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looked at the sky. “Storm moving on.”
    “Good,” I said. “Enough bad weather for a while.”
    Clarence chuckled. “Keep rubbing his legs. Willy, talk to us. How you doing?”

    Willy opened his eyes. “Okay,” he whispered.
    “Good. You going be fine. Help coming.”
    The chop on the ocean seemed to be dying down.
    Willy dozed off for a second, then snapped his eyes open. They were red and squinty.
    The guy with the float was almost halfway now.
    Clarence raised his chin toward the skiff. “Those oars? If you didn’t have those cables, the boy would be gone.”
    I cringed at how close I’d come to cutting them off!
    “Smart, you.”
    “Ledward thought of it.”
    “Your mama’s boyfriend?”
    “Yeah. You know him?”
    Clarence shook his head. “Only from Stella.”
    “What’d she say?”
    He chuckled. “She said your house would fall apart if he stopped coming over.”
    “What?” I nearly choked. All Stella everdid was complain about Ledward, except to say he cooked good. “Stella said that?”
    Clarence nodded. “You and your family lucky. I know plenny houses falling apart.”
    I gaped at him. “You sure we’re talking Stella?”
    Clarence laughed. “Funny, you.”
    Stella had stood up for Ledward. Unbelievable.
    But she was right. Ledward was always doing something around our house, including telling me how I should help out. Cut the grass. Do the dishes. Take the trash out. Clean the garage. Water the plants. “Your home is like your body,” he said once. “You keep it good, it keeps you good.”
    Willy coughed and spat up some liquid.
    Clarence rubbed his back. “You swallowed some dirty water, boy.”
    Willy nodded. “Tastes like dirt.”
    Clarence and I looked up when we heard the helicopter.

T he rescue helicopter settled down on Flat Island. I covered my head. I’d never seen one so close. It was loud! Its rotors shot stinging sand in my face.
    Streak cowered.
    Two men jumped out and ran toward us. Their name tags said STEVENSON and HIRANO .
    Hirano carried a white medical kit. He squatted to look at Willy.
    “Anyone still in the water?” Stevenson shouted over the noise of the helicopter.
    I pointed to the rescue swimmer. “Just that guy.”
    Stevenson signaled that everything was all right. The swimmer waved, turned, and headed back to shore.
    “Everybody here!” Clarence shouted. “But Willy needs help!”
    Stevenson and Hirano took Willy’s temperature and checked him out. Hirano put everything back in the medical kit. “Temperature is down, but he seems okay. Probably swallowed a lot of water. Might be some bacteria that could make him sick.”
    Willy tried to struggle up.
    “Hold on,” Stevenson said. “We’ll carry you.”
    Hirano jogged back to the helicopter.
    “Is he going to be all right?” I asked.
    “Sure,” Stevenson said. “We just have to warm him up and check him out.”
    Hirano came back with a litter. They loaded Willy on it. Willy had enough left in him to grin.

    I made a fist. “See you soon, bud.”
    “There’s room for all of you,” Stevenson said. “Even the dog.”
    Clarence turned toward the skiff. “We fine. We got to bring the boat back.”
    Stevenson looked at me. “That okay with you?”
    I nodded. “It’s not so stormy now.”
    “That was a wild one, wasn’t it?”
    “Crazy wild.”
    Stevenson and Hirano took Willy to the helicopter. They set him down inside and turned to wave.
    Clarence and I watched them rise into the sky.
    The pulsing sound faded as they flew back over the beach. Willy’s parents headed up to their car.
    “Where are they taking him?” I asked.
    “Hospital, prob’ly. We’ll find out.”
    We watched until we couldn’t see them anymore.
    For the first time I started thinking about Mom. How worried she must be … and how much trouble I would be in.
    “Come!” Clarence said. “We go home.”
    We carried the boat to the water. Streak jumped aboard. I got in and sat with her in the bow. Clarence