Life of Pi

alcohol by mid-afternoon. Who's to say what those idiots did? The officers—"
     
    "What do you mean by that?"
     
    "By what?"
     
    "'Who's to say what those idiots did?'"
     
    "I mean that maybe in a fit of drunken insanity some of them released the animals."
     
    Mr. Chiba: "Who had the keys to the cages?"
     
    "Father did."
     
    Mr. Chiba: "So how could the crew open the cages if they didn't have the keys?"
     
    "I don't know. They probably used crowbars."
     
    Mr. Chiba: "Why would they do that? Why would anyone want to release a dangerous wild animal from its cage?"
     
    "I don't know. Can anyone fathom the workings of a drunken man's mind? All I can tell you is what happened. The animals were out of their cages."
     
    Mr. Okamoto: "Excuse me. You have doubts about the fitness of the crew?"
     
    "Grave doubts."
     
    "Did you witness any of the officers being under the influence of alcohol?"
     
    "No."
     
    "But you saw some of the crew being under the influence of alcohol?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "Did the officers act in what seemed to you a competent and professional manner?"
     
    "They had little to do with us. They never came close to the animals."
     
    "I mean in terms of running the ship."
     
    "How should I know? Do you think we had tea with them every day? They spoke English, but they were no better than the crew. They made us feel unwelcome in the common room and hardly said a word to us during meals. They went on in Japanese, as if we weren't there. We were just a lowly Indian family with a bothersome cargo. We ended up eating on our own in Father and Mother's cabin. 'Adventure beckons!' said Ravi. That's what made it tolerable, our sense of adventure. We spent most of our time shovelling excrement and rinsing cages and giving feed while Father played the vet. So long as the animals were all right, we were all right. I don't know if the officers were competent."
     
    "You said the ship was listing to port?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "And that there was an incline from bow to stern?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "So the ship sank stern first?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "Not bow first?"
     
    "No."
     
    "You are sure? There was a slope from the front of the ship to the back?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "Did the ship hit another ship?"
     
    "I didn't see another ship."
     
    "Did it hit any other object?"
     
    "Not that I saw."
     
    "Did it run aground?"
     
    "No, it sank out of sight."
     
    "You were not aware of mechanical problems after leaving Manila?"
     
    "No."
     
    "Did it appear to you that the ship was properly loaded?"
     
    "It was my first time on a ship. I don't know what a properly loaded ship should look like."
     
    "You believe you heard an explosion?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "Any other noises?"
     
    "A thousand."
     
    "I mean that might explain the sinking."
     
    "No."
     
    "You said the ship sank quickly."
     
    "Yes."
     
    "Can you estimate how long it took?"
     
    "It's hard to say. Very quickly. I would think less than twenty minutes."
     
    "And there was a lot of debris?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "Was the ship struck by a freak wave?"
     
    "I don't think so."
     
    "But there was a storm?"
     
    "The sea looked rough to me. There was wind and rain."
     
    "How high were the waves?"
     
    "High. Twenty-five, thirty feet."
     
    "That's quite modest, actually."
     
    "Not when you're in a lifeboat."
     
    "Yes, of course. But for a cargo ship."
     
    "Maybe they were higher. I don't know. The weather was bad enough to scare me witless, that's all I know for sure."
     
    "You said the weather improved quickly. The ship sank and right after it was a beautiful day, isn't that what you said?"
     
    "Yes."
     
    "Sounds like no more than a passing squall."
     
    "It sank the ship."
     
    "That's what we're wondering."
     
    "My whole family died."
     
    "We're sorry about that."
     
    "Not as much as I am."
     
    "So what happened, Mr. Patel? We're puzzled.. Everything was normal and then...?"
     
    "Then normal sank."
     
    "Why?"
     
    "I don't know. You should be telling me. You're the experts. Apply your science."
     
    "We don't understand."
     
    [Long silence]
     
    Mr. Chiba: "Now what?"
    Mr. Okamoto: "We give up. The explanation for the sinking of the Tsimtsum is at the bottom of the Pacific."
     
    [Long silence]
     
    Mr. Okamoto: "Yes, that's it. Let's go. Well, Mr. Patel, I think we have all we need. We thank you very much for your cooperaticon. You've been very, very helpful."
     
    "You're welcome. But before you go, I'd like to ask you