Chapter 5 "Fly away, Coo."
The dingy was made of smooth hard timber. Prince and Star settled to sleep cuddled up together. Coo perched on one of the oars, and then tucked her head beneath her wing. Noah and his grandmother slept side by side on the damp floorboards. The floor was nothing like a mattress, but their lifejackets added a little padding.
Soon Noah drifted off to sleep, but it was a sleep disturbed by nightmares of towering walls of water and sharks. Gran’s older body found it more difficult to sleep, and her bones ached. The salt water stung her cut. She couldn’t wait for dawn.
As first light touched the horizon, painting it a golden glow, Gran rolled over onto her side, stretched her cramped legs and yawned widely. Moments later, Noah opened his eyes. He was stiff too. But Prince and Coo had slept well.
Star’s bandaged leg was more swollen than the night before and she limped badly. "Mam, mam, mam," she bleated, plaintively.
"I hope her leg’s not broken," said Gran, in a worried voice. Then she sighed deeply and continued, "Oh, how I'd love a fresh pot of tea and a thick slice of hot toast spread with marmalade."
"I’d like eggs and bacon, and a drink of hot chocolate," added Noah.
"Instead," said Gran, with a smile, "we'll be very naughty and eat this whole block of fruit and nut chocolate!"
After breakfast, Noah said to the pigeon, "I want you to fly away, Coo. Fly until you find land, then come back and show us the way."
The pigeon flapped her wings and flew up into the warm, sunny sky, then headed in a northerly direction. Noah gazed into the hazy horizon. Blue sky met blue sea.
In the afternoon, Coo returned to the boat. Noah held out his arm to the pigeon and she landed lightly, offering Noah a gift, held firmly in her beak.
"Look, Gran! Coo has brought back a piece of fern. She must have found land, high up in the mountains."
Noah accepted Coo’s gift and put the piece of fern into his pocket. "Thank you, Coo. Now we know the direction in which to row."
At the end of two days and two nights, a playful breeze caught the little boat and steered it into a small sheltered cove, with mountains all around. Coo bobbed her head up and down with excitement. This was the exact place she’d been guiding Noah towards.
The tide was high. It was so high, in fact, that most of the sandy beach was underwater. Consequently, the bottom of the boat came to rest, quite gently, on the sand. The surrounding mountains were clothed in dense, green rainforest. The air was fresh and cool. The boat’s long journey was over.
The goat kid smelt fresh sweet buds and grasses. She bleated loudly and was so impatient to be on dry land that she stamped her tiny hooves. Prince barked and wagged his long feathery tail in excitement. The pigeon cooed a deep, rich song.
Noah rolled up his jeans -- above his knees -- then pulled off his sneakers, tying them around his neck, by the laces. Biting his lip he stepped overboard. His feet touched the bottom. Water lapped around his knees as he waded towards the narrow strip of dry sand. He hoped the water was too shallow for sharks.
Reaching the beach, Noah tied the dinghy to a fallen tree trunk using his grandfather’s strong rope. His legs wobbled after so many days at sea, but he was glad to stretch them again.
His grandmother called out, "Let's unload the animals first. Then come back for what's left of our supplies."
When everyone was safely ashore, Noah flung his arms into the air and yelled out, "Yippee. We made it!"
Prince and Star were happy too. They ran, pranced, raced, jumped and leaped about; while Coo flew, swooped and performed acrobatics in the air around them.
But where were they?