Page 113 of Goldilocks

Eric pulled back from Sam, opening his mouth.

“Don’t say a word about not being hungry. We’re eating. All of us, and then we’re going to sleep for a few days,” Ivan said before Eric could get a word in. “There’s a breakfast roll for each of us.” Ivan offered the basket to Eric, then toed off his runners and socks and sat beside Eric. Eric opened the picnic basket.

Sam wasn’t hungry. Not until the smell of the breakfast meats reached his nose. After that, he was ravenous. He took one of the rolls and surprised himself by devouring the entire thing. And once it was in his stomach, keeping his eyes open was no longer an option. With a sigh, Sam lay back on the boards, the cool wood beneath his head grounding him. Roan swam over so that he was lined up with his head and then a warm hand enclosed over Sam’s.

As Sam drifted off, he heard Eric’s worried voice ask, “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” Ivan said. “He’s a tough cookie. He just needs to rest, same as you.”

He heard crying and Ivan’s voice, soothing and steady, full of reassurances and platitudes, and in his half-asleep state, Sam vowed to stop picking fights with Ivan.

Chapter Forty-One

It took weeks to sort everything out. Sam recovered physically, his dyslexia stopped being an unholy nightmare and returned to something manageable again and his headaches lessened considerably. But no matter how often Adonis healed his head, the memories didn’t come back, which left Sam wondering how long that ghoul had been feasting on them all. When did it get in the boat? When did it move to the house?

“Ready?” Eric asked.

Sam retreated from his thoughts with a nod. He was docked in his usual spot, the boat as clean as he could possibly get it, and his dad was meandering his way down the walkway, stopping to talk to everyone as he went. The local fishermen had delayed them an hour now, eager to talk to Oisín, who they hadn’t seen in years.

The crowd hadn’t dissipated at all, but Ivan was urging Oisín along, his voice calling out. “We’re going to be late, sorry, guys!”

His dad went easily with Ivan’s urging. He wore oilskins and boots, the same size that fitted Sam fitted him now that he was older and had lost much of the weight of his middle age. His hair was grey, occasional strands of red mixed in, and his face was covered in old sunspots and laugh lines, evidence that though Sam didn’t recall it happening recently, his dad was a man who used to laugh often.

Sam forced himself not to think dark thoughts and smiled as his dad reached them. “I’m ready to go,” he said.

Oisín peered at the boat, staring for a long time at the painted hull. It was chipped now. Wearing away at the waterline, and despite the fact that Roan cleaned the hull every day – Sam had caught him doing it several times – it was beginning to fade. That was fine, though. Sam knew it would fade. He had always planned on doing a new mural when it did.

Sam stepped on board and then offered out his hand to Oisín. “Steady,” he cautioned.

Oisín accepted the help. Eric helped Ivan, and by the time they were all onboard, Oisín was stepping out of the cabin, asking where the other life jackets were. There were only two. Oisín point-blank refused to let them disembark, and Sam trotted down the dock and asked to borrow two from his neighbour, who laughed about Oisín still being a stickler for the rules.

Oisín didn’t say much of anything to either Eric or Ivan, but he fussed at Sam, tightening the straps on his life jacket and smoothing out his all-weather coat beneath it.

“Where are the pots set?” Oisín asked.

The pots were a subterfuge. An excuse to get his dad out here without him worrying in confusion. “I have it marked out. They’re over in Curlew Bay,” Sam said. “There’s only five set, mind, so we shouldn’t take too long.”

“Curlew?” Oisín frowned. “Not much there worth catching. Ah, but look, don’t mind it. We’ll reset them.”

“Do you want to drive?” Sam asked, since his grasp of the basics seemed intact. Oisín nodded and, without any help, started the engine and got them moving in the right direction. Three figures swam in the bay, and as Fionn waved at them from a distance, the two others dove underwater.

Sam studied the water as they slowed to the first pot, spotting three mermen swimming about underwater. Eric and Ivan stood to one side, and Sam stayed on the opposite to keep the boat balanced. Eric pulled in the first pot, teaching Ivan how to do it, and Oisín emerged from the cabin to watch.

The pot came out of the water.

“Uh…” Eric said.

“That’s good, right?” Ivan asked.

“The migration patterns have changed,” Oisín said thoughtfully.

Sam peered around Ivan’s back to see, and a bark of laughter erupted from him. It waspacked. Jammed full of the biggest lobsters Sam had ever seen. He leaned over the railing and saw Roan right beneath the waterline. Sam grinned at him.

Bee and Dew obviously joined in on the fun because on the fifth and final pot there were all sorts of fish and shells forced into the pot, and Sam saw Roan chasing them away. When Ivan tactfully asked for a lesson from Oisín about inspecting the lobsters, Sam took over in the cabin and pointed them in the direction of The Tear.

They had debated the issue, but lacking a house and not wanting to overstay the welcome at his aunt’s place, Sam came to a decision. The flat wasn’t big enough for all of them. The house was gone. Even if they poured money into rebuilding, Sam had no desire to ever live on that plot ever again. He’d rather plant trees and leave it to the robins. Ivan offered his place in the city, but even as he said it, Sam reckoned he knew that wasn’t an option. Sam needed the ocean, and he wasn’t letting Oisín go where he couldn’t mind him.

That left Roan. Roan and his wonderful home that Sam knew his dad would adore. And he knew that it would be safe there. For Oisín. For himself. Convincing Eric wasn’t hard. Sam just told him it was what he wanted and Eric caved. Eric’s willingness to fold, when Sam simplyasked,was a recurring pattern. The only resistance he ever encountered was when Ivan happened to be within earshot and noticed Sam’s one-sided victories and had something to say about it.