Love is Always Write Anthology Bonus Volume

readjusted his shirt to screen them from the blazing light. For a long time they were silent. The clouds began to gather again, and Daniel blessed them and cursed them in even measure, for the shade and for hiding the men in the water from passing planes. No way to win. Eventually Jacob said, "Curly's dead. And the Doc."
    "I'm sorry." Daniel didn't know who Curly was, but from the tone of Jacob's voice he was important.
    "I thought you were dead too."
    "Too stubborn, my Dad always said."
    "Thank God. You figure they'll find us?"
    "Have to. We'll have been missed by now. And the radio boys know their job. Someone had to have gotten off a call."
    Jacob sighed and then stiffened in Daniel's hold. He said in a different voice, "You think they'll find us before the sharks clean up?"
    Daniel followed Jacob's line of sight and saw it too, a dark triangular fin cutting the surface of the waves not fifty feet away. As the swells rose and fell the fin circled, moving to their left. He felt Jacob trying to turn and follow it.
    "Hold still," he murmured in Jacob's ear, clamping tight with his arms. "They follow movement. And you don't want to start bleeding. Hold still. If we're just floating debris, they may ignore us."
    "How do you know?" Jacob stilled obediently.
    "George." Daniel heard his voice shake and clenched his teeth. "George told me."
    "Okay."
    The fin cut through the water at an angle, arcing around them. It was a big one. No white tip on it, but there were plenty of other sharks in these waters. A larger wave lifted and dropped them and he lost sight of it.
    "Damned thing is behind us," Jacob muttered.
    "I know." Daniel tried to breathe shallowly, but he knew his heart was racing. Could a shark hear that, through the water? Was the drumbeat of his pulse like a dinner gong, calling those wicked rows of teeth to come feed? Jacob was still as stone in his arms.
    After long moments the fin appeared again, off to their right. It circled again, gliding smoothly, and then dipped below the surface.
    "Damn," Jacob murmured. "I liked it better where I could see it."
    "No kidding."
    They waited, barely breathing, through moments as long as eternity. Somewhere under the water the shark was swimming. Perhaps circling below them, looking up at their legs. Daniel wondered if they looked like a wounded seal or a dolphin to shark eyes. Or had the war taught these wicked fish that men were just as good? Time ticked by in the pounding beats of his heart.
    Minutes passed. And more minutes. Eventually Jacob whispered, "Do you think it's gone?"
    "Maybe."
    The sun dropped lower. The water sucked at their bodies, splashed over their faces. Oil and salt ate at their skin. It stung in the cuts Daniel didn't even remember getting. He wondered how Jacob could stand it on an open wound. He knew better than to ask.
    Jacob said, "You think they'll send us home after this?"
    "Not a chance. Not unless we end up half dead. They'll clean us up, patch our cuts and bruises, and stick us back on another ship."
    "Together?"
    "Shit." Daniel thought for a moment of separation, of what it would be like to know Jacob was out there on some other ship, under the Japanese guns, out of reach, out of ken. He'd thought hell was not knowing where Jacob was in the ruins of the Gageway . Apparently there were going to be variations on hell. "I hope so. How many ships can be in port looking for crew at any one time? Sure, we'll be together."
    "I'd like to go home." Jacob's voice was almost dreamy. "I'd even like to see my Dad again. For a little while. But mostly I want you. I want to go home with you."
    "Sure. We'll take care of the Japs and we'll do that."
    "Really?" Daniel had to strain to hear the words. He didn't like Jacob's light, dreamy tone. "I live in Jersey and you're a California boy. Home is far apart."
    "Where you are is home," Daniel said urgently in his ear. "Hold on here for me and I swear, when I get back to the States I'll go wherever you like."
    "Thirsty," Jacob whispered. "Lips hurt."
    "I know." Daniel maneuvered them until he could reach Jacob's mouth with his own. He licked those chapped lips, tasting salt and oil, not sure if it was helping. But gradually the oil taste at least faded. Jacob sighed softly against his mouth.
    "Jacob?"
    There was no answer. Jacob hung limp in the life vest, legs brushing idly against Daniel's in the deep water.
    "Shit. Trip, don't do that. Don't you pass out on me." Daniel shook him lightly and then blew hard in