Page 5 of Never Quiet

“That always works,” his father responded sarcastically. “Have a snack and I’ll take you down to the beach.”

“Can I show Mandy my handstand first?”

Rubbing his temple with his free hand, Gunner sighed. “Listen. If I spot you from the other side and somebody spots you on this side, you can show Mandy. You are not to practice alone. Do you understand?” His son nodded enthusiastically. “Fine then.”

Shawn laughed as he stepped up and Gunner went down the short flight of steps to the sand below.

Sterling wasted no time returning to the rail, going over into a handstand, and walking on his hands down the narrow strip of wood. He went back to his feet and started to jump up and down, slipped, and Shawn snatched him out of mid-air.

“Kid, you’re gonna shorten all our lives.”

“It was awesome though, huh?”

Smiling, Gunner’s lifelong friend said, “Yeah. It was awesome. How about we install a beam like this in the gym and put thicker mats under it? You can practice and we’ll all be less panicked.”

Behind them, Dakota leaned against the door with her arms crossed. “He really does have natural flexibility and balance. Hmm. Sterling let’s go hang out in the gym.”

“You’re gonna show me something cool!” Wiggling from his uncle’s grasp, he raced after his mom.

Mandy whispered, “He has more energy than anyone I’ve ever met.”

“We’re exhausted,” Gunner agreed as he returned to the deck. “I need more food. I just burned a lot of calories in stress.”

It was getting dark and Mandy was sitting on the couch with her laptop when Erick jumped over the back and landed beside her.

She gasped, laughed, and said, “Hello.”

“Mandy, I forgot my laptop on the boat and had to drive back to get it. I wanted to show you what I was working on since you’ve been gone.” He winked and added, “You’re the only one who’ll get it.”

For almost an hour, he walked her through a project that made her eyes widen in pride. “You created the prototype?”

“Yup. The Delkin Foundation gave me money for research.” He jerked his head to look at her. “Uh…”

“No-No and Rick work for them. I’ve met all the brothers. It was Hayden who wrote my algorithm. Oh! He tweaked it for me. Wait until you see the new code. You need to copy it…”

Eventually, they put down their computers and faced each other cross-legged on the couch as they worked through the various pollution problems on either side of the Keys.

They were deep in conversation, debating the science of his theory, when they realized the three adult couples stood or sat around the room watching and listening to them.

Chaz sat on the arm of the chair Shawn was in. “Don’t you guys stop. It’s like watching the Discovery Channel. Explain like we’re all in third grade.”

Amanda murmured, “Quick question! Uh, where’s Sterling?”

Dakota pointed beside her and Mandy’s eyes went wide. The toddler was cross-legged on the floor, his wrists and ankles tied. “He insisted on learning how to get out of knots. We figured it would keep him occupied for ten minutes.”

Laughing nervously, Mandy nodded. “Okay, well, one of the biggest problems with pollution, whether it’s water or soil or air, is cross-contamination. The planet is a giant terrarium. Everything is trapped inside, growing, and evolving.”

Erick nodded. “People polluting on one side of the world like to argue that it’s their country, their industries, etcetera. However, there’s no way for that pollution to be contained. No matter what, it’s going to spread. In the oceans, the spread is obvious because bodies large and small flow into and out of each other. Same with air. Mandy tracks soil pollution, specifically the contaminants used commercially for the last few decades.”

“I’ve identified trace amounts of the same toxins used by commercial growers on farms where herbicides and pesticides have never been used. It’s coming from their groundwater, pollination, and the overall water cycle.”

“You guys know about my prototype. It’s essentially a pool sweeper for the ocean to gather plastics and other human discards without grabbing fish. The problem with my work is the sheer scope. There’s a lot of ocean to cover but the actual process is simple if it can be designed cheaply.”

“You’ll figure out that part, Erick,” she told him.

He grinned. “Mandy is searching for a way to basically reboot poisoned soil. Her biggest hurdle is accessibility. Most of the contamination is on privately owned land so it’s a more complicated process. Soil can take decades to recover.”

She bumped his shoulder. “We need to speed things up.”

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