The Light Pirate

The narrative moves 10 years ahead. Wanda is now 10, and Lucas is a quiet, careful 22-year-old. After Flip’s body was found amid the hurricane’s wreckage, Chloe took Lucas away from Kirby. Lucas decided to come back to Rudder when he was 15, and he works as a lineman with his father. Their profession is more challenging than ever, as tropical storms intensify year after year while their equipment and workers dwindle. Despite their best efforts, the Lowes’ home has been without power for nearly two weeks.

After Wanda goes to bed, Lucas tells his father about Miami, which was recently struck by a hurricane: “Governor’s pulling the plug on the whole county. [...] Offering relocation packages to folks” (109). Lucas expects this to provoke outraged news coverage and protests, but Kirby recalls how the United States government abandoned Puerto Rico. Both men worry that Rudder has no hope if a city like Miami is deemed past saving.

After Lucas and Kirby leave for work the next morning, Wanda goes into her father’s closet and takes out a milk crate full of relics from Frida’s life, including photographs, books on architecture, “a wedding ring that doesn’t fit any of her fingers” and “a nylon flag, so sun-worn the black is turning brown, a jaunty skull and crossbones smiling back at her” (113).