A Passage I Love

"The net had just closed and they were starting to purse when the boat lurched. The sea was rough that day. Pretty high. Cleet had been at the bow, the others at the stern, so they couldn't say exactly how many minutes passed before they realized he was in the water. They'd sent the skiff over immediately; the coast guard was there within twenty minutes or so... The man giving her the news stopped talking after a while, or Raney stopped hearing him. Even by the next day the conversation seemed vague as a fading dream--someone else's nightmare, surely. She remembered asking the man about a survival suit, or a life jacket--was Cleet wearing one? He'd rushed to say the captain had made them wear some new, high-tech jackets--CO2 cartridge that inflated if you went over. Gave one to every man, it was that rough. But a survival suit? No--only if the boat was in danger. Then he'd licked his lips and taken a minute to think. She could see his mind turning, weighing, almost stopping himself before he said they'd found all the jackets on board though, in the end. She remembered leaning forward with her elbows on her knees and her forehead on her fists, concentrating like he was telling her the last secret code to save the world and it was her job to memorize it, only it was coming out in a language she couldn't understand." -Gemini, Carol Cassella