The kids followed Hunter out to sea and watched his perfect strokes in and across the water from the perches of their kayaks.

Cleanest air you’ll ever find out here, Hunter said. And the city kids, who’d never been out from the land further than they could touch their feet flat on the sand, believed him. They didn’t question him even when he paddled away from the school-shirt blue waters and into the shadows of seaweed and kelp. They didn’t ask him if it was safe; he went first and they followed. And it was mostly safe.