on solid sand. Then it came so suddenly it was terrifying. Something immense and unfathomable washed over her, a presence that stretched through her, encompassing her and everything she had ever known or done in an instant. She was afraid to open her eyes. A voice, no, that was the wrong word, something thought words for her, inside her. She could not understand them, a jumble of words falling in her mind so fast that she could not catch them, could not find the meaning of them, not even the order. She felt as if something massive and uncontrollably wild had seized her up in its arms and was taking her on some wild, frightening, but exhilarating dance. She became afraid again and forced herself to breathed slowly in and then slowly out. As she did this is was like the thing gave up and set her down again. She felt it slipping away. She blurted out, "No! Wait!" She wanted it to stay, it was just too much, too sudden, she wanted to say, give me a minute, but it was already gone, slipping away, the world settled, she opened her eyes and there was the sea, looking as it always did. 
 
-She lay back on the sand and closed her eyes, and she immediately felt something strange happening in her body, or to the world around her, she couldn't tell. At first she thought perhaps it was the linger pitch and roll of the boat, which stayed with you even after you got out. But then the whole world seemed to undulate, like a rippled passing through it. She felt as if she were floating in the water, but she was laying on solid sand. Then it came so suddenly it was terrifying. Something immense and unfathomable washed over her, a presence that stretched through her, encompassing her and everything she had ever known or done in an instant. She was afraid to open her eyes. A voice, no, that was the wrong word, something thought words for her, inside her. She could not understand them, a jumble of words falling in her mind so fast that she could not catch them, could not find the meaning of them, not even the order. She felt as if something massive and uncontrollably wild had seized her up in its arms and was taking her on some wild, frightening, but exhilarating dance. She became afraid again and forced herself to breathed slowly in and then slowly out. As she did this is was like the thing gave up and set her down again. She felt it slipping away. She blurted out, "No! Wait!" She wanted it to stay, it was just too much, too sudden, she wanted to say, give me a minute, but it was already gone, slipping away, the world settled, she opened her eyes and there was the sea, Delos, looking as it always did. She stared out the flat horizon where the sky bled into the blue of the sea. Come back. But nothing happened. She got up, she pushed off and climbed in Delos. She raised the sail and turned the boat toward home.
+She stared out the flat horizon where the sky bled into the blue of the sea. Come back. But nothing happened. She got up, she pushed off and climbed in Maggie. She raised the sail and turned the boat toward the river.
 
 ## Chapter 6: Fire