Yann Martel: Life of Pi

“Is that better? Are there any parts you find hard to believe? Anything you’d like me to change?”

Mr. Chiba: “What a horrible story.”

[Long silence]

Mr. Okamoto: “Both the zebra and the Taiwanese sailor broke a leg, did you notice that?”

“No, I didn’t.”

“And the hyena bit off the zebra’s leg just as the cook cut off the sailor’s.”

“Ohhh, Okamoto-san, you see a lot.”

“The blind Frenchman they met in the other lifeboat — didn’t he admit to killing a man and a woman?”

“Yes, he did.”

“The cook killed the sailor and his mother.”

“Very impressive.”

“His stories match.”

“So the Taiwanese sailor is the zebra, his mother is the orang-utan, the cook is … the hyena—which means he’s the tiger!”

“Yes. The tiger killed the hyena—and the blind Frenchman—just as he killed the cook.”

Pi Patel: “Do you have another chocolate bar?”

Mr. Chiba: “Right away!”

“Thank you.”

Mr. Chiba: “But what does it mean, Okamoto-san?”

“I have no idea.”

“And what about the island? Who are the meerkats?”

“I don’t know.”

“And those teeth? Whose teeth were those in the tree?”

“I don’t know. I’m not inside this boy’s head.”

[Long silence]

Mr. Okamoto: “Please excuse me for asking, but did the cook say anything about the sinking of the Tsimtsum ?”

“In this other story?”

“Yes.”

“He didn’t.”

“He made no mention of anything leading up to the early morning of July 2nd that might explain what happened?”

“No.”

“Nothing of a nature mechanical or structural?”

“No.”

“Nothing about other ships or objects at sea?”

“No.”

“He could not explain the sinking of the Tsimtsum at all?”

“No.”

“Could he say why it didn’t send out a distress signal?”

“And if it had? In my experience, when a dingy, third-rate rust-bucket sinks, unless it has the luck of carrying oil, lots of it, enough to kill entire ecosystems, no one cares and no one hears about it. You’re on your own.”

“When Oika realized that something was wrong, it was too late. You were too far out for air rescue. Ships in the area were told to be on the lookout. They reported seeing nothing.”

“And while we’re on the subject, the ship wasn’t the only thing that was third-rate. The crew were a sullen, unfriendly lot, hard at work when officers were around but doing nothing when they weren’t. They didn’t speak a word of English and they were of no help to us. Some of them stank of alcohol by mid-afternoon. Who’s to say what those idiots did? The officers—”

“What do you mean by that?”

“By what?”

“‘Who’s to say what those idiots did?’”

“I mean that maybe in a fit of drunken insanity some of them released the animals.”

Mr. Chiba: “Who had the keys to the cages?”

“Father did.”

Mr. Chiba: “So how could the crew open the cages if they didn’t have the keys?”

“I don’t know. They probably used crowbars.”

Mr. Chiba: “Why would they do that? Why would anyone want to release a dangerous wild animal from its cage?”

“I don’t know. Can anyone fathom the workings of a drunken man’s mind? All I can tell you is what happened. The animals were out of their cages.”

Mr. Okamoto: “Excuse me. You have doubts about the fitness of the crew?”

“Grave doubts.”

“Did you witness any of the officers being under the influence of alcohol?”

“No.”

“But you saw some of the crew being under the influence of alcohol?”

“Yes.”

“Did the officers act in what seemed to you a competent and professional manner?”

“They had little to do with us. They never came close to the animals.”

“I mean in terms of running the ship.”

“How should I know? Do you think we had tea with them every day? They spoke English, but they were no better than the crew. They made us feel unwelcome in the common room and hardly said a word to us during meals. They went on in Japanese, as if we weren’t there. We were just a lowly Indian family with a bothersome cargo. We ended up eating on our own in Father and Mother’s cabin. ‘Adventure beckons!’ said Ravi. That’s what made it tolerable, our sense of adventure. We spent most of our time shovelling excrement and rinsing cages and giving feed while Father played the vet. So long as the animals were all right, we were all right. I don’t know if the officers were competent.”

“You said the ship was listing to port?”

“Yes.”

“And that there was an incline from bow to stern?”

“Yes.”

“So the ship sank stern first?”

“Yes.”

“Not bow first?”

“No.”

“You are sure? There was a slope from the front of the ship to the back?”

“Yes.”

“Did the ship hit another ship?”

“I didn’t see another ship.”

“Did it hit any other object?”

“Not that I saw.”

“Did it run aground?”

“No, it sank out of sight.”

“You were not aware of mechanical problems after leaving Manila?”

“No.”

“Did it appear to you that the ship was properly loaded?”

“It was my first time on a ship. I don’t know what a properly loaded ship should look like.”

“You believe you heard an explosion?”

“Yes.”

“Any other noises?”

“A thousand.”

“I mean that might explain the sinking.”

“No.”

“You said the ship sank quickly.”

“Yes.”

“Can you estimate how long it took?”

“It’s hard to say. Very quickly. I would think less than twenty minutes.”

“And there was a lot of debris?”

“Yes.”

“Was the ship struck by a freak wave?”

“I don’t think so.”

“But there was a storm?”

“The sea looked rough to me. There was wind and rain.”

“How high were the waves?”

“High. Twenty-five, thirty feet.”

“That’s quite modest, actually.”

“Not when you’re in a lifeboat.”

“Yes, of course. But for a cargo ship.”

“Maybe they were higher. I don’t know. The weather was bad enough to scare me witless, that’s all I know for sure.”

“You said the weather improved quickly. The ship sank and right after it was a beautiful day, isn’t that what you said?”

“Yes.”

“Sounds like no more than a passing squall.”

“It sank the ship.”

“That’s what we’re wondering.”

“My whole family died.”

“We’re sorry about that.”

“Not as much as I am.”

“So what happened, Mr. Patel? We’re puzzled. Everything was normal and then …?”

“Then normal sank.”

“Why?” “I don’t know. You should be telling me. You’re the experts. Apply your science.”

“We don’t understand.”

[Long silence]

Mr. Chiba: “Now what?”

Mr. Okamoto: “We give up. The explanation for the sinking of the Tsimtsum is at the bottom of the Pacific.”

[Long silence]

Mr. Okamoto: “Yes, that’s it. Let’s go.Well, Mr. Patel, I think we have all we need. We thank you very much for your cooperation. You’ve been very, very helpful.”

“You’re welcome. But before you go, I’d like to ask you something.”