#chapter fifty-six

Everything was practically ready when Peter and Chloë arrived, bearing gifts and photos and a couple of bottles of wine. They drank the wine and ate the food, laughing and catching up as they did so. Chloë had put the photos onto a digital frame so that they could flip through them like a photo album, and as Amber looked through them, Peter and Chloë told them about their trip, referring to the photos as their story itinerary. Mattie heard the story behind each photo Amber looked at, and Peter and Chloë took turns describing the events and situations in the pictures.

Everything was practically ready when Peter and Chloë arrived, bearing gifts and photos and a couple of bottles of wine. They drank the wine and ate the food, laughing and catching up as they did so. Chloë had put the photos onto a digital frame so that they could flip through them like a photo album, and as Amber looked through them, Peter and Chloë told them about their trip, referring to the photos as their story itinerary. Mattie heard the story behind each photo Amber looked at, and Peter and Chloë took turns describing the events and situations in the pictures.

Amber poured another glass of wine for everyone, and Peter rolled a joint to smoke before they cleared the table and headed inside to continue looking at the photos and telling stories. Mattie was enjoying their tales from the road, and he loved how much he laughed when he was with Peter, Chloë, and his sister. He’d missed the couple for the weeks they had been away, and he realised how much he relied on Peter’s friendship.

Amber and Chloë, discussing Amber’s new flame, went to the kitchen to make coffee and tea, and Peter and Mattie settled into a relaxed silence as they finished their wine.

“So...” said Peter. “You have chickens.”

“Yup,” said Mattie.

“You’re going to be a gentleman farmer?”

“Takes more than four chickens,” said Mattie.

Peter nodded, agreeably. After a moment, he added, “You should get a goat.”

“A goat? Why do I need a goat.”

Peter shrugged. “Why do you need chickens?”

Mattie furrowed his brows in his friend’s direction.

“A goat gives milk. And you could get rid of all your garbage easily.”

Mattie laughed, and shook his head. “I think I’m good with chickens and cats, thank you.”

“Maybe a mule...” Peter mused. He grinned when he saw Mattie’s reaction, but kept the smile from his voice. “So you’d have something as stubborn as you to deal with.”

Mattie tried to give him his best glare, holding in his own smile as much as possible. Their relationship had always been based on much mutual derision and razzing, and the fact that it hadn’t changed after Mattie’s accident had kept their friendship strong. Peter had never stopped teasing Mattie, and Mattie never became bitter and too sensitive to take some ribbing. Chloë had, at first, been concerned about Peter’s teasing, but when she realised Mattie could dish it as much as he could take it, she stopped being upset and started enjoying their interaction, almost as much as they did.

They decided they would get the sailboat out the following week, once the forecasted rain was out of the way. They were discussing places to take day-trips to on the river when Amber and Chloë returned with coffee and tea pots.

“Oh, yay!” said Chloë said gleefully, sitting beside Peter, a grin on her face. Peter winked back at her. He knew he was a lucky man.

Mattie was glad they would get the sailboat out, too. He enjoyed the feeling of being on the water, following the wind, feeling the pull of the tide under his hand. And despite nearly plunging himself overboard and spraining his wrist the previous summer, he was ready to take a day adventure of sailing up the river.

They got the sailboat moored in the water, but the first trip Mattie had on the river wasn’t in the sailboat. He was propositioned the following Friday night by Amber and Riley, who had come over to visit after they returned home from dinner.

“So, Xav,” Riley said, taking the beer Mattie offered him and sitting in the hanging basket chair under Mattie’s verandah roof. “Have you ever kayaked before?”

Mattie sat back on the swinging bed, his brows knit in response to the question. “Kayaked? No. I haven’t, actually.”

“You think you could?” Riley asked him curiously, giving Mattie the option of deciding for himself.

Mattie shrugged, intrigued at the suggestion. “I don’t know, maybe. Getting in one might be a struggle. Why?”

“I thought you might like to come with us up to the Cape. We can take a tour around the Rocks while the tide is up, and then walk around them when the tide goes out. I have a kayak, but we can rent a couple up there.”

“I didn’t take you for a kayak guy,” Amber said to Riley. “But I think it sounds cool. I think you could do it, Xav, no problem. If, like you say, we can get you into one. We’ll just pick you up and slide you in if we have to.”

Mattie turned to her. “Have you ever gone in a kayak?” he asked her.

“Once,” she replied. “It wasn’t hard, you’re kind of balanced level with the water so it doesn’t feel as high up as a canoe. I think you’d enjoy it.”

“Wow,” Mattie said, thinking about it. “I guess... I mean, I guess I could try.”

“You swim, don’t you?” Riley asked him.

He nodded. “Yeah. I’m a good swimmer, as long as I know which way is up, and which way is land.”

Riley nodded. “Well... we’ll figure it out and keep you safely pointed in the right direction.” He glanced at Amber. “If you trust me,” he added. “I’ve never guided anyone before. I mean, anyone with a visual impairment.”

“I’m way beyond visually impaired,” Mattie informed him. “I’m visually impossible.”

Amber snorted, and Riley looked between the siblings before he realised Mattie was playing with him.

“Oh, jeez,” he said. He didn’t know if he should chuckle or not.

Mattie grinned, his gaze lowered to somewhere near Riley’s knees. “Sorry,” he said. “I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

Amber smiled at Riley, and he released a chuckle.

“Ever know a blind person before?” Mattie asked kindly.

“Nope. Well, I mean, my great grandfather was when he was old... old people, I guess.”

Mattie nodded. “Yeah, and I guess they probably weren’t out kayaking.”

“Nope,” Riley said, laughing.

“Well, I can’t say it’s going to be easy. But you’re right, we’ll figure it out. Just hope you have lots of patience. Right, Am?”

“Just takes a little perseverance,” Amber said, smiling at her brother. Riley had already won more of her heart; it had been his suggestion to ask Mattie to join them. She knew Riley liked her brother already, but he wanted to figure out how to relate and engage with him without coming out looking like, in Riley’s words, a doofus dorkus. Amber had assured him he’d be comfortable with Mattie in no time. She was glad her brother was a teacher, because he never made anyone feel stupid for not knowing but wanting to learn, either about a book, or about how to deal with his disability—as long as they didn’t make him feel stupid for not being able to see.

“I think you’ll like it,” Riley said. “Amber told me about your sailing and wall climbing and the zip-lining.”

Mattie rubbed at his mouth, slightly embarrassed. “She likes to tell stories,” he said.

“Yeah, only stories that are true,” Amber said truthfully.

Riley just smiled. He was already starting to realise that everything Amber had told him about her brother wasn’t an exaggeration.

Mattie scratched his chin. “Yeah, I’ll give it a go. It doesn’t sound so perilous. As long as I’m not intruding on your date.”

“Nope, I actually figured the three of us might have a good time out together. So it was never just me and Amber on this one.”

Mattie nodded, a smile on his lips. He wasn’t an add-on invitation; that meant something to him. It also meant something for Amber, he thought. If someone who wanted to get to know her family, her brother, that guy was really into her. Mattie was happy for Amber, and he hoped it worked out for her this time. It was never fun when he didn’t like her boyfriends, just like it wasn’t fun when she disliked his girlfriends.

Kayaking. That was something different, altogether. Mattie knew what kayaking looked like, and it did seem like something he could handle, provided he didn’t end up in rapids somewhere. That was something he didn’t imagine ending in a happy way. But along the calm waters on a nice day at the Cape, that seemed doable, seemed being the operative word.

They went up the coast in Riley’s car, and Mattie, sitting in the back, was his usual silent self before taking himself out of his comfort zone. Amber looked back at him and then smiled at Riley. She knew Mattie needed to be in his own head, ramping himself up to do this. The only issue came from him usually trying to talk himself out of whatever it was he was going to try. She would not let him do that, not unless she thought he might get hurt. His pride, however, could take a jab or two, because in the end, it would get the boost he needed to try the next thing. She knew how much success swung him forward.

She also knew it would take some prompting to get him to join the conversation. And if he didn’t say something soon, she figured Riley would start thinking she’d been lying about how easy-going Mattie was. Mattie was moody. She understood it. She was used to it. But Riley had only met Mattie a couple of times.

“Xav and I looked up all the tidal times this morning,” she said, bringing him in without directly addressing him. “So we know we can walk on the sand out to the flower pot rocks when we get there and then kayak around them after 3. That is so cool.”

“Yeah, I’ve gone up a few times, and it’s a really interesting trip. They usually have a lot of the Parks Kayaks out there. They are two-person ones, Xav, and if you want, we can get one of those instead.”

Mattie, who had been listening despite what Amber thought, lifted his gaze a bit. “I think I want to try my own... unless you think it’d probably be better to double up.”

Riley shook his head, glancing in the review mirror at Mattie. “No, no. I just want you to be comfortable. You and Amber both. It’s your first time and all.”

“Second,” Amber said. “I’m a seasoned novice.”

“Right. The old pro beginner.”

Amber chuckled. Riley grinned at her, and she felt herself goosebump a little inside. She looked out the window and then turned to describe where they were to Mattie.

The drive was fairly long, and parts of it wound through a national park. Amber told Mattie about an eagle’s nest along the way she spotted, and a circle of what she deemed were turkey vultures way above them. She told him about the colour of the ocean when she could see it, and how many clouds were in the sky. She described the changes in the rock faces beside the highway, where there were distinct lines of time etched between the colours in the rocks. They drove through a small community, past a little gas station and a cheery-looking diner. Amber told Mattie the highlights before turning back to Riley.

“What are the chances we’ll see fish under us?” she asked.

“What kind of fish are you hoping to see?” he replied. “Or not see, if that’s the case.” He knew he meant Amber, but as soon as he said it, he knew it came out sounding like he meant Mattie. He knew if he apologised, it would draw attention to it immediately. He looked at Amber, and when he did, he hoped she didn’t think he was being brash, because she looked for an instant like she mirrored his own face.

Amber, on the other hand, saw the shock that had come over Riley’s face, and immediately knew he hadn’t meant it to sound like he heard it. She gave him a very quick smile, and in the tiny moment of time that had passed, she’d already begun to fix it.

“Well, I don’t want to see anything big,” she said. “Unless it’s an otter. I can deal with an otter. But if we sail over some weird big black shape that’s six feet long, I’m gonna paddle so fast, you won’t ever catch up.”

And to Riley’s relief, he heard a soft chuckle from the back seat.

“What I do want to see,” continued Amber. “Would be, and I think I speak for both Xav and myself here, a starfish, a glow-in-the-dark jellyfish, a ray, and a sea-lion.”

“Uh-huh,” said Riley, back on his game. “Well, I’m not sure how well we will do at your checklist there, but... I’ll do my best to call the beasts and birds and creatures of the sea to our side, okay?”

“Deal,” said Amber. “No, wait, just those ones I said. Not the scary ones.”

Mattie had laughed, and the smile still set upon his face when Amber and Riley glanced back.

He’d be okay, Amber thought to herself. He wasn’t in a mood at all. He was quiet and he was nervous, but he wasn’t feeling negative. There was nothing bitter in any of his responses, and that, to Amber, meant that he was getting better at setting himself up to conquer, not already putting himself down to defeat, which had been his go-to method.

“Xav and I went to the Aquarium and science centre, or whatever they call it, the one in Halifax. Did you ever go there? They have a touch-tank and everything. We touched starfish and... what were those squidgy things, Xav?”

“Sea cucumbers,” he said, remembering the feel of them under his hands.

“Yeah, right. Eurgg!”

Riley laughed at her expression. “Well, we may see one of those, how about that.”

“Eurggg!” said Amber and Mattie in unison.

When they arrived, Mattie was glad that they would be walking first; he really wanted to stretch out his legs.

“Should I take my cane?” he asked Amber. “It’ll just get caught on the sand and rocks and just be annoying as shit. Maybe I’ll leave it. Is it relatively smooth?”

“The beach is fine, Xav, you won’t need it there, but you might want it for the stairs. There’s a few sets of stairs to get down. Metal ones. Two railings. Pretty safe looking. It’s up to you, though.”

The last thing Mattie wanted to do was carry a whole array of necessities on a nice walk on the ocean floor, but he weighed the possible outcomes. He reached back into the car and retrieved the cane.

“I’d better take it,” he said. “I’ll stick it in my waistband when I get down there. I really don’t want to carry it, but I don’t feel right not taking it.”

Amber nodded, touching his hand. “Sounds good to me,” she said as he took her elbow.

The place was busy; many people were out for the sun and the beautiful attraction that the weathered and water-formed rocks made. Riley paid an admission to the Parks Department and they went through the little gate. Amber was glad Mattie had brought the cane: it cleared people right out of their path.

“Do you want me to read the plaque to you, Xav? Or plaques... I guess there are a few.”

“Nah, I know the history. Let’s just go down.”

“Let’s go down,” Amber echoed, and headed to the metal stairs leading to the beach. She gave Mattie the railing and went past, going down just ahead of him.

“Oh, Mattie, I forgot how big everything was. We haven’t been here since we were kids. Were you? I haven’t. It’s like walking under islands. I guess it is walking under islands. Almost like a Salvador Dali painting. Can you picture that? Little islands all standing way up on pillars? Some are bigger islands with two pillars. Oh, there are birds on one of them. Cormorants, I think?”

“Yeah, about two dozen of them,” said Riley, behind Mattie on his left.

“How many people?” Mattie asked, feeling the people passing by them going back up the stairs.

“It’s a crowd for our standards. But in comparison to a hot Canada Day on Parliament Hill, it’s wide open spaces and quiet time. Okay. We’re at the bottom. Okay, last step, Xav. Here’s my arm.” Mattie had stopped to fold his cane, but Amber prompted him, because people were behind him on the stairs. She got him out of the way and he finished folding the cane and sticking it in the waistband of his khaki shorts. He put his hand back out, waiting for Amber’s arm.

They strolled toward one of the towering rocks, Amber telling Mattie about the different water marks, both recent and long-etched. When they reached the rock, Amber pulled Mattie’s hand from her elbow and placed it against the surface. Mattie put up his other hand, feeling the rock under his fingers, and Amber looked straight up the side, giving him her point of view.

“How high up is it?” Mattie asked, his gaze following his question towards the sky.

Amber frowned, squinting her eyes as she looked up. “Geez, Xav, I don’t know. Uh... Riley? How tall are the rocks?”

“I cheated,” said Riley. “I read the information sign. It said they’re between forty and seventy feet tall.”

Mattie let his gaze drop back down, concentrating on the stone under his hand. “Can we walk around the base?”

Amber nodded, looking at Riley. “Of course,” she said. “This one isn’t the biggest around, but you keep your hand on it and we’ll go around it. The one over there next to us has a sort of tunnel in it where the two rocks almost touch. They are against each other at the top. The bases are wider than the middle, just below the flower pot part on the top. Kind of like a mushroom.”

Mattie nodded, visualising it. In his mind, it began as a large rock topped with green, but it soon changed to a cartoon mushroom, red with white spots, and he grinned.

“What are you thinking of?” Amber asked him.

“Nothing. I’m just picturing it.” He continued to follow the rock under his hand, and it was a while before Amber announced to him they’d gone the whole way around. He appreciated her making this mostly visual tourist experience tactile for him. She was getting so good at it, he thought to himself, proud of his sister.

She took his hand from the rock and put it back to her elbow and they walked along the sand together. Riley reached over and took her other hand, and she smiled, feeling her heart swell up again with the excitement of love.

“How far out are we?” Mattie asked. “Are there more rocks further out? Is the tide coming back in yet?” He kept the questions coming, and Amber and Riley did their best to give him answers as they walked across the ocean floor.

After they had explored places they could get to with the tide still out, they headed back toward the way they had come, toward the stairs. It was snack time, Amber said, referring to the things she’d packed in the cooler in the car.

“Does she always bring sandwiches, Xav?” Riley asked, remembering to address Mattie so he knew he was the one being spoken to. In this case, he was quite sure Mattie knew already, but he wanted to make it a habit, so he didn’t always forget when there were more people around to throw Mattie off.

Mattie nodded, as if resigned to a lost cause. “Yep. She does. But you’d be surprised how actually glad you’ll be when you’ve walked up an appetite and she pulls that cooler out.”

“Can’t say you’re wrong there, Xav,” Riley said, and Mattie laughed.

Amber waited for the bottom of the stairway to be clear before setting Mattie up in front of the bottom step. He pulled his cane back out and let it drop open, making sure it was tightly locked in place. Amber took his hand off her elbow and took his right hand and put it on the railing. He began the climb, and once again, Amber moved in front of him, with Riley falling into the rear. There was a longer platform between the three sets of stairs, and one was on a forty-five-degree angle from the first, so she wanted to keep him from tripping up by giving him a heads up.

When he’d moved to the second set of steps, he heard someone below them on the first say, “What would he get out of coming here?” And the reply was worse, “Maybe he’s happy just to get out.”

His life was not so sheltered, simple, and pathetic that going out as a tag along and not even be able to enjoy the activities would make him happy. He had plenty to engage him and make him happy. He hated people that presumed his life was secondary to the lives of the people he was with. He tried to silence the echo of their conversation in his mind.

“Last flight,” Amber said as he swept his cane in front of him and didn’t locate a step. He walked three steps to find the last set and Amber turned sideways. “What’s that face for? You look perturbed. I didn’t see what happened; did I not give you good direction there?”

“Yeah,” Mattie said. “It was fine. It was nothing. Are we at the top?” He could hear the voices around him again so he knew they were back at the landing.

“Yup. Here, my elbow. Back to the car. I even have cheese and apples.”

Mattie smiled, pushing the sunglasses back up his nose. “Lead on,” he said, locating her arm.

Amber and Riley got Riley’s kayak down from the rack on the roof of the car. Mattie stood next to the front bumper, surrounded with gear. The plan was, Amber and Mattie would carry the gear, Riley would take the kayak, and they’d head down through the entrance down by the rental place. When they had deposited the kayak and the gear, which Mattie would guard, they’d head up to rent the other two kayaks and bring them down. Once this was done, Mattie, who had been sitting beside the cooler in the sand putting sunscreen on his face and arms, stood up and turned toward the sound of Riley and Amber as they lay down the small craft.

“Can you maybe show me what’s what on one of these?” he asked them.

“Sure thing, Xav,” said Riley, and Mattie took a step toward his voice. “Here,” said Riley, using that often-used, indefinite description. “Give me your hand a sec.” He caught Mattie’s hand and Mattie squatted down beside him as Riley put his hand on the kayak. Mattie put both hands on the boat and followed the lines, and Riley stepped back and told him everything he was touching, and what it was for.

“Pretty basic, Xav,” said Riley. “Those cords you’re touching are for any gear you’re carrying. We don’t need to carry anything, but you can carry quite a bit on these things if you want to. That’s all there is to the seat there. You can just slide down in there and you’re pretty comfortable, more than you’d expect.”

Mattie finished exploring the craft and stood up. Amber pressed the paddle into his arm and he took it from her, checking it out as he had the kayak. One end of the paddle was slanted one way and the other end was opposite, to get the best pull from both sides. It might be a challenge to find the sweet spot but he knew he’d try until he did. It all seemed less complicated than he had originally suspected.

“Okay, Xav, I think the best way for us to do this is for us to put your kayak right on the edge of the water and you can get in there. That way, it’s steady, and you can take your time. The tide’s on its way in now. Amber and I will slide you out and then Amber will go next and I’ll pull her out and then I can get in in the water. You find your balance and get comfortable. There’s nothing to run into and the water is nice and calm, just creeping in with each little wave. It’s your perfect day.”

He sounded so confident that Mattie’s nervousness turned more towards anticipation. He felt Amber tugging on the belts on his life jacket, fixing the one he’d missed, and he put on the lightweight helmet Riley had given him, securing the strap on it. Everyone was always made sure they were keeping Mattie’s head from any more injuries on these adventures.

“Okay. I’m ready,” Mattie said. “Someone give me a hand.”

Riley took the paddle from him and Amber moved in to give extra help. Mattie once again felt the seat within the kayak, and the opening around it, trying to figure out his steps to getting in. He stood up once more and stepped to the kayak until his shins were against it.

“Okay, Bro,” Riley said. “Give me your hand here, and I’ll just support you while you step in. Here, Am, wanna take his other hand?”

Amber was there in a second, and grasped his right hand as he felt Riley’s strong grip take his outstretched left hand over the kayak. He put his trust in them both and lifted his left foot, feeling the kayak with his toes to find his seat. One foot was simple. But the transition to standing on that foot and taking his weight off his right leg was not so easy. He lifted his foot twice and tried, and the other two attempted to shift him into the kayak but he didn’t feel sturdy enough to make it all the way.

“Uh... Okay, Xav,” said Riley, a new plan ready. “Lower yourself so you’re not standing... more like crouching. That way your centre of balance is lower and it won’t feel so tippy. Once you’re halfway in, just start sliding that foot, your left foot, down into the bow and drop yourself in. You’re not going anywhere, you can’t fall down because you’re already on the ground.” He lowered his hand as Mattie crouched more, and once again slid his foot into the boat. He was almost sitting before he got his other leg over, and Amber helped him to guide his foot in.

“You did it, Xav,” Riley said. “You ready to hit the surf? Here’s your paddle.” He put the paddle into Mattie’s hands and he and Amber pulled the kayak into the edge of the bay. Amber pulled her own kayak to the water, watching Riley help Mattie get situated. It didn’t take him long to figure out the paddling rhythm and how to manoeuvre the kayak. Riley came over and held Amber’s kayak in the water as she climbed in, and she paddled over to where Mattie was practicing.

“Hey,” she said, giving him the heads up that she was approaching.

“Hey,” he replied. “Am I doing this right?”

“You look good, Little Brother. Here comes Riley. Are you comfortable? You’re not nervous, are you?”

Mattie shook his head. “No. As long as it stays calm like this,” he said. “I’m good. How about you? You okay over there?”

Amber laughed. “I’m good. I think I can do this!”

“You got this one, Sister!” he replied with a grin.

“All right, Xav,” said Riley, coming up beside Mattie. “We’re going to head back to the cove where those standing rocks are. There are a few all along here, once we get going. We won’t stay too close around those ones, but we’ll head back over to the ones we walked around, okay?”

“Okay,” he answered. “How far up are we going to be? Can I reach out and touch any higher than I did standing up?”

Riley chuckled. “Yup. You bet.”

“Really? Even though I’m sitting?”

“You’ll probably be still higher up.”

“Wow.”

“Are you taller than seven or eight feet?”

“Really?”

“Probably. Maybe. We’ll find out. Okay, so, just start paddling there, we’ll just be alongside you a ways away.”

Amber was impressed. Riley gave good instructions, and he seemed to remember to give details. She got the feeling it wasn’t a bother to him to have to explain things differently and with more detail and instruction. She felt that little shiver of attraction in her stomach and chest again, and she knew she probably had that goofy love-struck look plastered on her face. But she liked him. And she just kept liking him more and more.

They paddled easily along as the tide continued to come in. Mattie liked how he could feel the water around him, sitting low in his kayak, pulling against its weight. The sound of the paddles cutting through the water was rhythmic and gave him the exact location of the other two kayaks. It felt so organic to him; he was a part of his surroundings more than he ever had been. He remembered seeing as just being an observer to his world. He’d lost the ability to observe and gained the feeling of being a part of everything around him. It was one of those things that he found to be a surprising benefit to blindness. It didn’t exist until he touched it, or heard it and could locate it in the space around him, or smelled it. And once it showed itself to him, it was a part of him. No more being an observer.

“I hear people,” Mattie said, turning his head.

“They’re not near us,” Amber said. “Don’t worry.”

“I just don’t want to ram some other kayak like a Napoleonic warship,” Mattie said.

Riley chuckled and Amber grinned at him. “No, Xav, you won’t. But we are coming to the flower pot rocks again.”

Mattie stopped paddling, for a moment worried he would slam into the rock.

“No, sorry, Xav, we’re still about twenty feet away. Keep paddling.”

Mattie imagined twenty feet and found he had a hard time picturing the distance. Instead, he realised he was feeling the distance by walking it in his imagination. Twenty feet was tactile, not visual. How many paddles was twenty feet? He couldn’t really make a fair judgement to calculate his speed. If he knew that, he could probably figure out how to calculate the distance per paddle and therefore the distance to the rocks.

Right now, though, travelling slowly, he had to listen to Riley and Amber’s directions. He had a feeling they were giving him an obstacle course to pass when he bounced off a rock somewhere on the front of his kayak at the same time as Riley hailed him to woah back.

“Aw, jeez, Amber, will you still like me if I kill your brother? I’m sorry, Xav. I forgot I’m supposed to be steering.”

“It’s okay. I’m not damaged, am I? And am I in danger of hitting anything else?”

Riley swung around and inspected Mattie’s craft. “No, you’re good, everything’s fine. We just clipped the side of the far rock. You didn’t hit very hard, and we’re around it now. Okay, about... ten more strokes and then halt and take it from there.”

Mattie did as Riley instructed, and before long, he was alongside the same standing rock he’d been touching earlier in the day.

“You can lean out, you won’t tip over,” Riley told him. “There you go. There’s your rock.”

Mattie’s hand slid along the surface of the rock.

“How far up are we? Near the top?”

“Nope. We’re a long ways up from where we were, but there’s quite a bit of height to these things.”

“Are there trees on the top?” Mattie asked.

“There are some, yep. Holding onto their ground. Here, try to touch the bottom with your paddle.”

Amber leaned over to see if she could see the sand below them but she couldn’t distinguish anything to tell her if she could see bottom or not.

Mattie pushed one end of his paddle as far down as he could without losing his balance. The paddle wasn’t especially long, and he wasn’t surprised that he couldn’t reach bottom. He touched the rock surface again, listening to their voices nearby before pushing off and putting his paddle back across in front of him.

“How far up where we walked has the water come?” Mattie asked.

“Remember the bottom set of stairs?” Amber said.

“Yeah.”

“Gone.”

“Shit, really? That much? But we walked a long way to the rocks.”

“That’s what I’m sayin’,” said Amber. “The tide is huge, right?”

“Well, I know it is. But it really...” He didn’t know how to explain. He knew the tide was the highest climbing in the world, but the walk from the staircase to the rocks was long, and the water had climbed the rocks so far he couldn’t reach where he had stood. It was tactile. He could see it without seeing it.

Amber caught his expression as his words dropped away. He didn’t look wistful or gutted. He looked content and fully aware. He looked happy. He looked like he was at complete peace with the world.