Broke and Boat Damage:

The storm last until the next morning. Sappoto-san shook me awake.

“Miho-chan!” she whispered. “Miho-chan! Wake up! Wake up!” I slowly fluttered my eyes open.

“Huh? What?” I asked.

“Shhh!” she whispered. “Listen.” I took a moment to do so. I quickly sat up when I realized what had happened.

“The rain’s stopped,” I whispered back. Sappoto-san nodded at me.

“Yes,” she said. I looked around me. Most of the people inside were leaving. Only a small amount still asleep were left. I rose to my feet.

“Let’s go,” I whispered.

“Yes,” Sappoto-san whispered back. Once she got up, we made our way out the shelter. We walked all the way to the dock just like some of the travelers here.

“You think the boat’s okay?” Sappoto-san asked.

“We’ll have to see,” I said. She grabbed onto my hand. This time, I didn’t really seem to mind at all. Might as well, she saw me crying last night. Kind of pointless to ask tough at that point, don’t you think? My eyes strayed back to the clouds many times. The storm could start back up at any time. It doesn’t look like it, but still… I refuse to take chances!

Sappoto-san and I came down to the dock. I nudged her on the shoulder.

“Hey,” I whispered. “Looks like we’re not the only ones with the same idea.” We looked and saw many sailors looking at their boats. We walked along the dock until we came to our boat. I turned to Sappoto-san.

“See if there are any major damages, okay?” I said.

“Okay,” she replied. So, inception began from there. The boat looked decent enough to sail out of here once we got the green light. I might even get home to see Andi at long last.

“Miho-chan!” I heard Sappoto-said call out. I turned and looked over my shoulder.

“What is it?” I asked.

“Look back here!” she yelled. The tone in her voice made me put my hopes on hold. I tried to put on a brave face as I walked over to the back end of the boat.

“What is it?” I asked. I turned my attention and found the developing problem.

“Oh…” I said. The rudder had a huge dent in it. Apparently, a rock or something heavy hit the side of it. As from the scratches to the body and the cracked windshield, the rudder was the only problem. I frowned at the damage.

“Oh,” I said again. Sappoto-san frowned.

“What do we do?” she asked. I tried to stay on the positive side in this moment.

“It not be as bad on board,” I said. “Come on.” Sappoto-san followed me onto the boat. Despite the debris and water everywhere, the inside looked just as the day I rented it. I turned to Sappoto-san.

“Well,” I said. “It’s not that bad. Just needs to be cleaned up a bit and we’ll be on our way.” Sappoto-san could tell that I had my own doubts just by listening to the tone in my voice.

“How long will it take?” she asked. I frowned at that question.

“I have no idea,” I admitted. She gave me an uneasy face. I put up my hands.

“Hey now!” I said. “It might not be that bad to fix. Hang on.” I took out my phone and Googled in the amount it would take to fix our boat. Sappoto-san looked over my shoulder.

“Could you please back up?” I asked as I glanced over at her.

“Sorry,” she whispered. I went back to totaling up the cost. The end result made my jaw drop.

“Shit,” I mumbled.

“What’s wrong?” Sappoto-san asked. I didn’t answer the question and took out my wallet. I counted up the money inside. My face just dropped.

“Shit!” I mumbled. I turned to Sappoto-san. I gave her a nervous chuckle.

“Not good, is it?” she asked.

“Nope!” I said as I closed up my wallet and turned off my phone. I tried to keep smiling.

“Now what?” she asked. I shrugged at her.

“What else?” I asked. “Find work to fix the boat.”

“How do we do that?” Sappoto-san asked.

“Work,” I said.

“Oh…” she mumbled. I pressed my lips together and nodded.

“Yep, yep,” I said. Then, along came some help.

“Hey!” someone yelled at us. Sappoto-san and I looked up to see one of the volunteers from the shelter running towards us, flagging us down. The guy raced over to us. He spoke in really fast Chinese while panting. I put up my hand to cut him off.

“Wait!” I said in English. “We can’t understand you. Can you speak English?” It took a moment for the man to think about my question. He finally understood.

“Oh, sorry about that,” he said back in English. “We are just by the dock talking to the other travelers who need money or their boats fixed.” I kept on my poker face.

“How are you going to help us out?” I asked.

“Follow me,” he said. Sappoto-san and I walked after him further back along the dock.