The Stranger in the Lifeboat Read Online Free PDF Page A

hugged Nina around her neck, and Nina soothed her by whispering, “It’s OK . . . we’re safe.” It was so quiet we could hear her every word.
    Moments later, the boat began to gently rock, and the ocean formed small, harmless swells. A light breeze blew, and the normal sea sounds returned. But there was nothing normal about that moment, my love. Nothing normal at all.
    * * *
    â€œAre the sharks still following us?” Nina asked as the sun tucked under the horizon.
    Yannis peeked over the side. “I don’t see them.”
    We spotted the sharks on our second day in the ocean. Geri says they are drawn to the fish that are attracted to the raft’s bottom.
    â€œThey were there an hour ago,” Nevin said. “I think I saw a fin—”
    â€œI don’t understand this!” Mrs. Laghari blurted out. “Where are the airplanes ? Jason said they would be searching for us. Why have we not seen a single plane?”
    A few of us looked down and shook our heads. Mrs. Laghari has been carping on this every day. Where are the planes? When we first pulled Lambert into the boat, he insisted his crew would have sent distress signals. Rescue would be imminent. So we waited for the planes. We scoured the skies. Back then, we still felt like Lambert’s passengers. That has changed. With each passing sunset, our hope grows depleted, and we no longer feel like passengers of anything. We are souls adrift.
    I wonder if this is what dying is like, Annabelle. At first, you are so tightly connected to the world you cannot imagine letting go. In time, you surrender to a drifting phase. What comes next, I cannot say.
    Some would say that you meet the Lord.
    * * *
    Trust me, I have thought about that many times, given the stranger in our lifeboat. I call him a stranger, Annabelle, because if he were truly something divine, he must be as far from me as you can get. We are taught as children that we come from God, that we were created in His image, butthe things we do as we grow, the way we behave, what is godlike about that? And the terrible things that befall us? How does a supreme being permit them?
    No. The right word is stranger , which is what God has been to me. As to who this man truly is, well, the boat remains divided. I asked Jean Philippe about it earlier, when we sat together at the rear of the raft.
    â€œDo you think we’re about to die, Jean Philippe?”
    â€œNo, Benji. I think the Lord has come to save us.”
    â€œBut look at him. He’s just . . . average.”
    Jean Philippe smiled. “What did you expect the Lord to look like? Don’t we always say, ‘If only we could see God, we would know he was real’? What if He has finally given us a chance to see Him? Is it still not enough?”
    No, I would say, it is not. I know we had that bizarre moment today. And the small miracle of Bernadette’s revival. But as with any miracle left long enough in man’s hands, more earthly explanations arise.
    â€œSheer coincidence,” Lambert said this morning when we were discussing it. “She was probably already regaining consciousness.”
    â€œOr he roused her awake,” Nevin suggested.
    The stranger emerged from the canopy, and Mrs. Laghari shot him a look as if she’d figured him out.
    â€œIs that what you did with Bernadette?” she said. “Some sort of trick?”
    He cocked his head. “It was not a trick.”
    â€œI have my doubts.”
    â€œI am quite used to doubt.”
    â€œIt doesn’t bother you?” Nina asked.
    â€œMany who find me begin with hesitation.”
    â€œOr they don’t find you at all,” Yannis said, “and they stick to science.”
    â€œScience,” the stranger said, looking at the sky. “Yes. With science, you have explained away the sun. You have explained away the stars I put in the firmament. You have explained away all