My clothes disintegrated, victims of the sun and the salt.
First they became gauze-thin. Then they tore until only theseams were left. Lastly, the seams broke. For months I livedstark naked except for the whistle that dangled from my neckby a string.
Salt-water boils – red, angry, disfiguring – were a leprosyof the high seas, transmitted by the water that soaked me.
Where they burst, my skin was............