“Kenya! Wake up! Wake up!” Michael said as he shook me being careful so that the log wouldn’t tip. I woke up from my slumber.

“What? What is it?” I asked feeling much better after my nap.

“Look!” Michael said as he pointed behind me. I twisted my neck around to see what he was pointing at.

There was a small row boat with one man –an old man – rowing it.

“Hey! Hey!” Michael called as he waved his arms, “Over here!”

“Over here! Over here!” I joined in as I started waving my arms frantically. As I did so, I lost my balance and fell into the water. Michael laughed at me and then helped me back up. As we were doing so, the man in the row boat looked at us and began rowing towards us.

“Well hello there,” the man greeted in a groggy voice. I was right. He was old. He had almost no hair on his head. He was on the plumper side of the scale and he had tons of wrinkles! I wondered what a random old man was doing on a row boat in the middle of the ocean... how has his boat not capsized by now?

“Hello there sir, do you have room for two more?” Michael asked politely. The man smiled and then nodded.

“Hop on in!” he said. Michael and I both exchanged glances and smiled at each other.

“You get in first Kenya, I’ll help you,” Michael told me as he aided me into the boat.

“Oh thank you so much! You have no idea what we’ve been through!” I told him as I got in. Michael climbed in after me and the man started rowing again and we left our log behind.

“So, what’s your name?” I asked him politely.

“Richard,” he replied. I smiled.

“That’s a nice name! I’m Kenya, and this is Michael,” I introduced.

“Father and daughter?” he asked. Michael and I exchanged glances again. Michael turned back to him and smiled.

“Yeah, father and daughter,” he said as he wrapped a protective arm around me. I smiled. Having his arm around me felt like a whole new level of protection.

As we continued to row Richard continued to poke me at random times with his finger. At first, I didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to be rude, but after awhile I was starting to get annoyed. If I didn’t say something soon, I’d burst and say something that I definitely wouldn’t have meant to have said! It would probably get us kicked off and we’d be back in the ocean with no hope.

“Um... Richard?” I asked. He looked at me. Michael looked at me too. This was the first time in awhile that there was finally some more conversation. It had been pretty quiet for about two hours or so.

“Yes?” he asked.

“Can you please stop poking me with your finger?” I asked. He smiled a wide grin at me and raised his eyebrows up and down.

“I can poke you with something else baby,” he said in the creepiest creeper voice ever! I turned and looked at Michael.

“Switch seats with me!” I begged. Michael shook his head.

“No way! I don’t want to be poked with that ‘something else’!” Michael told me.

“Michael! C’mon! He’s not going to! You’re a boy!” I whispered so that Richard couldn’t hear me.

“Hey! Who knows? He might go gay for me. A lot of guys do,” Michael said. I groaned.

“So much for being a father figure! A father would switch seats with me!” I told him sternly. Michael smiled.

“I’m only a selective father figure,” he told me. I rolled my eyes and looked back at Richard who still had that creepy look on his face. I managed a weak smile and then looked away.

The more I thought of the situation I was in, the weirder I thought that it was! I was sitting in a row boat –which is totally unsafe – in the middle of the ocean with some crazy old man and a ‘dead’ superstar! I felt like I would just wake up any second, as if this was just a big dream. I mean, it seemed so weird. I got on a plane to Hawaii, it crashed and only me and some stranger survived. I found out later that the stranger is Michael Jackson and then we fight. A lot. We get attacked by a jaguar and we build a raft and set sail. We got attacked by sharks. I had to drink urine. We got saved. Ahem, I got saved. I went back for Michael and got caught by pirates. We got to walk the plank and live on a log for about a day. Finally, we get saved again but this time by some nutcase! Yup. Still weird.

“Hey! Do you catch fish?” Michael asked as he examined a fishing rod that was hidden near the side of the boat. Richard nodded.

“I sure do! But that’s not all I catch...” he said as he gave me a weird look.

I want off. Now.

“Oh really? How do you cook them?” Michael asked. He pulled out a small gas powered burner and a tiny little pan.

“On this,” he replied. I looked at it from the corner of my eye. I was pretending not to listen. The gas burner seemed a little dangerous in a wooden row boat, but whatever. I was hungry and thirsty so I wasn’t going to complain!

“Well, while you row I could fish if you’d like! I could try ad get us all something to eat!” Michael offered. Richard smiled.

“Thank you! That would be lovely!” Richard thanked him. Michael smiled.

“No problem!” he said as he pulled out the fishing gear and started fishing. Just the thought of the fish made my mouth water. Mmm... food... Even if he didn’t have the gas burner I’d eat the fish raw! The Japanese do it don’t they? We could do it too! After all, we have the seaweed for the sushi. All we’d be missing is the avocado, rice, and other extras. But we have the seaweed and fish, so I’d say that it’s a win!

All of a sudden, Richard started dancing wildly in the row boat, almost causing it to tip!

“Whoa! Richard! What are you doing?!” Michael asked in a panic as he tried to stabilize the boat.

“Y.O.L.O!” Richard screamed excitedly. Michael looked at me with a confused look.

“What does-“

“It means You Only Live Once,” I replied, “It’s a new trend going around,” I explained.

“Oh,” Michael said. Richard continued dancing around. Michael pulled him down.

“Richard, Richard... please...” Michael said.

“Y.O.L.O!” Richard screamed again. I leaned in to Michael and whispered in his ear,

“If he says Y.O.L.O one more time I swear to God I’m going to pull out a gun and say: Sadly...” I told him. Michael chuckled.

“Do it,” Michael told me. We both laughed. Richard continued rocking the boat like a maniac.

“I don’t speak German but I can if you like... Aaow!” Richard said in a girly high pitch voice in an effort to sound like Lady Gaga.

“Oh God,” I muttered under my breath as I leaned on one elbow. Richard started tapping his foot to the beat of the song that was going through his head.

“Ra-ra-ra-a-a! Roma-ro-ma-ma Ri-chard-ri-ri-chard! Want your bad romance!” Richard sang.

“Oh God is right,” Michael agreed as Richard continued singing as he resumed rowing.

“Well look on the bright side, at least he isn’t dancing anymore!” I told Michael. Michael smiled.

“Yeah, but I think I like that better then his singing,” Michael told me honestly. I laughed.

About an hour later Michael had caught two fish. Richard had one for his own and Michael and I shared the other. I had to admit, that was the best fish I’ve eating in a long time! Probably because that’s the first thing I’ve eaten in a long time! Michael let out a long yawn.

“Oh man, I think I’m going to catch a few winks,” Michael told me as he made himself comfortable. My heart raced.

“No! No! Don’t leave me with... him,” I begged. Michael chuckled.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be fine, Kenya,” Michael assured me as he dozed off. I looked back at Richard who was now just humming and rowing.

This was going to be a long boat ride.