Bella Bella: Chapter 17
The story so far: Doing what he thinks is right, Wong frees Aaron, who rejoins his father and friends. Quickly and quietly, the kayakers take off, constantly listening for the sound of the Sea Wolf’s motor.
- Chapter 17
Bella Bella
But the Sea Wolf slept, and by the time dawn spread a rosy light through the clouds, we were far up Hunter Channel. A fishing boat cruised far behind us – it could have been the Sea Wolf – but there were fishing boats and barges and small freighters in every direction. I breathed a deep sigh of relief. Nothing was going to happen to us now.
“Aaron,” Dad said out of the blue. He paddled in front now and let me do the steering. “I’m proud of you.”
“What?” I couldn’t believe I’d heard him right.
“I said that I’m very proud of you – the way you got away unharmed. You didn’t do anything foolish – something that would’ve got you hurt. You were very…well, mature.”
I stroked through the water, the rhythm as natural to me now as breathing. I’d gotten my “sea legs,” as Roger had said I would. I didn’t say anything, but I was beaming – as proud as could be. Dad didn’t know how much his words meant to me.
But I kept thinking about the Chinese family in the Sea Wolf, especially the girl – who could have been Lisa.
“Dad? What does ‘yin yang’ mean?”
“Come again?”
“Wong, the man who helped me escape, when I asked him why, he said, ‘Yin yang.'”
Dad coasted awhile, thinking. The water lapped against our hull, and an eagle soared overhead. “Well, Aaron,” he said, “in traditional Chinese philosophy, everything in nature is a combination of yin and yang. A combination of opposites. There’s always a spot of one in the other. In this case, I think he was referring to the spot of good in the evil. He – or his intentions, in that moment – was the spot of good.”
Like a pearl in an oyster, I thought.
And I thought about nature. How, in the middle of a storm, there’s the promise of calm. And amid the calm, there’s the seed of a storm.
“So, do we report them?” I asked.
Dad started paddling again. “I think we must. They’re dangerous. They threatened us, and the immigrants’ lives are at stake.”
“But I promised.”
Dad didn’t answer. I kept paddling. The truth was, I didn’t know what we should do. Nothing was simple, right, or wrong. I felt sorry for the Chinese family. They were risking their lives to join their relatives. They just wanted to live a good life, like everybody else. But the smugglers, they were doing this for money; they didn’t care about freedom, or life, or family. They had to be stopped. But Wong, he’d cut me free. And he’d even cut himself, for me. He’d risked my betraying him – and his captain’s violence. And he’d risked prison.
I wrestled with my thoughts, as with a tangle of kelp. Finally, after ten minutes or an hour – I don’t know how long – I had an idea.
“Dad?”
“What’s up?” He kept paddling. The back of his neck was sunburned. It looked strong, yet somehow vulnerable.
“I was thinking,” I said. “Maybe we could wait until we’re home, then report them. The family would be with their relatives by then. We could explain that Wong was just a diver – that he wasn’t one of them, that he freed me.”
“We’ll see, Aaron. We’ll see.”
But I knew what Dad wanted to do, and suddenly I was sure it was the wrong thing. He wanted to report them to the Coast Guard as soon as we reached Bella Bella. But if the Coast Guard went after them now, it would put the family in danger. The captain was ruthless. He’d hold them hostage. He’d let them die before he’d give up. But if we waited to report him, he’d release them in Vancouver. He’d want the other half of the money from their relatives. And he had no reason to harm them if he wasn’t threatened.
But wait, I thought. Wait! What if he thinks we’re going to report him? He might kill them anyhow and throw them overboard. Destroy the evidence.
But no, no, I told myself. He’d want the rest of his money. He’d hide out, then run for it, under cover of darkness. He’d complete his deal with the illegals.
Maybe. The truth was, there was no possible way to know what he’d do. The only thing that remained sure and clear in my mind was that we had to do what would give the family the best chance of not getting harmed.
And that was to not report the Sea Wolf for at least two days, until the family had a chance to be released in Vancouver. That was it, and the power of my convictions – plus the fact that I knew my dad hated violence-made me sure I could persuade him. Surely he’d agree that my plan was the best possible way. And I thought the others would agree, too. In fact, I was sure of it.
Something grazed my shoulder. It was Lisa, touching me with the tip of her paddle. I felt as though I’d just been awakened from a deep dream, or risen from the bottom of the sea.
“Hi,” she said. Just a simple word. Just a simple recognition of one person by another. “Hi,” I said back, and she smiled. I floated on that smile – a whole person floating on a smile – until Cassidy said, “Dude. Look!” And he pointed.
Just at that moment the sun burst through the clouds and poured an intense light down on the old village of Bella Bella, up ahead. We’d made it! We’d come full circle, and one thing was for sure: I felt like a different person than the one who’d started out, ten days before. I thought about the meaning of the name. And I said to myself, “Bella Bella. Doubly beautiful.”
The next night, camping in the beautiful heart of Vancouver Island, a wolf’s howl resonated through my blood – and made it sing.
THE END