The Raft

The next item Robie finds in the ditty bag is a laminated card, labeled, "Survival at Sea." It offers practical advice, including, "Do not drink seawater," and "Do not smoke." It also informs Robie that the two most common causes of death at sea are drowning and hypothermia (76-77).

She also finds a red notebook. Robie "glanced at the words on the cover, frowned, and fanned the pages. They were full of handwriting, but it was definitely an invasion of privacy. If Max wanted me to know what was in there he would tell me" (78).

The last item in the bag makes Robie yell with excitement, but she does not reveal what it is until after the chapter break. 

The last item in the bag is a king-size bag of Skittles. She hesitates over whether to eat any, or even open the bag, but eventually she does tear it open. She counts all the skittles, and sorts them into piles by color, before recounting them. After that, she starts to convince herself she can eat one without waiting for Max to wake up, saying: "There was one deformed orange Skittle. I didn't think Max would mind whether I ate the bad one. Did I even care what Max did or didn't mind? My hesitation was momentary before I popped it in my mouth" (80).

After indulging in the single Skittle, she puts the rest back in the bag. Realizing that the raft has filled with a bit more water, she gets to work bailing it out again. 

Robie clears out the raft again, and then takes a break. She covers herself to protect herself from the sun, and then checks on Max, who is still in the water, attached to the raft. She covers his face too, and then takes a nap. 

When Robie wakes up, she leans over the edge of the raft to check on Max again, only to discover that Max is gone. 

She scans the water, trying to find him, and trying to comfort herself with the fact that he has the life vest on. The leaking raft is taking on water again, so she has to stop trying to look for him to bail it out again. 

Robie runs into difficulty with this round of bailing. She narrates the trouble, saying: "Soon it became clear that my efforts were not going to be enough […] the best thing would be to get out, flip the raft and empty the water, then get back in" (82).

There is no other life jacket, but Robie has choice but to get in the water and try to flip the raft. After some initial hesitation about getting in the ocean, she eats a handful of skittles to make herself feel like she is not on the raft and in order to inspire herself to jump in the water to flip it. Then she has a crisis of conscience, and is overcome by guilt for eating so much of their only food supply. She does not get in the water. The chapter ends with her fervent wish to be anywhere but on the raft. 

Robie has a brief flashback to being five years old. She relives a memory of crying for her mother after a nightmare. Then, in the raft, she calls for her mother the way she did in childhood, but of course she receives no reply. The chapter ends with Robie expressing a sense of helplessness. 

Robie suddenly realizes that she is the only one who can provide the means for her survival, saying, "As much as I hoped for it, my mom was not coming to get me. I was the only help I was getting" (87).

She gives herself a pep talk, telling herself: "You have only yourself to rely on. But you know a lot […] You, on your own, are strong enough to survive" (87). As soon as she embraces these affirmations, and convinces herself that she must provide for herself, something grabs her hand on the edge of the raft, and she screams. The chapter ends before the reader discovers what has grabbed her.