DoG

The life he’d led before the voyage faded into the background. This is exactly what Culann had been hoping for, and he owed it all to the orb.

Culann drank hard. The exertion of the last few weeks plus the nerve-wracking encounters with the Captain left him exhausted. It felt good to relax. He reveled in the curious esteem in which the Orthrus men now held him. They repeatedly toasted his courage and ingenuity, so he made frequent returns to the keg, always careful to speak courteously to Alistair, who showed no signs of holding a grudge. The burly barman was all smiles beside his wife, Julia, a sturdy-looking woman with camel-blond hair that ran down to her shoulders, and his boy, Marty, a mop-headed six-year-old wearing an oversized t-shirt that hung from his bony shoulders. The only child on the island, Marty appeared content to chase the many dogs around the picnic grounds. Other than Alistair, there was no one Culann felt any need to impress, especially since the few women in attendance were married and at least ten years too old for him.

And then he saw her.

She wore cut-off jeans that revealed long legs tanned by the eternal Alaska summer sun. Small, firm breasts pushed against a tight tanktop. Her crow-black hair was pulled back in a ponytail that accentuated her delicate neck. A few freckles dusted her pert little nose, and red lips curled up into a beguiling smile. She was beautiful. He had to go talk to her. He ran his fingers through his hair and headed towards her.

“She’s fifteen, Culann,” Frank said. “And she’s Gus’s daughter.”

“Oh, shit.”

“Stay away from her, pervert!”

Gus charged over from across the tent. He jabbed his right index finger in the air for effect. Culann held his hands up and stepped back a few feet. As Frank turned to intercept the enraged first mate, Culann spun around and headed back to the keg.

“What the hell is that?” Gus said when he saw the orb circulating through the crowd. “You bastards stole that thing.”

“Don’t worry about it,” McGillicuddy said with a slight slur. “That prick won’t know it’s missing.”

“Like hell,” Gus replied. “He’ll be on my ass about this, you better believe it. Give me that thing.”

Boos rained down on Gus as he yanked the orb from Margaret’s hands. The crew was still upset at being sent home early and wasn’t pleased to see Gus continue to take the Captain’s position. But no one tried to stop him either. The chain of command seemed to hold, even on dry land.

Worner elbowed Culann in the ribs and winked. Culann was sober enough to understand that they were just going to have to go steal the orb back from Gus. He took a drink and hoped they could wait until tomorrow.

2

When they’d arrived, country music had blared out of two large speakers set up on either side of the tent. Now only static came out. Worner tried to fix it, but he proved to be as skilled a repairman as he was a paramedic. Someone brought out another radio, but it too got only static. McGillicuddy surmised a power outage in Fairbanks which shut down all of the radio stations. The celebration continued without the benefit of music, and no one seemed to mind.

Culann spent the evening under the beer tent, casting periodic glances towards Gus’s daughter. Frank spent his night keeping Culann away from her and Gus away from Culann. As Culann drank, he grew bolder. Gus stood firmly at his daughter’s side, never once taking his eyes off of the greenhorn.

“Come on,” Frank said with exasperation. “Let’s take a walk.”

Culann had gotten drunk. He stumbled as they passed out of the picnic grounds and on to a trail into the woods, but Frank caught him. Frank swallowed his beer in one draught and tossed his cup aside.

“Just a peck on the top of the head, huh?” Frank said.

“What?”

“What really happened with Kat DeLuca?”

“It happened just like I said it did,” he replied before pausing to take a drink. “I just left out part of the story.”

“Well, you better tell me the whole story before Gus stabs you.”

“Okay. After I left DeLuca’s, Vic DeLuca called the police. They came by and asked me some questions, but at this point I hadn’t really done anything wrong. There’s no law against kissing a girl on top of the head. They just told me to stay away from Kat and Vic, which was fine with me, and they left me alone.

“So legally speaking, I had nothing to worry about. But after calling the police, Vic called my principal. What I had done was not illegal, but it was definitely unprofessional. The school has to be very careful about these kinds of things. So within about two hours of leaving DeLuca’s, I received a call from the principal telling me I was suspended pending an investigation. I wasn’t too concerned since I really hadn’t done anything, and they were still paying me while I was suspended.

“So basically it was just an extension of spring break. I obviously couldn’t go to DeLuca’s and thought it best to lay low while this thing blew over, so I stayed home and drank alone. I know there are more constructive things to do with my time, but I figured that under the circumstances, getting drunk by myself would at least keep me out of trouble. So that’s what I did for the next three days. Everything would have been fine, except…”

“Except what?”

“Kat DeLuca stopped by. She said she felt bad about what had happened. She said she told the principal that I hadn’t done anything wrong, but her dad was still pressuring the district to fire me.”

“You let her into her house?”

“Yes. In hindsight it was pretty stupid, but it was raining, and it seemed silly to stand out in the rain for appearance’s sake when there was no one watching. Plus I was drunk.”

“So what happened?”

“She kissed me.”

“You sure you didn’t kiss her?”

“Honestly, I didn’t. She initiated. But I didn’t stop her and I…”

“You what?”

“I had sex with her.”

Before he’d said this, Culann hadn’t realized how guilty he’d felt for hiding the truth from Frank. Even though it was alcohol that loosened his tongue, a surge of relief flooded through Culann. He was foolish to have thought he could achieve absolution without confession.

“Jesus, Culann. You can go to jail for that, you know.”

“It was a moment of weakness. I told her we couldn’t ever do that again, and we didn’t.”

“Did she tell on you?”

“No, she didn’t. But her dad had hired a private investigator to watch me. He got video footage of her coming into my house and then leaving half-an-hour later. Kat found out about it and called me. I left town before the police came back, which was only a matter of time.”

“So all of this ‘I’m-not-a-pervert-stuff’ has been bullshit.”

“You can think what you want, Frank, but it was an isolated incident.”

“Oh, yeah? Then how come I have to just about tackle you to keep you away from Gus’s daughter?”

“I’m not going to do anything to her. Is there something wrong with striking up a conversation with the only person here who’s not a smelly old fisherman?”

“You are so full of shit, Culann. I thought this whole thing was supposed to be some sort of therapy for you. You were talking about doing ‘something big’ so you could put all this behind you. But the minute we get to shore, you’re drunk off your ass and chasing after the only underage girl within a hundred miles. You haven’t changed at all.

This has all been bullshit.”

Culann didn’t respond. Frank was right. Culann had proved something to himself by surviving the voyage and wresting the orb away from the Captain. He’d proved that he was tougher than he’d thought and that he was not just bright, but clever. But so what?