the underside of the raft became host to a multitude of sealife, like the net but smaller in form. it started with a softgreen algae that clung to the life jackets. stiffer algae of adarker kind joined it. they did well and became thick. animallife appeared. the first that i saw were tiny, translucent shrimp,hardly half an inch long. they were followed by fish no biggerthat looked like they were permanently under x-ray; theirinternal organs showed through their transparent skins. afterthat i noticed the black worms with the white spines, the greengelatinous slugs with the primitive limbs, the inch-long,motley-coloured fish with the potbellies, and lastly the crabs, halfto three-quarters of an inch across and brown in colour. itried everything but the worms, including the algae. only thecrabs didn't have an unpalatably bitter or salty taste. everytime they appeared, i popped them one after another into mymouth like candy until there were none left. i couldn't controlmyself. it was always a long wait between fresh crops of crabs.

the hull of the lifeboat invited life too, in the form of smallgooseneck barnacles. i sucked their fluid. their flesh made forgood fishing bait.

i became attached to these oceanic hitchhikers, though theyweighed the raft down a little. they provided distraction, likerichard parker. i spent many hours doing nothing but lying onmy side, a life jacket pushed out of place a few inches, like acurtain from a window, so that i might have a clear view.

what i saw was an upside-down town, small, quiet andpeaceable, whose citizens went about with the sweet civility ofangels. the sight was a welcome relief for my frayed nerves.