On Top//Topper Thornton

four

Pope sighs. "I... read about it."

"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die," Kie remarks.

"Look, y-you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ asks.

"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," Pope explains.

JJ arches his back. "Bends like, bend over and..."

Pope cuts him off, "The bends kill you."

JJ stands up straight. "Right."

"I can... I can dive," John B offers.

"You can dive. I'm cool with that," JJ remarks.

"Since when can you dive?" Kie asks.

"I'll do it. It's fine," John B assures.

"Let me do some calculations real quick," Pope says.

Kie looks at John B. "You serious?"

Pope picks up a pencil and starts to write. "That boat's about 30 feet down. So it'll take 25 minutes at that depth. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. All right? For two minutes."

John B nods. "Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it."

Kie jumps off the bow without warning.

"What was that all about?" I ask.

"I don't know, but I liked it. A lot," JJ states.

John B clears his throat. "Uh, so..."

"All righty," Pope says.

"Yeah. Uh, when you... uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold." JJ holds up a key. "You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"

"Stick in, twist, pull," John B says.

"Yeah. My dad moved weight back in the day," JJ explains.

"Who didn't?" I offer.

Kie swims back towards the boat. "Hey! I tied my T-shirt to the anchor chain about ten feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."

"Cool," John B states.

Pope holds up the air gage. "Keep an eye on this. You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress."

"Okay, how much do I need?" John B asks.

"Unclear. Breathe as little as possible," Pope warns.

"Zen. Think Zen, you know?" JJ imitates breathing through a mask.

"Yeah. Got it," John B states.

"Hey, if we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so... better get a move on," I advise.

"Copy that," John B says. Kie kisses him on the cheek. "Diver down?"

"Diver down," Kie repeats.

John B puts the mask on and jumps into the water.

Pope sighs. "Diver down."

John B starts the descent to the wreck.

"See ya, dude," JJ remarks.

I can hear a siren coming towards us. "Shit. JJ."

"Guys, that's the police," JJ states.

"Oh, you gotta be kidding me," Pope remarks.

"Yep, that's the police," JJ says.

"Just act frickin' normal," Kiara advises.

The siren blares.