Three Little Words by Harvey Sarah N. Page A

think about it. Seeing orcas in the wild always brings tears to his eyes: the grace, the power, the sense of community. If he wasn’t in a human family, he would want to be a calf in a killer-whale pod. He climbs up next to the orca and rubs its rough cement side. “Wish me luck,” he says under his breath.
    He scrambles down and strolls to the small park that overlooks the marina. He’s stopped here a few times before. There is an old-fashioned wooden double swing near the pebble beach, the kind where you sit facing someone else and push on the floor to make the swing move. Sid stands on the center of the swing and sways back and forth until the swing starts to follow his movement. He scans the marina for a purple boat, but he’s too far away to see all the docks. But he can see the small island that seems to sit within walking distance of the last jetty. A stone’s throw away. Of course, it’s an illusion; the island’s not that close, but it’s close enough. Just like the island in the cove near his house. The one he always went to when he wanted to be alone. The island Caleb always rescued him from.
    He jumps off the swing and walks through the parking lot to the marina, where he methodically walks up and down each dock, looking for Delirious. He supposes he could ask at the office, but he’s enjoying being on the dock. When he was small, he used to tell everyone he was going to be a wharfinger when he grew up—he loved both the word and the idea of running a wharf. He wonders if the word is even used anymore. When he finally finds the purple ketch, he’s on one of the farthest docks. A woman with very short gray hair is sitting in the cockpit, polishing one of the many brass fittings.
    â€œWendy?” Sid says.
    She looks up, her leopard-print half-glasses crooked on her nose.
    â€œWho wants to know?” She’s smiling when she says it, and Sid smiles back.
    â€œI’m Sid, Megan and Caleb’s kid. From the Caprice ?”
    Wendy puts down her polishing rag and stands up. She is very short and very round, but she leaps out of the cockpit as nimbly as a teenager.
    â€œLittle Sid,” she says. “I should have known. That hair! Come aboard. Come aboard. Is the Caprice here? Tell me everything.”
    â€œNothing much to tell,” he says when they are settled in the cockpit and Wendy has resumed polishing. “I’m here on my own. I could use your help though.”
    â€œMy help?” Wendy keeps polishing, but Sid knows she’s paying attention. For some reason, it’s easy to tell her about Devi and Wain. When he shows her Wain’s picture, she gasps and puts her hand to her enormous chest.
    â€œ That’s your brother?” she says. “He’s here all the time. Hanging around, trying to get people to take him out on their boats. Most of us just shoo him away like a harmless bug. How long did you say he’s been gone?”
    â€œAlmost two weeks now,” Sid replies.
    â€œAnd you think he might be over there.” She points at the island.
    Sid nods. “That’s where I would go if I wanted to run away. All he would need is a dinghy. Maybe he stole one. Dragged it out of sight when he got there.”
    â€œAnd you want to row over to Jimmy Chicken and see if you’re right?”
    â€œTo where?”
    â€œTo the island. Locals call it Jimmy Chicken Island, after the old Native man who used to live there years ago.”
    Sid nods. “I don’t know where else to look.”
    â€œWell, thank you for not stealing my dinghy,” Wendy says. She scuttles down into the cabin and comes back up with two chocolate bars and a can of Coke. “If he’s there, he’ll be hungry. Do you want company?”
    Sid imagines the two of them in the small rowboat. She must weigh close to 200 pounds. “I think it’s better if I go alone. If that’s okay.”
    â€œFine by