Inflatable

The inflatable boat is the last link in the chain of transport that carries Agnes Jemima and Nicole out of Gilead and into Canada. It is a small, motorized rubber raft, launched from the Nellie J. Banks in the Bay of Fundy after the schooner’s captain, fearing for his ship and crew, decides to offload his passengers early. The inflatable is equipped with a solar motor, two oars, and little else; it is meant to be a simple, quick crossing, but it becomes a desperate ordeal that tests the sisters to their limits.

Launch and Immediate Crisis

Captain Mishimengo lowers the inflatable down to the sisters in the dark, giving them a thermos and life jackets. He explains the motor’s controls—Power, Idle, Forward, Reverse—and tells them to head in at an angle to the tide, warning that cutting straight across could flip the boat. Nicole takes the helm, but almost immediately the tide grips the inflatable like a river, sweeping it sideways. The motor starts, but the crossing is far from smooth: the waves are very high, spray and water pour in on top of them, and the cold is like death. Agnes, who has never been in a boat before, is terrified; she prays silently, asking God to let only her die if someone must.

Motor Failure and the Rowing Ordeal

Midway across, the motor fails. Nicole diagnoses an electrical short or a low battery—the inflatable is now dead in the water. With the tide pulling them out to sea, the only option is to row. Nicole can use only her right arm because her left, infected from the microdot insertion, is swollen and useless. Agnes has never held an oar and feels clumsy and weak. Nicole shouts commands—"Put it in the oarlock!"—and Agnes, crying, tries to obey. They row for what feels like hours, the waves growing, the shore invisible in the fog. Nicole yells, "Row for your life!" and Agnes, though cramping and exhausted, keeps pulling. The inflatable tips sideways as a huge wave crashes into it, hurling them onto the rocks.

Landfall and Aftermath

The inflatable is destroyed on the shore, but the sisters are thrown onto land. Nicole, delirious with fever, hears Becka’s voice telling her to follow the lights. Ada and Garth are waiting on the cliff; Garth carries Nicole up the hill. The inflatable’s failure is later acknowledged by Elijah, who apologizes that the boat was supposed to take them into the harbour. The inflatable, a fragile, unreliable object, nearly kills them, but its very failure forces the sisters to row together, forging a bond that carries them through the final crisis. It is the last material obstacle between them and freedom, and its destruction marks the end of their physical escape from Gilead.