pogue life

five

john b comes back with scuba gear and jumps into our boat. kie checks the tanks, "this is empty. you took empty tanks?" she asks john b. "this one's a quarter full, it's enough for one of us" I sigh. "love it when a plan comes together" pope says. "does anybody know how to dive?" kie asks us all. nobody replies. "anybody?" she asks again. "it's kind of a kook sport" jj replies smiling at me. "I..read about it" pope adds. "great, pope read about it, so someone's gonna die" kie scoffs. "look it can't be that hard" I shrugg. "actually if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood and you get the bends, which kill you" pope replies seriously.

"I'll do it, I can dive" I stand up. "no, no you can't" jj says as john b pushes me back down to sit. "what? yes I can" I say. "no" jj and john b sternly say in sync. "fine" I sigh. "I'll do it" john b says. "yeah you can dive, I'm cool with that" jj replies as I roll my eyes. "okay, let me do some calculations real quick" pope says grabbing a pen starting to draw.

"so..you need to make your safety stop at about...ten feet, for two minutes" pope says as kiara takes off her top and jumps into the water. "uh..what was that all about?" jj asks us. "I don't know, but I liked it. a lot" pope says. john b clears his throat and I continue to put my hair into two french plaits, not even paying attention to what's going on.

"hey! I tied my t-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. it's where you need to do your safety stop" kie says swimming back to the boat. "cool" john b replies to her. "breathe as little as possible" pope tells john b. "got it" he replies. "oh and if we get caught out here in the marsh we're basically screwed, so better get a move on" pope tells him. "copy that" john b says as I walk up to him. "diver down?" he asks me. I kiss his cheek and reply, "diver down" as he jumps into the water disappearing from the surface.

"do I get a kiss too?" jj says coming up behind me and spinning me round by my waist as we both laugh. "oh shit. jj" pope says as the noise of sirens begin. "guys, that's the cops" kie says. "oh, you've got to be kidding me" I groan. "just act frickin' normal" kie says fixing her hair as the cops pull up beside our boat.

"evening, officers" pope says politely. "evening" the deputy responds tying his boat to ours. I start to panic thinking about john b below us with a limited amount of air. "you know the marsh is closed?" the deputy asks us. "no, wow" pope says. "no, I didn't know that" jj adds. "why-, why's it closed?" I ask. "well, we're conducting a search out here. boat went down" the officer tells us. "oh" I reply. "seen anything?" he asks us. "no, no boats" pope says.

starting to really worry about john b I begin tapping my foot. "where's your friend you always hang with? he here?" the officer asks. "he's working" I say kindly back, praying he leaves now. "I'm gonna check your little boat out" the deputy says getting onto our boat as my stomach drops knowing john b is still down there. "uh yeah, hop on. you check her out" pope says with a fake smile. the police officer walks around our boat then stops at the edge to look in the water.

"alright. beautiful day isn't it? you let us know if you see anything on your way out" the officer says getting back onto his boat and starting the engine. "will do. will do" pope says with a smile as the cops sail off.

all four of us hang over the edge of our boat waiting for john b to come up. "he's definitely out of air" pope says. john b's head comes up and we all sigh in relief. "there he is!" jj shouts. "don't scare us like that!" kie says. "how'd it go down there? did you find anything?" I ask him as he climbs back into the boat. "did I find anything?" he chuckles throwing a bag into the boat. "yeah! that's my boy!" jj shouts. "you okay?" I ask him. "yeah, I ran out of air" john b replies catching his breath. "you scared the shit out of me" I say hugging him.

"the cops were up here, but we took care of them" pope tells john b. "hey, guys? guys, bogey, two o'clock" kie says. "what?" I say turning around. "do you recognise that boat?" pope asks us. "i've never seen it. what are they doing back here? the marsh is closed" kie says confused. "I dunno, but let's not stick around to find out" jj replies. "jj, get the bowline" john b orders. "jj, hurry up" kie says as the boat gets closer.

"guys, let's go. I don't like the look of this" john b tells us. "go, go, go, go!" jj shouts. "go into the marsh" pope says. "i'm going, act natural" john b replies. "hey, uh guys. they're following us" I say looking back. "this can't be good" pope says. "dude, you gotta go faster!" jj shouts to john b. suddenly we hear gunshots coming from the boat chasing us. "what the.." pope says ducking down. "holy shit!" I scream standing in fear. "bella, get down!" jj shouts pulling me down and covering me with his body as more gunshots are being fired at us. "oh, my god. we are gonna die" pope says covering his head.

"shit, i've an idea" I say releasing myself from jj's grip, he tries to pull me back but I get away. "bella! what are you doing?" jj and kie shout. "jj, get bella down now!" john b shouts. I grab the fishing net and throw it into the water making the chasing boat completely stop, just as jj grabs my waist making me fall on top of him. "what do you think your doing?" jj shouts at me. "saving us!" I shout back. "you could've got killed" he says cross. "but I didn't, look I'm here in one piece" I chuckle as he rolls his eyes and we both get up. "that was mad!" kie shouts. "insane!" pope replies as we head back to the cut.

we get off our boat and walk up the dock, john b throws the bag on the ground. "what do you think it is?" I ask him. "gotta be money, right?" he responds opening the bag, revealing a compass. "oh wow, yup. that's about right. good job everybody, we found a compass" pope scoffs as john b stares at it. "dude what? it's not worth anything" jj says to john b. "this was my fathers" john b says in disbelief.