Rocky Island Read Online Free Page A

the bedroom, she began to get up.
    “Will you make some coffee, honey?” she asked. “I’m going to have a shower. Then I’ll have to call my mother.”
    “She will know by now, or at least very soon. I called Reverend Campbell. I don’t know whether the chopper can stop in to pick you up and take you to Yarmouth today or not. They’re out searching.”
    Allison nodded, but said nothing and disappeared into the bathroom. The water started running in the shower. An artesian drilled well not far from the house provided a good source of water, hard, but drinkable and in good supply so that there was no special need to take care to conserve the supply.
    Toby didn’t listen to the conversation between mother and daughter, but he saw that Allison was crying when she came out to the kitchen, not the great racking sobs she had had earlier, but tears that welled up in her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She reached for a tissue and then another. She sat down at the table and sipped from the mug of coffee Toby had poured for her.
    “How was your mother?”
    “Shocked. Upset. About what you would expect. Apparently Dad went out early in the morning, planning to be back by mid afternoon, but he didn’t make it.”
    “Must have had an engine failure or else the storm arrived at wherever he was fishing quite a while before it got here.”
    “Could he have got into a raft in an immersion suit?”
    “I hope so. We’ll just have to wait and see.”
    Toby turned on the kitchen radio, set it to the South Shore radio station to get the latest news. The storm was the lead story and the newscaster said that three boats were reported missing and that a Liberian-registered freighter had been damaged and was awaiting a tow to Halifax. There were several planes from the air force in the air searching for wreckage and possible crew members, either survivors or bodies. When the news was over, Toby left the radio on, but turned the volume way down. He and Allison didn’t need rock music right then.
    Somehow, they got through the day. There was no word, either good or bad. Allison didn’t want to leave the house in case somebody contacted them with news. Late in the morning, Toby put the windmill back into operation and shut down the diesel. All he found when he walked around the island was more driftwood. The waves were beginning to slacken in height and intensity and the sun was attempting to shine through the rapidly thinning overcast. He made lunch of ham and tomato sandwiches, but neither was hungry. He offered to prepare supper, but neither really wanted food and finally, about ten o’clock they went to bed. He held his wife in his arms as usual, stroking and kissing her hair, until she finally drifted off to sleep. It took Toby a couple of hours before he also fell asleep but the sleep was fitful. When it was finally daylight, he got up without disturbing Allison and went to the lighthouse as usual to shut off the light, and then proceeded on his daily tour of the island, hoping without success to find more debris from The Smitty II .
    He kept himself busy with small chores throughout the morning, checking on Allison several times. She was coping better this morning than she had been doing yesterday as the idea of her father’s probable death sunk in. She didn’t talk much, but she did smile the second time he entered the kitchen where she was sitting by the radio.
    “I love you Toby,” she said, getting up and coming to him. He hugged her tightly. “Thank you for being understanding.”
    He had no words to offer. He kissed her, held her for several minutes, then returned to whatever he could find to do outside. She went to the satellite phone and called her mother. That was a mistake. Irene was not taking the news well.
    About four o’clock in the afternoon, the sound of the approaching helicopter brought both Toby and Allison out to the landing pad. The chopper was flying in from the east and the fact that it was preparing