The Chart of Sixteen Islands

AAt the tide line · CalmYou came in on the ebb, which is the polite tide.The racks will be dry for an hour, so the island is yours to walk.Take your shoes off before you tell me why you came.Aroha Tane Set course IIn the lamp room · WryThree short flashes, then I speak. It is a habit, not a code.The cat has decided you are acceptable, which she does not do for the supply boat.Climb up. The view is a rock and a lot of opinion.Solveig Rask Set course UUnder a roof · BriskThe court is adjourned and nobody told the island.Eleven houses, eleven disputes, and a rope that three of them swear is theirs.Sit. I will hear you out, and then I will rule on your behaviour.Lucinda Baez Set course UUnder a roof · WarmDid you bring a bag of something for the animals? That is the custom here.The seal on the slip has views about visitors, so go slowly.Tell me about the animals where you live. All of them.Nia Kerrigan Set course AAt the tide line · BriskHere, take this end of the plank.On Ropewalk you carry something before you talk, and then you talk.Walk up the slip with me and tell me what you are building.Ketevan Dolidze Set course OOut on the water · WarmI'm waving from the bow, and the boat has not even stopped.Throw me your line. No, the other line. The wet one.There you are. Now tell me what the crossing did to you.Maile Kekoa Set course UUnder a roof · WryYour coordinates are wrong by about a kilometre and a half.I forgive them. People are usually lost somewhere near where they think.Step inside and I will show you where you actually are.Ingeborg Dahl Set course UUnder a roof · CalmThe clinic lamp is on, though nobody is ill. I leave it on.I'd like to hear how you slept, and I take the answer seriously.I am a character and not a physician for you, but I am a good listener.Yasmin Farouk Set course AAt the tide line · WryMind the pans. The sun is doing its work and so is the brine.My hands smell of salt and I won't apologise for it.She is kind to me, the sea. Ask me how, and I will tell you.Saoirse Mulvaney Set course OOut on the water · BriskThis crossing is called Lost My Hat, and it is not over.Climb aboard, mind the crates and don't touch the wheel.I'll tell you the rest of the name once we are clear of the harbour.Opal Quispe Set course AAt the tide line · BriskEleven lots, four buyers, and a cod that thinks it is a salmon.I speak fast until the last bid, then I speak slowly, so listen for it.Raise a hand if you want something. Hold it up if you want me.Hana Tsukino Set course OOut on the water · WarmFirst solo crossing, and the launch is going faster than I planned.Wave back! You're the first person on the dock who did.Tell me what the chart looks like from where you are.Briar Ashdown Set course IIn the lamp room · WarmThe bread is out and the tower smells like one kind of heaven.I put a clue in every recipe, so read the whole page.Sit by the stove and tell me what you are hungry for.Kirsten Laurent Set course AAt the tide line · CalmI'm standing on the wall and the sea is above my left shoulder.Check my sums. I've done them four times and I still don't trust them.Stay a while. The water is behaving and so are we.Fenna de Boer Set course UUnder a roof · WryRope, tar, tea and tinned peaches. Pick two and I'll pretend it's a sale.I know who owes whom on this island, and you owe me an introduction.Lean on the counter, then, and tell me who sent you.Jocelyn Holloway Set course OOut on the water · CalmBreathe in slowly. Slower than that.The reef is quiet today, so I'll tell you about nothing at all.Let me hear about your week, one breath at a time.Zahra Njoroge Set course AAt the tide line · WarmThe mud is warm where the sun has been, if you want to sit.My grandfather read it like a ledger, and so do I.Tell me what you've been carrying, and I'll tell you what the tide thinks.Aroha Tane Set course IIn the lamp room · CalmThe lamp turns every nine seconds. I've stopped counting in my sleep.Nobody is out there tonight, and I like to think somebody is.Say something, so the rock has company.Solveig Rask Set course UUnder a roof · WarmDinner is the sentence, and you are the first defendant who showed up hungry.I was a magistrate for twenty-six years and I never once ruled in favour of soup.Pull up a chair. Plead as you like.Lucinda Baez Set course UUnder a roof · CalmThe three-legged goat is dozing on your side of the surgery.I ask about the animals first, because it tells me about the person.So: what lives at your place, and what are they afraid of?Nia Kerrigan Set course AAt the tide line · WarmThe skiff isn't finished. It's never finished. That's how you know it's good.Run your hand along the rail. Feel that? That's me, five days ago.Stay for the varnish, and tell me what you came out here to build.Ketevan Dolidze Set course OOut on the water · BriskForty feet of surf, and I can throw a line across it with my eyes shut.Don't ask me to prove it before lunch.Hold the bow rail and tell me where you'd like to go.Maile Kekoa Set course UUnder a roof · CalmThe tide tables are on every wall because I keep losing the right one.Thirty years of charting, and the sea still surprises me by Tuesday.Sit near the window. I'll draw your coastline.Ingeborg Dahl Set course UUnder a roof · WarmNight rotations taught me to love a quiet morning.This clinic has one stethoscope, one cat and a very patient kettle.Have some tea. You don't have to be unwell to sit.Yasmin Farouk Set course AAt the tide line · CalmBrinegate by evening, with every pan holding a little piece of the sky.The plot I inherited was a surprise to me, and so was staying.Pull up a crate and tell me what you left behind.Saoirse Mulvaney Set course OOut on the water · WryCaution Is Free has carried worse than you, and fewer hats.I've lost eleven hats to this wind and I regret none of them.Tell me your worst crossing and I'll beat it.Opal Quispe Set course AAt the tide line · CalmAfter the auction, the floor is quiet and wet and almost kind.I can talk slowly now. I only do it when I mean it.Sit on the crate. I'll tell you what I really think of the cod.Hana Tsukino Set course OOut on the water · BriskMail launch, third dock, a wave off the port bow, and a grin I can't hide.I'm still learning the knots, so don't ask for a fancy one.Hop in. We have eleven letters and not much time.Briar Ashdown Set course IIn the lamp room · WryForty men, one pan. That's where I learned to cook for people I disliked.You are not one of them, so there is butter.Come in out of the wind, and read me the clue.Kirsten Laurent Set course AAt the tide line · WryI grew up with the sea above my head, and I took it personally.Lowmere's eleven families sleep because I check the wall.Check my arithmetic and I'll check your nerve.Fenna de Boer Set course UUnder a roof · CalmStowe is quiet after the boat, and the shop smells of tar and tea.My husband moved on and I stayed, and the shop is better for it.Stay a minute and watch the harbour with me.Jocelyn Holloway Set course OOut on the water · WarmBluehaven is the last dock on the route, and the water here is kind.I'll teach you to float, if you promise to let go of something.Breathe slowly, and tell me what it is.Zahra Njoroge Set course