V. Every Day Is a Winding Road

An hour later we were on said jet ski. We went over the safety drill with the operator, the death stares from my sisters and the look of concern from my parents as we took off into Wolf Bay. My parents followed us, but I didn’t wait for them. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone except myself. It was as close to being on a motorcycle with a woman as I had ever been up to that point.
We passed under the bridge connecting the island to the mainland, which was a ‘no wake’ zone.
“How fast does this go?” Skye yelled.
“Sixty-five!”
“Let’s do it! We have life jackets on!”
We were then in the Gulf of Mexico
“You sure?”
“Make it so!” Skye wrapped her arms around my vest the best she could due their sizes.
I pulled back on the throttle and we took off into the ocean.

The water was choppy and, for a split-second, the thought of flipping over crossed my mind but we smashed through the waves and piloted the wave runner deeper into the gulf.
“Mind if I try?” Skye asked.
“Fine by me,” I replied with the utmost optimism but I thoughts that we were both going to die.
I powered the runner down, removed the key from my wrist and gave it to her. She strapped it to her and then we performed a small dance to rearrange ourselves on the craft.
“Okay how do I turn this on?”
“Put the release key in the slot.”
“Okay.”
“Flip the key to on.”
“Gotcha.”
“Push start.”
“And we are alive!”
The engine fired up and I put my arms around Skye, trying my best to not grab onto her too much. However, she pushed back onto me so I inched closer.
We took off and were soon at full acceleration.

Those feelings that we were going to die faded away. Skye could bank it so we were close to flying off and it didn’t bother me at all—it felt like a rush of adrenaline spiked with a double shot of espresso, at least until the waverunner died.
“I think we’re out of gas,” Skye said as she flipped the switch again.
“Shouldn’t be. It was a full tank.”
“Sorry,” she replied with a very afraid tone.
“It’s nothing,” I replied. “At least I didn’t say it.”
“Sounds like a bad plot device.”
“It is, but it can happen,” I replied as I looked around us: we were very far out into the water.
“Happened to you before?”
“No, but here we are.”
“Yeah.”
“Actually, this is kind of like how I want to start a book. Future time, everything covered in water.”
“Like ‘Waterworld’?” Skye asked as she unbuckled her life vest. I was going to say something but I admit I was in awe as I was able to see a glimpse of her skin beneath the t-shirt.
“Something tropical, Caribbean, maybe.”
“Okay.”
“And the heroine is out on the water, approaching an inland when she sees this guy running for his life—from a pack of zombies.”
“On a tropical island?”
“The mystery on how they get there is a part of the plot. Anyway, he’s also a zombie, but he looks normal.”
“So we’re talking magical zombies and not nuclear or the ‘Resident Evil’ type?”
“Yes.”
“Does the girl have like necromancer powers?”
“Necro what?”
“A spell caster. He can bring people back from the dead. I read this book about a necromancer sho is just about to understand his powers and he inadvertently brings this guy back to life. The guy doesn’t know who he is, but he had a dark death.”
“Maybe I should include some kind of witch doctor who has a zombie hired hand of her own?”
“Actually, That’s kind of who his mentor is.”
“Who wrote this story?”
Skye turned to the beach, leaned towards me and then slipped into the water.
I contemplated whether or not to just sit on the runner and scream for her or to jump into the ocean. I unclimbed my vest and jumped in after her.
Of course, I couldn’t see a thing and I could only grope around in the water. It was only after I was in the water that I realized that it wasn’t a good idea as the current could have stepped both of us out further into the gulf
The life preservers were nowhere to be seen.
That, and the damage deposit on the runner was almost a thousand dollars.
Also, it was not how I wanted the day to end.
I surfaced and found myself on the other side of the water craft.
“Skye!”
“Spencer!”
“Where are you?”
“Where are you?”

I swam to the vehicle to see Skye’s hand grab onto the seat. I moved around it and tried to help her up but I only ended looking I was trying to grope at her. She leaned over the controls and gave a deep breath.
“You okay?”
“Yeah, just. Just. I think I swallowed some water. I have the key still, she said as she raised her arm.
“Great,” I replied as I pulled myself up onto the side.
Skye sat up and turned to me. “I feel stupid.”
“If it will make you feel better, I’ll roll off the side here.”
“It might make me feel better, maybe.”
“Okay, here goes.”
“No! No, it may be a good idea if we just start paddling I guess. Do you want to look at it?”
I shrugged my shoulders and then we danced around each other to return to our original seating positions. I looked at the console and saw nothing that would be a problem.
Skye handed the key over. I stepped it to my wrist, placed the key back in and tried to start the engine.
It roared to life in one push.
“You got it!”
“Luck?” I asked.
“We must have a few mermaids around us,” Skye replied as she wrapped her around my waist.