We just hold each other tightly and let the canoe carry us swiftly down the wide, pitch-black channel.

It’s a beautiful and hypermodern craft, from the colonel’s own private collection. The powerful outboard motor eats up the long miles. I can steer it and hold P.J. at the same time. She feels very good in my arms.

In the canoe behind us, Gisco and Mudinho ride together. As the lights of the city glimmer closer, Mudinho slows their canoe and Gisco raises a paw in unexpected farewell.

I wave back, and ask him telepathically: Aren’t you coming with us?

I may catch up with you eventually, Gisco answers. But this loyal lad saved my life, and a dog always repays a debt. In a little village by a mountain lake there’s a mother living in grief because her eight-year-old son was stolen by drug bandits. I’m going to help bring him home.

I understand, I tell him. I hope you find her. It’s a noble thing to try. Godspeed.

Yes, a truly selfless errand of mercy, Gisco agrees. But I do hear she’s the best cook in her village. Mudinho says she can do things with roast pork that are miraculous, and her chicken with pumpkin seeds is beyond compare. So off I go on my mission of self-sacrifice. Au revoir.

They veer off one way, and we go the other. Mudinho steers their canoe with his right hand and waves with his left. Gisco watches me with sad eyes and then stands on his hind legs and blows a kiss at P.J.

“That’s some dog,” P.J. observes softly.

“One of a kind,” I agree. “And some boy, too. I think they’re going to do okay together.”

We watch till their canoe grows tiny in the distance.

The sky is lightening to the east. A new dawn is breaking over the treetops. I press my cheek to P.J.’s and confess, “It’s strange, considering what we’ve been through, but I’ve gotten to like this glorious rain forest.”

“I’m ready for home,” she whispers back. Then I feel her shiver. “What about us, Jack? How are we going to do together? Do you think we can ever really go home, or get back what we had?” Doubt and fear sharpen her whisper. “That monster survived. And the wizard. And Eko, too. It’s not over. It may never be over.”

I hold her closer, and plant the softest of kisses on her neck. “It’s over for me.”