Amazon Archipelago

It was a fine clear morning when I set out, and the crisp air warmed quickly as the sun got higher. I reached Stuart Island by noon and nosed into the narrow, deep cleft of Reid Harbor at a leisurely idle. There was only one other boat in the anchorage, but that was one more than I expected since boating season didn't officially begin for another two weeks. The white luxury cruiser was at least sixty feet long and loaded with every amenity, including radar and a satellite dish. I gasped as I recognized her familiar lines. No, it can't be.

I idled past the broad stern and glanced up at her name with dread certainty. There it was, printed in big, gold letters: "GIGA-BYTE - Seattle." Shit. A few years ago, Dad had cashed in some of his Microsoft stock and traded in our old boat, "Mega-Byte." I hated it. It wasn't a boat, it was a floating palace, and I was embarrassed to think how much fuel it consumed. I wanted us to get a sailboat, but Dad said the yacht was better for entertaining his clients.

But that didn't explain how Dad's floating palace had gotten here. He was in Paris on an extended business trip, Mom was at some fancy fat-farm in Palm Springs, and my older brother was away at Harvard. That only left my bratty big sister, and... Shit. I just remembered her college spring break was the same time as mine. Why, of all places did she have to show up here? Cancun was more her speed, or Cabo, or some other place where she could show off her magnificent tits and ass in front of throngs of oiled up jocks and spoiled frat-rats.

I cruised quietly past, hoping she wouldn't see me. Luckily, there was nobody on deck. Maybe she was down below, screwing her latest boyfriend. Then I noticed that the davits were extended, and the dingy was missing. Dingy hell, the shore boat was as big as my ski-boat boat. I didn't see it anywhere in the cove. The bitch must have zoomed over to Roche Harbor. She's probably posing on the deck of the Hotel de Haro sipping an iced latte and ogling young waiters through her three-hundred dollar Oakley sunglasses.