Bogart the Boat Salesman's Arc

Chapter 10 of 10

Denise was over the side before the boat stopped. She hit the water in her blue suit and swam hard for the orange jacket. Bogart watched her flip the man over. She got an arm under his chin and started kicking back toward the hull. Diane threw the ladder. Bogart went down on his knees at the gunwale and reached. The man was gray. His lips were blue. Bogart hauled him up by the jacket straps and laid him flat on the deck. Denise came up the ladder streaming water and dropped beside him. She put her ear to his mouth, then her hands on his chest. "No breath," she said. She started compressions. Bogart counted for her. At thirty she tilted the head and gave two breaths. Water came out of his mouth. She turned him on his side. He coughed. He coughed again and pulled a long ragged breath. "Got him," Denise said. Her voice shook. "Got him, got him." Diane already had the throttle down. The hydrofoil lifted and ran for the dock. Bogart held the man's shoulder and kept the jacket clear of his throat. The man's eyes opened halfway. He looked at Bogart and closed them again. The dock lights were on when they came in. A small group waited at the end of the boards. A woman in a raincoat. Two grown children. Someone older behind them, holding the rail. Word had traveled on the scanner. They had come for a body. Bogart tied off himself. He walked down the dock to meet them before anyone else could. His legs felt loose. "He's alive," he said. "He's breathing. The paramedics are on the way." The woman put both hands over her mouth. The daughter grabbed her mother's arm. The son stepped past Bogart and ran to the boat. Denise was still on her knees beside the man, keeping him on his side. "Why was he face down?" the woman said. "Why didn't you get there first?" Bogart had known the question was coming. He had rehearsed nothing. "There were two calls," he said. "A man in the water off a pontoon with no jacket. Your husband had his jacket on. I sent my crew to the swimmer first. I made that call. It cost him minutes. I'm sorry." She looked at him a long time. Then she nodded once and walked past him to the boat. The ambulance came. They took the man on a stretcher with an oxygen mask over his face. He lifted one hand as they wheeled him off the dock. His wife walked beside him and did not look back. Bogart stood on the boards until the lights were gone. Diane came up beside him with two coffees and put one in his hand. "Close," she said. "Too close," Bogart said. "I need a third boat. Or a second crew. We can't choose again."