“The winds we face will not be kind.” Said the Captain as though reading Eddy’s mind.
“Down right mean Cap’n.” replied Eddy. “But rested I will be fit for the challenge sir.” He added.
“Aye Steersman…Aye…You know your way well….that’s easy to tell.”
PEDWAR
And before the good ship Mist of Dreams was but an hours from sight of the Falklands the sea and the wind began a new song…sweet for a moment but hidden behind the sweetness was lament and beyond that whispers of rage.
And with the passing hours to days and near on a week the swell of the Atlantic as it faced challenge with the Pacific grew shorter and deeper and the wind changed from tack to tack by the hour so that the steersman…not Eddy was taxed to his limit for he had but short experience upon the sea and none in the sea and wind of the cape.
So Eddy was beckon on deck and soon it began….and soon both steersmen were waiting for the raging winds of the Dark Passage...
“A storm comes Cap’n.” Eddy warned and the rudder is complaining. Fore long we’ll need a third set of hands to hold our course.”
“I am not above lending an old skill. Beckon me when the time is upon us.” Captain Leonardo replied earnestly.
“And what of our passengers Cap’n?”
“We’ve tucked them safely below and out of our way and the crew below deck is tightened down as well…including that wonderful cook…”
“Then we are in fair shape and no wind or wave or thunder breaker will spoil our course.” Cheered Eddy.
And the hours passed. And the winds twirled and twisted and the sea bound lifting the ship on high and dropping it into the valleys ever growing deeper as the watery mountains grew higher.
Still three men grasping the wheel held the ship a right or righted it when it turned or listed and the rain drove into their faces and the prow hung over their heads frighteningly near the point of floundering.
“There’ll be no vitals this night Mr. Tall.” Said the captain.
“But we ate well for breakfast and luncheon sir…so we’ll do well until all this blows by…then we can all feast and rest until the strange winds of the Easter Islands challenge us again.” Came a cheerful…frightened response from Eddy Tall.
“”From where you came Mr. Tall I know not but where ever it was I am glad you came to this vessel for you are our grace.” Complimented the Captain.
“I hail from the Lake of Mists is all I can say. How I came to be here is beyond my know. And sir I am glad to be in your company for you are a good skipper.” Replied Eddy.
Then………
PUM
A storm exploded…rain, wind, and finally hail that hammered the sheets relentlessly until two of the foresails were torn and the mizzen was nearly ripped completely from the mast. The mountains of wave tossed the great ship about like a toothpick yet for all the beating the Mist Of Dreams held together and the crew bravely kept her righted for long…long hours, but time proved to be an enemy none could withstand and it was certain the sailors would soon have spent their strength…And just as that moment seemed to be upon them the storm abated and the Mist of dream found itself in irons and not a breath of wind to be found.
“Well now tossed and twisted or lollygagging in irons!” Exclaimed the Captain. “Which is worse would you say Helmsman Tall.”
“For a time dead air is suitable…but not long…just enough for a good rest for the crew and passengers and a moment to mourn seaman Crans who was thrown from the nest minutes before the storm abated. But now I think the sea owes us a fair wind all the way to the Easters.” Eddy Tall answered…an answer that was received with a hearty bout of laughter from the Captain, mates and crew.
“The sea will give no quarter to the likes of us if she wills it not. She takes….and takes and rare have I heard that she gives and…I see on the horizon another mast and in these waters that can only mean trouble, especially if it is a Spaniards mast I see.” Said the Captain…Then… “All hands to stations…open the gun ports and load your canons. Better that we be ready even if our guest is friendly rather than caught asleep and vulnerable.”
And it was best that the Captain so ordered because the ship that camest, though no Spaniard hoisted and even greater threat upon its mast. “A Pirate’s banner!!!” Cried the first mate.
“There’s a wind. Set sails abound and if we can before they are upon us….flee for we are a pleasure craft not a warship and with but 10 canons we should put up a meager fight for one ship let alone three.”
And then…The Mist of Dreams crashed upon a stand of rocks barely beneath the surface of the calm sea and she sank…with all hands and crew…
“But is it not strange Cap’n that none perished and all found a way to this island seemingly casting up from the bottom of the sea to collect us?” Eddy Tall inquired. “And all being cast ashore on the same beach.” He added.
“Tis indeed strange!” Said his Lordship as he approached and a damn fool place to be when all rests on my attending business on the Easters.”
“Well my Lord Larkenwhite. It seems we’re all here stuck with other important places to be and it seems unlikely any shall find us soon or even later. And I might think that here as a matter of order Cap’n Leonardo has the rank and command….not you.” Belted out the first mate whose name was Alderfen…Sonny Alderfen.
The look on his Lordships face would have made an excellent cartoon for a political tabloid. He turned and stumped away.
CHWEECH
Sleep…It came with sunset and was good because beside Eddy lay his beloved Sarah though in the hours they had been together on that beach far from nowhere and marooned with 50 others she had had not spoken a word to him or any one. It was as though she was mute…..and….it seemed…..deaf for she did not respond to his or any others words directed toward her. She just stood or sat staring with that familiar sweet smile upon her lips.
But when they laid on the sand Sarah curled up at his side folding into his arms and together fell asleep in bliss.
And the sun rose, bright against a clear blue sky with the golden rays glinting off gentle waves edging into shore….a shore that was much smaller than the night before.
Eddy woke to see the island had grown smaller and to his utter dismay there remain but he and his silent Sarah who continued to stare and smile.
Though distressed by what had occurred in the night Eddy was plagued with hunger and thirst and nothing to quench either for the five trees left on the island bore no fruit and the pool of fresh water had been long swallowed by the sea.
And where had the others gone…gone…abandoning his wife and himself…left to die…of thirst…long before starvation could claim them.
But a gruesome…morbid thought passed into his mind that would at least give sustenance to Sarah…or would have had he not stood there at that very moment to watch as she faded and rained in sparkles into the sand and there quickly washed away by the incoming, relentless assault of the tide.
“I will neither starve nor die of thirst at this rate. I shall be drowned when I can no longer keep my body a float or…a worse fate…be eaten by sharks…yes…I saw sharks….just before the ship struck the rocks.
This is insane.”
Eddy fell to his knees. “Of course. This is all an illusion or would that be delusion…Ah but what does it matter…my brain has broken…shattered completely…or I am locked in a macabre nightmare or…or what…or maybe I am…well…maybe this is hell…purgatory…maybe I should scream. Would it serve any purpose? Probably not.
And the island grew smaller until there was but a thin strip of sandy beach encircling a mound of grey jagged rocks on which stood 5 useless trees.
Eddy climbed up on the rocks and waited for the beach to be consumed by the tide then waited a little longer until the sea climbed half way up the rocks. Then in a desperate act to have an end to the nightmare…because now he was convinced a nightmare it was he threw himself into th
e sea and dove deep until there was no more air to keep his lungs which filled with the briny froth of sea water…
Little by little though as the seconds passed it grew on him with an admiring quickness life in Eddy’s body ebbed and then….darkness…..
SAITH
The little boat bobbed gently on the rippling water of the lake. Eddy opened his eyes and set his gaze on the rustic log cabin…the hide-away…where he and Sarah had escaped over many a year when the world outside became too great to bear. She… Sarah stood upon the dock…waving….smiling sweetly.
“I’ll bring in a trout my love”…he called out and cast a line into the shimmer lake water.
In only a minute or two Eddy cheered in triumph as he reeled in a trout just the right size to accommodate a meal for two.
Quickly he laid the fish on the bottom of the boat and rowed to the dock and happily carried the catch inside for his beloved Sarah to cook.
Alas…though there was a fire in the cook stove and a frying pan warming on a hot plate nicely oiled…and there was a lemon, an onion and some ginger sliced and ready to cook up the fish in there was no Sarah.
“Ah she must be out fetching water…or more wood” Thought Eddy as he quickly cleaned the fish…and when Sarah had not returned when he finished Eddy place the fish and all the fixings into the pan to start it cooking.
While he watched the trout sizzling in the pan he thought about the Cap’n and the Mist of Dreams…the deserted island and the