YellowSubmarine #11

"MAN OVERBOARD!"

It was a faint cry amid the howling rain and the raging ocean, but it was unmistakable to anyone who had earned their sea legs.

"WHERE?"

"PORT STERN"

"GET THAT LIGHT ON 'IM, HEX!"

"AYE SIR!"

"THE LIGHT!!!"

The Captain made his way to the rear of the ship. No easy task between the bucking of the ship and the cross spray. Out of nowhere...

"Fuck! Jesus! God Damned Mother Fucker Cocksucking ass ramming bag of putrid monkey splooge!"

Over the years the Captain had acquired the sailor's penchant for colorful language along with his sea legs. This latest outburst was provoked because the boom had come loose and was flailing about the desk threatening to broadside anyone who came by at the wrong moment. At least that explained the overboard.

"SOMEBODY SECURE THAT BLOODY BOOM!"

He made a slide and caught the rail at the stern of the ship.

"SLUGGO, STEER US INTO THE WAVES, WE DON'T WANT TO TAKE IT ON THE SIDES!

WHERE THE HIGH HOLY FUCK IS THAT LIGHT?"

A beam shone onto the water, panning it erratically until it came to rest on a single dark mass, floating in the water. The winch was primarily used for towing tubes or other boats. The captain had something entirely different in mind. He took the line from the winch and looped it through the gunwhale, then secured the line around his waist.

"KEEP THAT LIGHT GOING!"

SLUGGO, I NEED YOU TO WAIT FOR TWO TUGS, THEN BRING US IN ON HALF THROTTLE"

A gust of wind blows him off balance and he falls into the water. At first he is shocked at the coldness, but he quickly aclimates and regains his wits. He heads for the light and puts as much distance between him and the boat as possible. no use getting dashed by a wave on the side of my own boat

"I LOST HIM CAPTAIN!"

"HOLD THAT LIGHT!"

When he reached the light he dove straight down and tried to feel for a body. The swell of a wave lifted him and it's passing drew him deeper into the darkness. DAMN IT! ITS DRAWING HIM AWAY!!! With new frenzy he searched and searched the waves. As time passed, despair grew. The waves kept swallowing him and spitting him back up. When he wasn't submerged, the rain bit and stung his face and his teeth were chattering, despite his valiant efforts to clench his jaw.

He knew the longer the both of them were out there the farther they got from the boat, and the longer they stayed in the water, the closer they came to drowning or hypothermia. Lord, its me again. You know I'd never ask for my own salvation, but this kid has been in the water for too long already. Heaven help us if something were to happen to him. I know I'd never forgive myself. Please Lord, if you're listening, he needs your help. We need your help. Mercifully, he found a limp, heavy object floating on the surface. He wrapped one arm around it and gave two hard yanks on the line. He felt a tug. That meant the winch was working and the line was holding. They'd be in the cabin soon. He felt for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there.

When the winch finally pulled them to the boat the two yeomen pulled their comrades aboard. Hex immediately began performing CPR despite the pitch and roll of the ship. After a minute, the body once again became animated, wretching sea water and coughing as if it was taking in air for the first time.

"GET HIM TO THE CABIN WITH THE REST OF THEM. ASK THE DOCTOR TO LOOK AFTER HIM AND DON'T LET SHOCK SET IN! I WANT HIM TO DIE EIGHTY YEARS OLD IN FRONT OF A FIREPLACE! HE WILL NOT DIE ON MY SHIP!"

"AYE, SIR!" Hex dragged the motionless body into the cabin and the captain set about securing the boom.

"THE CHARON WILL NOT FERRY US OVER THOSE EVIL WATERS THIS NIGHT, SLUGGO! HA HA! WE WILL NOT MAKE THAT JOURNEY TONIGHT! KEEP HEADING HER INTO THE WAVES!"
_____

In the cabin sat three couples, warm, if not entirely comfortable. The violence of the motion was impossible to escape, as was the constant drumming of the rain against the cabin roof.

Of the three couples, One was made up of two Constitutional Lawyers. The second was comprised of a Doctor and a school teacher. The last couple was a civil engineer and a nuclear physicist.They were all heading to their new home on the newly independent commonwealth of Bornemania, a string of islands off the coast of Peru. It was a truly novel form of government. It was meant as a haven for the enlightened and citizenship was restricted to the best and the brightest. The captain was one of the founding fathers. Currently they were still developing and so the captain granted citizenship to certain friends of his and was taking personally taking them to their new country via his own yacht to aid in its development. Only one of the couples had made the trip by sea before and they had made that passage with clear sailing. The atmosphere in the cabin was thick with apprehension.

The door opened and along with a gallon or two of rain water, two men descended, one being carried by the other. It was Hex and Dominic.

"Make room on the bed for him, and one of you grab some blankets! Doctor, if you wouldn't mind..." The tone of Hex' voice insisted obedience. Hex immediately undressed him and a blanket was shortly draped around his shoulders. Hex removed a flask from his hip and applies it to Dominic's lips.

"The captain has a policy, but I think he'll make an exception in this case."

Dominic moaned his appreciation.

"The captain doesn't like alcohol?" Asked the school teacher.

"Quite the contrary, he just doesn't allow drinking in stormy seas."

The teacher sighed in relief. "Well, that's reassuring that he'd want everyone's head about them. Or is it a sea sickness thing?"

"Not at all miss! He just says it sloshes the Brandy!"

Her eyes became wide and her face turned green.

Not another word was spoken for hours. Hex nursed Dominic and the three couples huddled together praying collectively for their safety. In that time the seas calmed and the boat began to steady. The cabin door opened again and in walked the Captain.

"That's the worst of it. I apologize for any ill-comfort. It can get pretty feisty around the horn. I guess its just bad karma. That's what I get for sailing under the Jolly Roger.

"How's he doing Hex?"

"He'll make it."

"Excellent. I need you to relieve me on deck. I'll be up shortly to relieve Sluggo, and you can tell him I said that."

"Aye, Sir."

"And Hex, good job."

"Thank you, Sir." Hex disappeared above the stairs.

"How are all of you? I see you made it through the storm in tact, but how are your nerves?"
_________

Wait. Stop. You know guys, I'm reading over this and its just a real crap piece of writing. It has promise, but it reads like I'm just screwing around.

I apologize for not being able to deliver a better piece. I've just been distracted is all.

The question was what do we want to do before we die? I had the idea to fictionalize an account of a ship at sea. I've always wanted to design and build my own yacht, under sail. I've always loved travelling and seeing new places. I moved around a lot as a kid and of my siblings, I was the one who took the constant upheaval most gracefully. I realize now that I didn't care where my house was because my home was always where my family was.

No matter how awful the first day of a new school was, or how terrible the kids in the new neighborhood were, we could always go home and have three other kids we had known each other most of our lives to commiserate with and to defend us.

It's always been like this. Even when I was homeless, I had a home. Even though I live in a completely different part of the country, I can always travel back to the central part of California and there lies my family waiting for me. Its been a source of peace and strength for me all my life.

I'm going back again tuesday afternoon to say good bye.

My brother will be leaving for boot camp on the twenty-seventh. My little sister will leave for college this fall. My elder sister is about to undergo serious treatment for a variety of cancers she has been living with for years now.

Up until now, my family has by and large stayed close to each other. When my sister moved out, she was five miles away. When I moved out, I was seven miles away. Same for my brother. Aside from moving all the way out here, my family has always been 'within spittin' distance' as they'd say in the south. All except for me, and I go back to visit frequently.

But now with all the change that will happen over the next few months, my family will be breaking up. That single source of strength and serenity will be no more. The rock of my salvation will have finally crumbled.

I'm sure we'll share gossip on occasion, and send christmas cards to each other's families, but that unity, that togetherness won't be there anymore. It was the same story with my dad's family.

Gone will be my big sister's good natured grin. No more cutting her off in the middle of one of her sermons to annoy her by correcting her bible passages. No more making fun of her church clothes and getting 'socked' for it. No more sneaking our own alcohol into the house and throwing parties for our mutual friends.

Gone will be my brother's sarcasm and dominance of almost every video game except the fighting games where I reign supreme. Gone are the times when I could smeell something burning in his room and then laugh at him for frying another processor in a vain attempt to overclock it. My brother and I have no secrets from each other. We used to share a bunk-bed and we'd have something called 'midnight discussions' where we'd stay up til dawn or climb out onto the roof to talk about girls, cars, and what we would do with a million dollars.

No more fudgy no-bakes when my little sister sees you're having a bad day. No more 'Hug letters' written in purple marker on her notebook paper, simply signed 'Angel'. No more giggle fits where she can't breath because she's laughing too hard, or bear hugs that pop her back.

No more lording secrets over each other, sticking up for each other, knock-down drag out fights with my brother for no good reason. None of my dad's guilt-inducing hypochondria or sneaking food to the dogs during the big family dinners around the table. No more bonding playing jeopardy.

I'm going to California because it will possibly be the last time that everyone in the family will be together for a long, long time.

If I've been a little distracted its because for the first time in my life I don't have any place to come home to. Without that, where's the joy in wandering? I have just lately realized that although I've been through a lot of experiences, seen a lot of places both dark and bright, and I've wandered all over the country, none of it matters without some place you can call home to come back to.

Next week, when I return from California, I will be homeless for the first time in my life.