“Here comes our dear sailor. Just in time” a cheery comment from Finola with her hands interlocked over her bumpy belly. “Welcome sir, we’re extremely glad to see you again” Lola greeted the sailor who sailed them to the beach earlier in the day. Shortly afterwards, they all started moving their items into the boat.
As the boat was about taking off, the barrytone voice of Hank, as usual, got everyone’s attention “Do we have everyone on board?” “Absolutely” Thomas replied right after looking at everyone and checking all items on ground. So the boat took off and they headed back home.
With the expectation that the cloud would get brighter as they departed from the beach, they weren’t glad at the outcome. The boat kept sailing its along the strong tides of the waters under the sailor’s control (who navigated the boat from the extreme end) but the rest of the crew got a bit more concerned about the drops of water falling on their arms.
“Please tell me these are waters from the ocean’s splashes” Lola commented hoping to get an affirmative response. “I’m hoping it is too dear. But looks like showers from above”. Hank responded mildly. The ocean tides however got even stronger and the wind blew harder as they kept sailing along. This obviously kept the boat on a bumpy cruise.
Stronger drops of water began splashing on the boat, on their feet and it took the heavy rain pouring over them to realize the rain had eventually started. Now Lola’s anxiety grew stronger as she started looking sideways to her colleagues hoping to find some form of relief. “It’s alright Lola. We’ll be fine. We’ve all got our life jacket on remember.” Hank’s consoling words, Lola’s worries, however, grew even stronger as she reiterated having a strong phobia for the sea and ocean alike.
The drops of water falling got faster and the sight of the sailor grew dimmer. They couldn’t see far beyond ahead of them which gave the sailor a tougher challenge navigating his way through the water waves. With the sight of some water settling on the base of the boat from the rain, Thomas could not but voice out his thought. “I hope this boat has insurance coverage though” his rhetorical question got a swift response from Hank “I don’t think so sir”. “Great! You would know by the way…” Thomas faced Hank. “…since you organised this entire trip with an uninsured boat.
Please remind me to get my money back if anything happens to us on this boat” Thomas continued. “Well,” Finola interrupted the discussion. “If anything unexpected happens on this boat now, getting your money back would be our least concern”. The sudden quietness lasted for a few moments across the boat as the rain kept falling regardless.
Thomas picked up on his discussion where he left off as the rain waters dripped down from his face to his orange pumped-up life jacket. “Hank, I can’t imagine why you’d get us a boat without insurance in the first place”. With Thomas talking on and losing hold of Lola who was still struggling to hold on to one side of the boat, the unexpected occurred. The boat suddenly came to a halt after hitting a strong, unseen tide giving the boat an intense bump such that one of the passengers on the rear seat of the boat lost total grip, was thrown off out of the boat and into the ocean.
Suddenly, a straight blank moment of silence swept through the boat. Thomas himself was now short on words as his thoughts seemed to have come to reality. The sailor, not so bothered that the boat’s engine had gone off, dived into the water before anyone else could say or think about what to do, swimming straight ahead to meet Lola who was floating on the ocean and swaying alongside the waves. In a blink of moment, the sailor reached for Lola’s arm, pulling her closer to him as they swam back towards the boat.
As Hank stretched forth his hands to meet the sailor’s, Thomas’ hand was also stretched to meet Lola’s while Finola held tight to both sides of the boat such that it would take the boat capsizing to throw her into the waters. As Lola was brought back into the boat with the sailor, Hank took out a small towel from his bag and wrapped around Lola.
The sailor advised they wait a while for the rain to subside before they take off as this will consequently reduce the strong tides of the ocean. He also advised they pour some water off the boat while at it. Good for them all, the black clouds faded away a while later and the sky was quite brighter than it was before they took off from the beach.
The rain lasted for less than an hour from their takeoff to the moment they all agreed to continue sailing home. Everyone kept checking on Lola to be sure she was alright till the boat got to their initial pickup point earlier that day.
Finola, however maintained her grip on the boat’s sides all along. “This is definitely a cruise to never forget in my life, thanks to you Hank. Hope you’re alright Lola?” Thomas tried closing the entire experience on his remarks. “Guess I should be asking you the same question Tom” Hank capped it all as they all bided themselves for the day, parted and headed off to their various homes.
Micheal Tadese
photo credit: pixabay