Chapter Twenty-Three: Part Two
When their discussion turned to New Day, Madison said to the girls, ‘You are going to see a true spectacle this weekend. The Race, where the sea and lagoon meet, is a long, deep channel in a granite canyon, and the force of the racing water has to be seen to be believed. Even on the smallest neap tides, there is still a huge current between the lagoon and sea. In these early autumn evenings, we have blooms of bioluminescent plankton. They glow when agitated and they all light up in the Race’s flow. It is like a giant river of sparks. Even here around the rocks, you will see them glow with every little wave.’
Rick added, ‘A lot of us used to ride the Race when the water flow is at its slowest, which is still around seven knots, forty seconds end to end. The practice was banned by the Elders a couple of years back when we lost Rocha to sharks in dirty water and Guillermo drowned after hitting a rock deep underwater in the same month.’
‘Did you do it?’ Kate asked Rick.
Madison spoke out with clear dislike, indicating Mason was very much included in her comments. ‘They both did. I hated it. The Race is a deep rocky fracture over twenty metres deep and a hundred and thirty-five metres from end to end. It is sheer granite on both sides and does three sharp bends. If someone doesn’t swim into exactly the right spot, they get sucked into a vortex, long horizontal eddies like underwater tornados. Nobody can swim well enough to get out of one until it breaks up at the next turn. The last time they did it, the water was fast and Rick and JC got caught under turn one. It was ages before they came up half way past the next bend. I died a little that day, I am sure of it.’
‘What was it like? What happened?’ Kate asked Rick, glancing apologetically to Madison.
‘JC and I were following Pedro, from the Race. He used to play in the race all the time, and swims as if he’s part fish. He was leading the way and showing us exactly where we needed to be. If you hit it right, it’s like the coolest water-park ride in the world. Well this day, a whole tree must have been underwater and dug end-on into the bottom right below us, just as we were entering the start of the faster water. Suddenly we’re swimming in the monster’s upper branches. We just swam like crazy to get clear of the tree before we hit the bend and were way out of position. We linked arms, tucked our heads into each other’s stomachs and kept our legs up, feet out. It offers the best protection. Pedro always had everyone rehearse it, every time, with breath-hold, before he’d lead anyone into the running water. We were folded under, probably about seven or eight metres down, spinning and rolling in the vortex. We were most worried about meeting that tree again, not the water or the Race itself.’
Madison grunted in the universal sound of a mother’s disapproval.
Rick smiled at her and continued. ‘All we had to do was focus on doing what we needed to do. We can both hold our breath for a minute and a half easily when we’re spear fishing. Survival in any situation is almost always about not panicking. We had plenty of breath to make it right to the sea if need be. The next turn, the water folded back and we popped up right next to Dad. He just said something like, “You should have seen Dom’s face when you went under boys!”’
Dom grunted self-consciously and shuffled in his seat.
Mason continued for Rick. ‘Dom popped up in the wash, where the current meets the sea. He’d swum down after them, riding the vortices all the way to the sea to make sure they weren’t down there.’
‘Never mind he could have gotten brained on a rock without a buddy, or been caught up in that tree,’ Madison said with an edge to her voice.
‘We had discussed contingencies and were prepared, darling,’ Mason said to his wife. ‘Uncle, Pedro and others regularly swam the whole Race underwater at peak flow. It is twenty seconds start to finish at that speed and if you stay sharp, the ride is pretty safe. The boys had the smarts to do it and I knew it. Poor Dom lost it a little bit though.’
‘I saw Maddi’s face. There was no way I was swimming out of there if they didn’t,’ Dom said. Everyone knew he’d been scared for the boys. It was one of the few times that anyone could remember Dom reacting without thinking.
‘Edison was in it too, no doubt?’ Kate asked.
Madison snorted. ‘Now you know who first suggested it. Edison and Dom both came up with it at the, ahem, same time. Every male there took it as a personal challenge.’
‘Which it was, Mother,’ Rick said gently.
‘I rarely worried about you when you were goodness knows where doing God only knows what in the service, but that day I was terrified. I was terrified every damn time you did it. It was cruel to even tell me.’
Kate looked at Madison and said, ‘I understand exactly what you mean. I can’t imagine how nerve wracking that must have been for you all. I’m surprised Juanita didn’t kick up enough of a fuss to stop Edison and JC doing it.’
Mason laughed and Rick chuckled. Kate saw Juanita’s ears turning uncharacteristically red and Madison smiled resignedly. ‘She was first in!’
‘And first through. She rode the last eddy on purpose to beat Pedro. She’d have been a hell of a jumper,’ Mason said, his son’s grunt affirming his thought.
Dom added proudly, ‘Our commanding officer put a Regimental Beret on her once she’d healed enough to put it on. He gave her a full passing-out ceremony in front of the whole regiment.’ Juanita looked uncharacteristically small when the girls looked to her at that moment.
Mason added, ‘Officially, that never happens. Only twice, ever, have ‘civilians’ received one of those berets. Both times with the full regimental crest and combat ribbon. The other was a retired colonel who made a huge difference on another island a long time ago. It is a mark of respect for those who fought honourably and ably alongside the Regiment. Only one of our own gets to receive that beret. Nita was the first woman, and is still the only civilian, included on the Regimental Honours List.’
Smiling at Juanita, Dom said proudly, ‘She earned it and deserved it. Nita never put it on again, but it’s in a case right next to Edison’s and Edward’s. Although it was way too big for him, JC was given an un-crested beret that same day. It was the same one he wore when he took the regiment’s colours.’ The girls could hear the croak in Dom’s recollection.
The discussion halted as JC and Edison drove in, their overloaded buggy crowded with the latest arrivals as the boats from shore started arriving. More boats were coming and JC took the buggy back to collect the next group. After they had met the new arrivals, Maria said to the girls, ‘If you are going to freshen up, now is probably the time, things are about to get noisy.’ Everyone agreed and broke for their respective cabins. Arm in arm, Kate and Rick strolled down the eastern path to the cabin that had been his the last time they were here.