Ailey Baker

Cesario will never be lost.

And I realize if I'm facing an encounter of ingredients, even me, who worked three summers in a bakery, baking 95 loaves of bread a day, I will never be able to bake something resembling bread.

And so finally the night comes when I'm gonna tell Cesario my star points and I'm feeling really jazzed.

I'm sailing the, you know, I've got the paddle and I'm moving forward and all of a sudden I look down and water is rushing into the bunk and I realize our boat is about to sink.

And it all happened so quickly, it's so surreal.

The sails are down, people are starting to bail frantically using anything they can get.

The boat is filling with water and we're tipping and all of a sudden the left side of the boat is underwater and things are floating away.

Our oven, our pots and pans, my sleeping bag, everything is just drifting away.

And I'm scrambling to find life jackets to give to people and I fall and my leg is bleeding and all of a sudden I freeze because all I can think about is the satellite phone that's in the captain's box.

And I know that it's cheating, and I know that it's going against everything Cesario has taught me.

And I know that as soon as I call that phone, I'm bringing my world of technology rushing into this wonderful world that we've created.

But I can't stop myself.

Cesario, are you going to call someone?

and he stops bailing and he looks up to me on the high side of the canoe and he doesn't say anything and I feel horrible.

I know that this has been my test and I just failed.

The sun is rising and he climbs up to the top of the canoe and for the very first time in my life, he gives me a hug.

And I don't know at first whether it's a hug that he wants to give for a child or someone out of pity, but he turns to me and he says, Ailey, everything is going to be okay.

Keep an open mind and a clear head and everything will be fine.

And in that moment, I don't know that we're going to be picked up in six hours by a cargo ship.

And I don't know that by midnight, we're going to be back on dry land.