The Stranger in the Lifeboat

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ourselves. An invisible shield had been shattered. Death had paid its first
visit.
“Where’s her body?” Lambert said.
I don’t know why he asked that. It was obvious.
“The Lord told me her soul was gone,” Jean Philippe rasped.
“Wait. He told you to throw her over the side? Your own wife?”
“Stop it, Jason!” Mrs. Laghari barked.
“You dumped her in the ocean?”
“Shut up, Jason!” Yannis snapped.
Lambert sat back, smirking.
“Some God,” he cracked.
This evening, when the sun went down, a group of us were sitting outside the
canopy. Nightfall brings fear. It also brings us closest together, as if we are
huddled against an invader none of us can see. Tonight, with Bernadette’s
absence, we seemed particularly vulnerable. A long time passed without a
peep from any of us.
Finally, out of the blue, Yannis began to sing.
Hoist up the John B’s sails
See how the main sail sets …
He stopped and looked around. The rest of us exchanged glances but said
nothing. Nina offered a feeble smile. Yannis let it go. His voice is highpitched
and warbly, not something you want to listen to for long anyhow.
But then Nevin shifted to his elbows. He coughed once and said, “If you’re
gonna sing it, lad, sing it correctly.”
He lifted his neck. I could see his protruding Adam’s apple. He cleared his
throat and sang.
Hoist up the John B’s sails
See how the main sail sets …
Mrs. Laghari took the next line.
Call for the captain ashore
Let me go home …