For those who make my dreams real and my nightmares only memories.
The black satin skies seemed to stretch on forever as diamond stars twinkled with anticipation. The shaken water did not reflect the sky but slowly the sky seemed to be winning. In a moments breath the waves were broken and water was pulled up along the sides of a boat that cut through the night. The wind took this boat wherever the captain wished, with no motor to reverberate in the silence. The boat left turmoil in its wake and the water was left swirling in petulant circles like galaxies colliding. Slowly the wind died down and almost too soon did the boat come to a drifting stop out in what seemed like an endless sea. Not even the thought of land was anywhere in sight or mind. The water seemed to be like glass with an eerie accuracy almost like a mirror into the abyss.
George emerged from the cabin bleary eyes and stumbling, it took a few moments for him to right himself and walk in a strait line across the polished wooden deck. Silence seemed to close in around the boat with a deafening roar and the vast expansion of water on all sides of the boat seemed smaller. Reaching the wheel he gave a smirk at what he saw before him. Since the boat had pretty much stopped and there was no chance of running into something way out here. Hannah sat wish her back up against the rail and her head lolled to the side in sleep.
George gently nudged her with his foot; too tired to bother with boots he had walked across the warm deck bare foot. Hannah made an annoyed sound and opened one startling blue eye to focus on George.
“Go down in the cabin and sleep we aren’t moving anyway” He said softly, looking past her to the sea.
The millions of stars across the vast sky seemed almost intangible.
Hannah not one to complain just nodded and pulled herself to her feet making her way down into the cabin to go back to sleep. She gave one loud yawn before disappearing below deck and falling face first onto her cot.
George ran his fingers over the wood of the helm, how many miles has this wood seen. How many places had this ship been in only 5 years since he had built it with his own two hands? Did this ship feel the love that was crafted right into its very woodwork?
Hannah had already pulled down the limp sail and the boat seemed more open than before. He ran his fingers along the wood as he walked past the helm where the wood turned to a low wire railing across the edge. Walking all 40 feet of Last Chance seemed all to short. George stood at the bow looking out.
His eyes gazed up at the diamond sky with almost a feeling of regret. He loved the sea with a passion not even Hannah could understand. But how could she, the sky was her place, not the sea. She loved to fly, into sunsets and moon rises. Over oceans and deserts where endless was the only word to describe them. The sky was her home; maybe that’s how he started to call her Angel. Not the mushy my love, my dear, my sweet, she fully deserved the name.
It was I who watched her plane plummet 2000 feet to the ground he thought. It was I who saw her barely make it out of the cockpit before the plane smashed into the ground with such force that the explosion was thrown up into the sky. It was I who saw that Angel plummet to the earth and live to see another day; it was on that day I started to build my boat with her in mind for the name. His mind reeled.
George smiled faintly, the sky and the ocean met tonight in a place of unison and not torrent. They reflected each other and in the darkness both gleamed with startling beauty.
The crescent moon has risen just off of port side and cast a pale glow upon the water. With a sigh he leaned back against the mast pole. Last Chance was going to make a trip around the world. Connecting the world together and making it seem that much smaller. But out here where the sky and the sea were one… The world seemed too endless to even think of it as anything less than breathtaking.
 Desert--Mirage · Wed Jun 13, 2007 @ 05:10am · 3 Comments |
