Track 26 SOS
Track 26
SOS
Matt
Matt lay on the bottom bunk trying again to distract himself from thinking about Maggie. Maggie, who he had just met and who was marrying her best friend. Maggie, who lived five hundred miles away. Maggie, who he felt instantly connected to, like something out of a movie. Maggie, who was gingerly tossing and turning on the bed above him. He squeezed his eyes tight, trying to push her from his mind. Within seconds she made that impossible, leaning her torso over and dangling off the bed like a teenager. It made him laugh. This girl was freaking adorable.
“You up?” she asked.
“Nope.”
“Ha ha. What are you thinking about?”
“Nothing,” he lied.
She pulled herself back up, and Matt could feel her resume her tossing and turning. No more than a minute later, her head was dangling in front of him again. He laughed some more and asked:
“What are you thinking about, Maggie?”
“Funny you should ask. I’m thinking that maybe they’re not such a crazy family after all. Maybe that scene on the roof was just a one-off thing? I mean, have you ever witnessed my birth mother swearing from a rooftop before?”
“I can’t say that I have.”
“I had such a nice time with her tonight. She fed me from a spoon, and I almost told her right then and there.”
“She fed you from a spoon? Did she do it choo-choo train style or like an airplane?”
“Don’t be silly. Oooh. All the blood is rushing to my head.”
She pulled herself back up but kept talking.
“I feel awful about lying to her. I hate the thought of doing this all over again tomorrow.”
“We won’t be here tomorrow, remember?” said Matt, reminding her of the lightning-fast tour of New York they had planned. “Let’s see how we both feel after a day away.”
“I think I’ve made up my mind. If it’s OK with you, I’m gonna stay back tomorrow and tell her. I’d rather it not take away from the wedding and I’m feeling confident that the big drama was a one-off thing.”
While saying it, she glanced out the window.
“Look outside!” she said, clearly alarmed.
In the light of the moon, they spotted Beatrix darting down the street, zigzagging between people’s yards like a lunatic.
“What the…?”
“On second thought, taking some time off tomorrow to reflect on it all might be smart,” she said uncertainly.
Before they had time to figure out what Bea was up to, a long blasting alarm sounded outside. The noise seemed to fill the whole island.
“What’s that?” asked Maggie, her body now rigid with apprehension.
“It’s not good,” Matt replied. “One long alarm usually means someone’s in trouble.”
He got out of bed and opened his door to see Jake running down the hall, hastily pulling on his jacket.
“What’s going on?”
“Possible ocean drowning.”
“Do you need help?”
“More eyes can’t hurt.”
Maggie slid off the top bunk and followed Matt and Jake downstairs. Dylan emerged from her room and came into the kitchen, wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
“Possible ocean drowning,” Matt reported. He only recalled one other instance like this in the middle of the night, and it didn’t end well.
“Do you think it’s Veronica?” Maggie asked cautiously.
All their faces turned to her in fear.
They knew she wasn’t at the dinner party, and that Bea hadn’t been sure where she was.
“We just saw Bea running up and down the street in a panic,” Matt informed the others.
“Oh my God,” Renee said, appearing in the kitchen just in time to hear Matt’s words.
“Everyone calm down,” Jake insisted before passing out flashlights. “Dylan, Matt, and Maggie, come with me. Renee, please go over to Shep’s and see what’s going on there. Bring your phones so we can connect.”
“Should I wake Steve?” Dylan asked the group.
Their answer, a resounding “No.”
Maggie and Matt ran back upstairs.
“Do you really think she could have drowned?”
“I highly doubt it. She’s probably asleep on the beach somewhere.”
“Would it be wrong to note that you definitely have the more popular wedding date?”
Matt threw her a sweatshirt and pulled one over his head.
“Just put this on,” he laughed, secretly satisfied that she spoke the truth.
Instinctively, Maggie reached for her phone. “Oh no! I left my phone charging at the hotel. Where is my brain?”
“We’ll get it later. Come on.”
Outside they slammed right into Bea, who collapsed in tears in Renee’s arms.
“I killed her. She drowned herself.”
“Take her home. She’s hysterical,” Jake instructed Renee. Maggie instinctively reached out to Bea and hugged her, and Bea sobbed on her shoulder. Jake switched things up. “Maggie, go with Renee and Bea. Dylan, you go with Matt.”
Within minutes, a chopper from the Marine Bureau was overhead, its enormous floodlight searching the vast ocean. Jake headed west and sent Matt and Dylan east. It was cool and dark. They linked arms and searched the shore with their flashlights.
After an hour of looking, they retraced their steps and rested in front of the dunes near their home block. The helicopter was still following the shoreline, while in the distance two police boats were scouring the ocean.
“It’s OK to rest,” Dylan said, “but we should try to stay awake.”
Matt had no idea how they would stay awake. The adrenaline that had fueled the first hour of their search had now faded. It felt like coming down after a sugar high.
A few minutes in, Dylan spoke.
“Hazmat?” she asked, in homage to her childhood nickname for him.
“Yes, Dyl pickle,” he responded in kind.
“Remember the summer we tried to stay awake on the beach to see the Red Moon?”
“Yes, we didn’t make it—we were, like, twelve.”
“We played that Oreo hand game over and over till our palms were chafed to stay awake.”
“I remember.”
“The game or playing it?”
“Both.”
“Me too.”
After a minute more, Dylan asked, “Would it be wrong to play it now, under these circumstances?”
“Not if it helps us stay awake.”
Dylan crossed her legs and turned to face him. He did the same. And they began, as if that Red Moon were yesterday.
“Do you know exactly how to eat an Oreo? Well, to do it, you unscrew it, very fast, ’cause the kid who eats the middle of an Oreo first can save the chocolate cookie outside for last!”
They messed up a little with the hand motions, causing Dylan to insist they do it again. After four times they got it down perfectly, and even under the awful circumstances, they both crashed down into the sand laughing.
“We did make it to see the lunar eclipse—remember that?” Matt asked, after calming down.
“That was awesome,” Dylan replied, both of them now lying flat on their backs, staring at the moon.
The somberness of the situation sank back in.
“Do you think we should stay, or go back to the house?” Matt asked.
“I think we should stay here at ground zero. You know my dad is very into respecting orders.”
He remembered how Dylan had to say, “May I be excused?” before leaving the dinner table as a kid.
“I hate lying here thinking the worst,” Matt said sadly.
“I’ll distract you. So, Maggie’s nice,” she said. “Are you two serious?”
“I just met her at the Salty Pelican two nights ago.”
He let out an audible sigh of relief. Matt had never been much of a liar.
“Shut up! OMG! You two have such chemistry, I was jealous!”
“There’s nothing to be jealous about. Also, she’s engaged!”
“Engaged?”
“Yes, to her childhood best friend, in Ohio. Could have been us,” he laughed.
“No offense, but I’m glad it worked out this way,” she said, rolling on her side to face him.
“Remember,” she added, “before we dreamt about getting in each other’s pants, we dreamt about being brother and sister.”
She reminded him about the time the two of them, aged seven or eight, went running around the ball field in early spring, blowing on wishing weeds and shouting to the heavens, “We wish we were brother and sister!” Dylan laughed at the memory.
“On Saturday we will be,” Matt said.
“I know, I’m so glad we’re on the same page. I was worried we wouldn’t be. That’s kind of why I brought Steve.” She buried her face in her hands. When she removed them, her cheeks were bright red.
“Are you telling me that Steve is a fake boyfriend too?”
“Not exactly. We have been dating on and off for a few months. But I only brought him to the wedding as a buffer.”
“Oh my God, we should really talk more,” Matt laughed.
“We should.” She reached out her pinky and he looped his around hers as they had dozens of times before. The moment felt deep, until Dylan broke the mood.
“I really need to pee.”
“Run back to the house.”
“?’Kay, I’ll be right back.”
Sometime during her absence, he fell asleep.