❝THERE'S NO POWER OR SERVICE.❞

sage

when i woke up the next morning, i could hear water dripping onto the hardwood outside my bedroom. i groaned and stretched, cracking my back before standing up and grabbing a random t-shirt, which judging off the graphics belonged to jj, and threw it on over the bathing suit i had slept in last night.

"morning, b." i groaned, tapping on the doorway of john b's room, and he looked over at me with a groan.

"there's no power or service." he said, making me roll my eyes.

"no shit, sherlock. not like there was, i dunno, a hurricane or anything." i said sarcastically, turning around and walking into the living room where jj was asleep on the couch.

"morning, dipshit." i said in a raspy voice, slapping his back making him groan.

"sage, what the actual hell?"

"have you been outside yet, blondie?" i asked, and jj shook his head, looking at me with a fake smile.

"i have polio, i can't walk." he said sarcastically, and i leaned over to pinch his ear before walking outside with john b will jj whined from just inside the door.

"holy shit." i muttered, looking at the tree in the front yard that and been fully uprooted.

"that is... not good." john b said, and i nodded.

"think we're clear today?" i asked, pulling my hair up in a hair tie i kept on my wrist.

"oh, totally. they won't wanna touch a ferry today." john b replied, climbing onto the boat trailer and beginning to pull sticks and other assorted brush out. "wanna help?"

i nodded, grabbing his arm and climbing into the boat, starting to toss out sticks and other debris that very well could've already been in the boat before the hurricane, no one really cared to try and keep it clean.

"whatcha thinkin'?" jj asked, and i looked up to see him with a beer in his hand.

"it's like 9am." i said flatly, throwing a stick at him and missing by a few inches.

"5 o'clock somewhere." jj said with a small smile, making me roll my eyes.

"i'm thinking the surge pushed all the crabs out of the marsh. the drum are gonna chase the crabs."

"what about the dcs? wasn't that supposed to be today?" jj asked, and i shook my head.

"dcs wouldn't even think about getting on a ferry." i said, looking back to john b who was standing as though he was about to give a groundbreaking speech.

"guys, think about it!" he said excitedly. "it's god telling us to fish!"

•••

third person

"that's kind of a smuggler's boat." jj was telling john b as he pulled past one of the many boats staked out in the docks.

"sure hope guffy's boat didn't sink." sage said said, laying back down on the bow and putting a cap, which she assumed was jj's, over her face.

"yeah, he doesn't have insurance." john b said, and sage looked at him before raising her eyebrows.

"wow, it's almost like that's why i said it. what an amazing observation." the blonde deadpanned, and john b rolled his eyes.

"do you have to be sarcastic all the time?"

"that was passive aggression." sage corrected.

"is there a difference?" her twin asked, and sage nodded simply.

"clear difference." she said flatly.

"then what-"

"well look who we have here." jj said in a strange accent, making sage wrinkle her eyebrows at him.

"i like your hose." sage said mockingly, and pope proceeded to put his middle finger in the air while throwing the hose onto the dock.

"we have a safety meeting, attendance mandatory." john b said, mimicking talking to an imaginary walkie talkie on his shoulder.

"i can't, my pop's got me on lockdown!" pope exclaimed, and jj rolled his eyes before walking onto the bow next to sage.

"come on, man!" he whined like a child. "your dad's a pussy, over." jj said in the same fashion as john b.

"oh, i heard that, you little bastard." heyward said from behind pope, looking at the blonde girl on the bow of the boat. "hi, sage."

"hey, heyward." sage said, covering the sun with her eyes and wrinkling her nose.

"we need your son!" john b yelled, and heyward shook his head.

"and besides, island rules, day after hurricane's a free day." jj tried, and heyward shook his head again, placing his hands on his hips.

"who the hell made that up?" he asked bitterly.

"uh... the pentagon, i think?" jj said. "we have clearance, sage has a card." jj added as sage pretended to pull and invisible business card out of her pocket to flash at heyward.

"pentagon- y'all think i'm stupid?" heyward spat offendedly.

"i promise i'll do it tomorrow, pops!" pope pleaded, and heyward scoffed.

"tomorrow- no! no, hell no! you're doing it right now!" heyward said as john b leaned towards pope.

"get in the boat." he whisper shouted as pope glanced at the boat before taking a step towards it.

"hey, son, don't you- hey!" heyward yelled. "where do you think you're goin', bring your ass back up here!"

"love you, dad!" sage yelled to heyward, making a heart with her hands as she did so.

"we'll bring him back in one piece, i promise!" jj hollered.

"when you get back, you're gonna clean shrimp, you're gonna clean fish, and with the exception of sage, i don't like your friends!" heyward finished as sage smiled up at pope.

"how in the hell did you get on my dad's good side?" the short haired boy asked, and sage shrugged.

"i'm just so likable, everyone can't help but love me." the girl said sarcastically, making john b roll his eyes.

"narcissistic much, sis?" he asked, and sage shrugged.

"if that's what you wanna call it, i like confidence." the blonde replied simply, stretching out across the bow and sighing. today was the day that set the pillar for their summer, it always was. the first weekend after school was what the pogues called the summer's foundation, like what set the basis for the whole summer and how it played out.

if only they had known this foundation wasn't as strong as all the ones before it.

kens speaks 🪐

hi i'm back on my obx grind so hopefully more updates for both this book and hurricane soon