Page 113 of Totally Wrecked
When down on her a right whale bore
The captain called all hands and swore
He'd take that whale in tow (huh)”
We all sing along with the chorus, then Keyara insists we start again from the top. After going through the song far too many times, Rex eventually calls a time-out. Everyone is breathless and laughing.
“The teen group at the library were obsessed with that song last year!” says Daisy, going over Keyara a high five. “Your shanty upped the ante, now someone else should sing.”
Daisy moves next to Rex and gives him a hug. I watch as his body relaxes in Daisy’s embrace. She holds a healing magic inside her. I wish Rex would let her heal him.
No one else takes up the singing gauntlet.
“Was that song something you learned at school?” Harvey asks Rex.
“I didn’t go to the kind of school where you learned songs,” he grins. “Not like fancy-boy over there,” he points at Leander. “I bet you went to private school as well, didn’t you Harvey.”
“I cannot tell a lie,” Harvey nods. “I’m just like Washington.”
Hmm, I thought that whole myth was busted and Washington never said that.
“Where did you go to school?” Leander asks him.
“Dartington Academy,” he answers.
“No way!” Leander shrieks, leaping to his feet. “That’s where me, Jasper, and Malcolm went.” He runs over and tops up Harvey’s cup. “What year were you there? Who was your form teacher? Which house were you in? We Dartington boys have to stick together.”
“Sounds like they fecking went to Hogwarts.”
Daisy, Gray, and Rex grin at me, but Leander and Harvey are off on their own track, and start to sing a song about being brave and noble if you are a Dartington boy.
“You rich bastards should really not be flaunting your privilege in our faces.” Now I can tell I’m drunk, I only get political when I’m drunk. “Ní thuigeann an sách an seang.”
“Yay! More Gaelic! What does it mean?” asks Daisy.
“It means that the well-fed do not understand the lean.”
“We are going to understand everybody after this island time,” Daisy laughs.
“Hey! Are you saying you are not well fed? That umu was something else,” Gray winks at her.
“It was umu-sing,” Leander laughs.
“You are an eejit,” I tell Leander, trying to annunciate carefully because my tongue feels four times too large for my mouth.
“Eejit,” giggles Keyara.
“Who you calling an eejit,” I mock growl at her.
“You know when I felt like an eejit?” I hear Gray turn and say to Rex.
“When?”
“When I found out Daisy wasn’t Brooke, or Brooke was actually Daisy, or whatever way around that was… were you shocked when she told you?”
Everyone has gone quiet now and is looking at Rex. “Amongst everything, I guess it just seemed insignificant.”
Leander stands up, swaying slightly. “I found it quite charming. It’s like A Emedy of Corrors, but with only one set of identical twins.”
