20
In the cockpit, Archie jumped to his feet and cracked his head on the underside of the main boom. He doubled over, clamping his hands over the sharp pain radiating outward, creating sparks of light in his tightly closed eyes.
“s**t! s**t! s**t!”
He stumbled over something. Heard his father give a surprised laugh, but he squinted his eyes open enough to move out of the cockpit, where they’d been sitting in pained silence over a glass of wine, and up onto the deck. Where the safety lines had been dropped, he jumped down to the pier and almost pitched over into the water on the far side.
Blinking furiously he stumbled to a halt at the head of the finger pier. He touched his head and checked his hand briefly, no blood. It only felt that way. He put his hand back atop his aching head.
K
