1. A Boat from a Ticket

Grandpa's paper boat was crooked. One side stood higher than the other, and half the word PASSENGER showed on its sail.

“That won't sail very far,” Maya said.

“Then it can travel in your pocket.”

Grandpa straightened its nose and handed it over. Maya tucked it into her yellow jacket beside a pebble, a hair tie, and two coins. There wasn't room for a whole fleet.

Colored flags lined the New York waterfront. A band played on the pier, and gulls called over the river. Their white sightseeing boat, with its bright blue stripe, had just left shore.

Maya wanted to be the first to spot Matchman. Everyone said he and Z-Girl were coming to the festival.

She searched the sky so hard that Mom steadied her shoulder twice.

“You can see from back here, too.”

Maya stepped away from the railing and stood on tiptoe.

A red cape flashed above the river.

“There!”

Matchman was flying low over the water, waving to the passengers. Z-Girl flew a little higher, her pink suit bright against the blue sky.

Maya took out the paper boat. She wanted something to wave, too.

Near the bow, an elderly woman was struggling with the heavy cabin door. Grandpa went to help. Before leaving, he tapped the railing twice.

Tap-tap.

That was their signal whenever he went away for a little while. On Maya's bedroom door. At the school gate. Even on a bus window.

Maya tapped back. Grandpa went into the cabin and held the door for the woman.

She looked back at Matchman.

The deck lurched sideways.

2. The River Kept Moving

The band on shore kept playing.

A chair toppled. A cup rolled across the deck. Mom caught the railing and pulled Maya close.

A short warning sounded from the wheelhouse.

“The rudder isn't responding!” the captain called to his assistant.

The boat was turning across the current. A gray bridge support loomed ahead.

Matchman stopped waving.

He swooped past the boat and turned to face it. Maya saw him spread his arms and press his palms against the sturdy lower part of the hull.

White water burst around him. For a moment, it looked as if the river would crumple him and his red cape together.

But a strip of water remained between the boat and the bridge.

It stopped getting narrower.

“I've got it!” Matchman called to the captain. “Stop the engine! Everyone away from the bow!”

The captain answered at once. The pounding beneath the deck went quiet.

The current kept pushing. Water boiled around Matchman's hands and rushed under the bridge. He held his place above the river.

The boat stayed still.

Z-Girl landed on deck.

“Move toward the back, where the crew is. Stay calm. Help the people beside you.”

She cleared the fallen chair from the walkway. A young crewman opened a box of life jackets. Mom buckled Maya into an orange life jacket, then put on her own. Z-Girl checked the straps.

“What about Grandpa?” Maya asked.

Mom was already looking across the deck.

The front cabin door wouldn't open. A heavy bench had slid against it when the boat lurched. Grandpa stood at the wide window with a crew member. He had helped the elderly woman outside just before the jolt. Now she sat beside a sailor, gripping his hand.

Grandpa saw Maya and tapped the glass.

Tap-tap.

She lifted her hand. There was nothing to tap.

3. At the Window

Z-Girl hurried to the cabin and spoke through a partly open window. The two people inside could wait there safely. But passengers were gathering at the back of the boat, and the rescue boat was almost alongside. She raised her wrist radio.

“Two people in the front cabin. Both awake, no injuries we can see. The exit's blocked. We'll transfer the passengers on deck to the rescue boat.”

Matchman turned his head a little. His hands stayed where they were.

“Understood. Help them across. I'll hold the boat. Once it's secure, I'll free the door.”

Behind the rescue boat came a tug, low and wide, with black rubber cushions along its sides.

Maya looked at Matchman.

“He could lift the whole boat,” she told Mom. “Why doesn't he just carry us?”

Z-Girl heard her.

“He could. But there are people inside. Stairs. Heavy things. See how he's keeping the deck level? We need everyone to get off safely.”

Maya pictured the bench sliding again. Grandpa beside it.

She stopped picturing it.

As they walked toward the crossing point, they passed close above Matchman. Water shone on his blue sleeve. He wasn't smiling now. His face was calm and watchful.

“My grandpa's in there,” Maya said. “In the blue shirt.”

“I see him.”

“If they take us away, will you remember?”

Matchman looked up at her.

“Once the boat is secure, I'll go in and get him myself. You can tell him that.”

Grandpa was still watching from the window.

Maya pointed at Matchman, then at Grandpa. Then she tapped two fingers against her palm.

Grandpa nodded.

Mom took her hand.

“Time to go.”

4. Back on Shore

The rescue boat pulled alongside the back of the sightseeing boat. The crew secured it and put a walkway with handrails between them. It still shifted a little underfoot.

A rescuer stood at one end. Z-Girl waited at the other, helping each passenger across.

Maya wanted to go last. As long as she stayed here, Grandpa was close.

But other people were waiting behind them.

She held Mom's hand tighter and stepped onto the walkway.

Halfway across, she looked down. Dark green water splashed between the white hulls.

She stopped.

“Look at me,” said Z-Girl.

Her blue-gloved hand rested on the rail.

Maya looked up, took a step, and felt firm deck beneath her shoes.

“There you go. Mom's right beside you.”

A sailor showed them to their seats. Maya turned back. Life jackets, shoulders, and waving arms almost hid Grandpa's window.

The rescue boat headed for the pier. Matchman stayed at the bow. Far away, he looked smaller than the letters painted on the boat.

That wasn't right. Someone holding a whole boat should look enormous.

On shore, rescuers helped them up the steps. A woman checked their names against a list and asked Mom if anyone needed help.

Mom told her about Grandpa.

“We know. He's with the crew. We'll meet him right here.”

They waited behind a barrier, beside a table with cups of water.

Maya reached into her pocket. Her life jacket had squashed the paper boat. She eased it out by the sail.

Half the word PASSENGER was damp from her hand.

5. While His Hands Were Full

From shore, Maya could see the tug edging closer.

A woman in a safety helmet stood at its bow, pointing out where a thick rope should go. Z-Girl had returned from the rescue boat. She lifted the rope's end and carried it across to a crewman, who fastened it to the sightseeing boat.

They needed another rope at the other end. Without it, the current could still swing the boat around.

Maya held her paper boat on her palm. It was easier to look at than the window.

“Why is it taking so long?”

Mom put an arm around her.

“So he can let go.”

Matchman eased the pressure of one hand. The boat began to turn. He pressed his palm back into place.

Almost nobody on the pier noticed.

Maya did.

He didn't hurry the crew. He kept holding on while Z-Girl and the sailors secured the second rope.

At last, the woman in the helmet raised her hand.

The tug's engine rumbled deeper. The ropes pulled tight. The sightseeing boat straightened and began moving away from the bridge.

Matchman took one hand away. Waited. Took away the other.

The boat didn't turn.

He flew beside it a few seconds longer, checking that the tug held it steady. Then he rose to the front deck.

Maya squeezed Mom's hand.

He landed beside the cabin door.

She couldn't hear what he said. Grandpa and the crew member stepped back. Matchman carefully freed the jammed door, then moved the bench out of the way.

Maya expected him to scoop Grandpa up and shoot across the sky.

But first they talked.

Then Grandpa raised his hand, as if he knew the answer in class.

Only then did Matchman lift him into his arms and rise gently above the deck. Z-Girl helped the crew member out to join the captain.

Nobody was trapped anymore.

The red cape above the river grew bigger and bigger.

6. Tap-tap

Matchman landed beside the rescuers, behind the barrier. He set Grandpa on his feet and steadied his elbow.

Maya waited until Mom and a rescuer opened the way. Then she ran to him.

She hugged him so tightly that he gasped.

“I think I'm being rescued again.”

Maya didn't laugh. She buried her face in his blue shirt. It smelled of the river and a little of his morning hand cream.

Grandpa stroked her hair. Mom put her arms around them both.

Matchman stepped back to give them room.

“You talked for ages,” Maya said at last. “Before you flew.”

“I asked if he was hurt. And whether he'd like a short flight.”

“And I asked if I'd need another ticket,” Grandpa added.

Now Maya laughed. Just a little.

A rescuer brought Grandpa water and offered him a seat. Maya sat beside him, the paper boat still on her palm.

Matchman crouched in front of them.

“Arrived safely?” Grandpa asked, nodding at the little sail.

Maya smoothed the crooked side.

“Arrived safely.”

She wanted to give Matchman the boat. Then she looked at Grandpa and changed her mind.

“I was going to give it to you… But could it stay with us?”

“Of course. It's yours.”

The tug sounded its horn. The sightseeing boat was safely moored, but the crew were still checking cabins and passenger lists. Matchman stood and raised a hand to Z-Girl.

“I need to help them finish.”

Maya nodded. Other families were still waiting on the pier.

Before he left, Matchman tapped two fingers lightly on the back of the bench.

Tap-tap.

Maya tapped back.

She kept the paper boat. She straightened its nose and settled it between herself and Grandpa.

Somewhere it couldn't sail away.