One More Night

One More Night

A shorter story by Jay LeBorgne © 2014

The boy aloft in the crow’s nest calls out, “land ahead,” as the ship breaks from three days of fog.  The sun is long set–I can see the shoreline aglow from the beach fires welcoming this long weary crew.  None as weary as her First Officer, his last night at sea.  The last night with this smelly, fine, crackerjack crew.

The Captain sleeps while I dream.  I dream of Abigail, my love of near a quarter century.  My love for life and the reason for my existence.  She waits for one more night.  I am as elated as I am tired.

The crew ready.

“Helmsman, Right 10 Degrees Rudder,” I bellow though the wind does not warrant such a voice.

“Rudder 10 Degrees Right, Sir,” he responds sharply.

I am tired, too tired to continue anything but dream of the life that awaits me with my beloved Abigail.

“Chief, prepare sails for anchor.”

“Aye, sir,” he growls before he barks his orders to the seamen.

All I can see is her light ashen hair blowing in the breeze that I struggle to hear over the commands.  I stand erect just beside the wheel, the helmsman starts to whistle a bawdy tune.  My mind snaps to attention to avoid allowing the tune to defile the vision of my beloved Abigail.  Time has stopped for me but the sails are furled.

“She’s ready, Lieutenant,” the Chief almost whispers.

“Thank you, Chief.  All hands bring ship to anchor!”

She is ready.  “Let go!” I shout for the final time.

The anchor runs to coastal depth until it hits sand.  The ship slowly rests to drift.  Waters calm.

“Set the watch,” commands the Chief in his less-than-mellow tone.  “Crew to muster.”

Unexpectedly the men gather in a loose group in front of me.  The Chief speaks softly, “Sir, we would like to say how much we’ll be missin’ you as First Mate.  You’ve been a fair commander, Sir…well, we just wanted to let you know, Sir.”  The Chief was slightly teary-eyed.  He is a fine old sailor.

“Well, thank you, Chief.”  I attempt to choke back my emotions.  “I too, would like to extend my gratitude to each and every one of you men.  I’ve been at this a lifetime and you are the finest crew an officer could ever hope to have under his command.  Each of you made me the officer that I am.  Thank you.  And I mean every word.  It is one thing to be the leader of men but it also takes good men like yourselves for me to be that leader.  Carry on, Chief.  Good night, men.”

“Fair winds and following seas, Sir,” they respond in well-practiced unison.  They all depart to their places.  I cannot understand their mumblings.

After briefing the Captain and a farewell toast with him, I lay to my stateroom and make my final journal entry.

     Ships anchored awaiting morning tide.  All hands present and accounted for.  All is well.

     Lieutenant William Dunlop Smithson, First Officer, Sailing Ship Oak Leaf Cluster

     This the 5^th Day of June in the year of Our Lord, Eighteen Hundred Ninety-five

I doubt I will sleep soundly.  The ship turns toward the shore and again and through my portal I see the beach fires burning, lighting an otherwise dark land.  The stars are finally visible, the air crisp with a soft wind.

And Abigail’s ashen hair wisps across her face as she smiles brightly.  Her hazel eyes glimmer in the sunlight…

One more night.

 

What’s your story?

When it comes to telling your story, do you know what experiences you have that will tell the world about what made you who you are?

I read an article earlier today about an answer Mike “Dirty Jobs” Rowe gave in response to an interview question.  It had to do with not following your passion in life if it doesn’t prove successful in sustaining your life (of course that’s my take on it).

I’ve already proven to myself that my passion for writing stories and painting pictures will NEVER pay the bills, it shall remain a minor focus, part time at best.  There are a few reasons for this.  First, I work a little over 40 hours per week (no complaints, I’m blessed to have a low-paying job while others struggle to get work).  Second, although I have been writing for many years, I have not been properly trained in literature (specifically, creative writing) and therefore, will not appeal to very many (outside of my favorite people–very common folks).  My audience is and will remain limited.  And then, there’s the fact that it is important for me to follow God’s path for me with life, family and friends.  There is no guarantee that being an author is in my future but I will give it my best shot and see what happens.

After reading Mike’s response, I remembered when a friend asked me why I ever thought I could be a writer and what in the world would I know enough to write about.  I thought about my experiences in life (1) and how that could be a factor in helping me write (there are many stories, my friends).  I told my friend that would not be the problem.  The problem would be how I could accomplish it.

I’ve studied a few things here and there but I haven’t taken writing courses, yet.  In jobs as analyst and for reports writing, the style is very different from writing a book–the “government style guide” is quite different. With the knowledge I have, it would probably be easier to write a how-to book than a story book but I’m not in this for easy, I’m in it for creativity sake–an outlet for what’s inside my mind.  I already have a few stories that I’m working on.  What I have found in my research is that I can utilize skills from jobs and experiences I’ve had over the years, coupled with human observation, to put into characters.  Also in my research, it has been told to me that I should, “write how I speak,” and “just let it flow because you or someone else can fix it later.”  So, that’s my plan or was my plan.

Recently, I became a publisher.  I knew nothing about creating ebooks or printed books.  I had a couple of unknown writers provide me their books a few months ago; to learn about the processes, I bought ebooks and searched the internet for articles and blogs, and I viewed a few YouTube videos for information on self-publishing.  As of yesterday, I have three books with several sales on Amazon.com, in Kindle format and one of those on Createspace for print.  Oh, and I have this here blog website.  I had to learn to set up a website, too and it only took something I already possessed, my administration and self-management skills.

I believe that I have enough life experiences to create many stories.  I promise, I will apply syntax in a way that will make some cringe and others glad that they don’t have to struggle to read.  And, I will tell my stories, one page at a time.

So, what’s your story?  How can you use your experiences to tell it?  Just don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t tell it.

Jay 🙂

1 List of experiences (alphabetical order):  Administrator, Chauffeur, Classified Material Handler, Commercial Anodizer, Data Mining Specialist, Data Warehousing Administrator, Delivery driver, Document / Photo Scanner, Editor, Electronic files archiving, Events Planner, First Aid / CPR, Firefighter, Help Desk / Customer Service Representative, Information Technology assistant, Janitor, Leadership and Development Instructor, Legal Clerk, Military Intelligence Reports Writer/Analyst, Office Management, Painter (art / home), Personnel / Career Counselor, Personnel Management & Logistics, Personnel Pay, Poetry, Postal Clerk, Project Manager, Property Management/Leasing, Publisher, Records Management, Research Analyst, Retail and Business to Business Sales, Safe custodian (combination control), Security, Singer (Church Choir / Karaoke), Supply Clerk, Technical Manuals Librarian, Trainer and Subject Matter Expert Facilitator, Writer (Fiction / Non-fiction)