In March, River is supplying the prompts for Words for Wednesday.
Word for Wednesday is a challenge that was started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable event with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words provided by a number of people.
The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.
It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.
So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.
Continuing the story of Bill, Sue and the man with the chocolate spanner.
It took me forever writing this bit of the story, and when I had done so, I read Lee's chapter one - where the photo came from, and debated with myself, if I should post it or not. Would she think I stole or copied the plot from her? Newry Island is in the name of the photo, and I simply looked it up before writing.
Now I post. I did not copy or steal from anywhere. I lived in Elsinore - city of Castle Kronborg (Hamlet) and by the sea - as a child, and we lived, breathed, and ate stories of sailing, flying Dutchmen, Klabautermen, and disasters at sea.
"The truth ..." the man said, still clutching his chocolate spanner in one hand and a mug of Bill's best beer in the other.
"Out with it!" Bill said, surprisingly harsh.
"Oh, OK ... 'T'was a hot midsummer's eve and a storm was brewing on the horizon, I and the rest of the crew from The Merry Mermaid stood on deck and looked out over the sea strewn with islands, somewhere north of Mackay. The storm, as I said, was on the horizon, and we decided to hurry to Makay. Only the storm decided to hurry in that direction too." He looked into the fire, shaking.
"It hit us just as the harbour was in sight. I never saw, heard, felt or whatever, anything like it. Water everywhere, below us waves, above us rain, and sometimes we were tossed that much around, that the sea was above and the clouds below. I clutched the mast, together with two or three others, one man stood at the tiller and tried to steer the Merry Mermaid so that the waves did not break over us. He succeeded for a surprisingly long time. He grew tired, I could see him yelling for replacement. I had only very little idea of how to steer a ship, but I tried getting to him - and I would have done so, if not one of the other crewmembers suddenly went mad. He came at me with a tool, much like a big spike. "You bloody landlubber!" he cried at me, "ever since you came aboard we've had nothing but accidents. You're not going to take the tiller. Not if it's the last thing I do!"
"His words became a prophesy fulfilled, for that very minute, the man at the tiller gave up, was washed overboard, and the next wave washed us all off of the boat.
"I was hit over the heat by something large and comparatively soft. Not hard, but hard enough that I was under water for a while. When I surfaced, I saw only white, breaking waves all around. And a fender from the boat, probably what hit me in the first place. The rope attached to it trailed just within grasp. I threw myself at it, grasped, clung and tied it to my wrist.
He held out his left wrist, where a white scar went all around.
"It saved my life, but almost cost me my hand. I was thrown up at a beach somewhere - it looked like paradise, and when I came to again, I thought I had died - at least until I felt the pain in my wrist,, and my legs, and almost everywhere. It seems I was dragged through a beach beset with shattered remains of a small coral reef and onto that paradisiac beach. I was in hospital, feverish, incoherent for a long time. Only later I learned that I was the only survivor."
"You were lucky," Bill said. His voice still cool and cutting. "Is this your whole story? And why do you need help?"
"The whole story, unless you want all what happened until that day. And I need your help because of the ghosts." the man shuddered and took a big bite out of the chocolate spanner. "Every time I'm near salt water, or just water that in any way has a connection to the sea, they come for me. Out of the water, the whole crew. They are transparent. They walk through me. They make me cold and wet. I can't stand it any longer."
Word for Wednesday is a challenge that was started a long time ago. Now it has turned into a movable event with Elephant's Child as our coordinator; and the Words provided by a number of people.
The general idea of this challenge is to make us write. Poems, stories, subtitles, tales, jokes, haiku, crosswords, puns, ... you're the boss.
Use all Words, some Words, one Word, or even none of them if that makes your creative juices flow. Anything goes, only please nothing rude or vulgar.
It is also a challenge, where the old saying "The more the merrier" holds true.
So Please, remember to follow the links, go back and read other peoples' stories. And please leave a comment after reading. Challenges like this one thrives on interaction, feedback and encouragement. And we ALL need encouragement.
- - A - - B - - C - -
This Wednesday's prompts:
'T'was a hot midsummer's eve and a storm was brewing on the horizon
and this pic, from lee
Continuing the story of Bill, Sue and the man with the chocolate spanner.
It took me forever writing this bit of the story, and when I had done so, I read Lee's chapter one - where the photo came from, and debated with myself, if I should post it or not. Would she think I stole or copied the plot from her? Newry Island is in the name of the photo, and I simply looked it up before writing.
Now I post. I did not copy or steal from anywhere. I lived in Elsinore - city of Castle Kronborg (Hamlet) and by the sea - as a child, and we lived, breathed, and ate stories of sailing, flying Dutchmen, Klabautermen, and disasters at sea.
"Out with it!" Bill said, surprisingly harsh.
"Oh, OK ... 'T'was a hot midsummer's eve and a storm was brewing on the horizon, I and the rest of the crew from The Merry Mermaid stood on deck and looked out over the sea strewn with islands, somewhere north of Mackay. The storm, as I said, was on the horizon, and we decided to hurry to Makay. Only the storm decided to hurry in that direction too." He looked into the fire, shaking.
"It hit us just as the harbour was in sight. I never saw, heard, felt or whatever, anything like it. Water everywhere, below us waves, above us rain, and sometimes we were tossed that much around, that the sea was above and the clouds below. I clutched the mast, together with two or three others, one man stood at the tiller and tried to steer the Merry Mermaid so that the waves did not break over us. He succeeded for a surprisingly long time. He grew tired, I could see him yelling for replacement. I had only very little idea of how to steer a ship, but I tried getting to him - and I would have done so, if not one of the other crewmembers suddenly went mad. He came at me with a tool, much like a big spike. "You bloody landlubber!" he cried at me, "ever since you came aboard we've had nothing but accidents. You're not going to take the tiller. Not if it's the last thing I do!"
"His words became a prophesy fulfilled, for that very minute, the man at the tiller gave up, was washed overboard, and the next wave washed us all off of the boat.
"I was hit over the heat by something large and comparatively soft. Not hard, but hard enough that I was under water for a while. When I surfaced, I saw only white, breaking waves all around. And a fender from the boat, probably what hit me in the first place. The rope attached to it trailed just within grasp. I threw myself at it, grasped, clung and tied it to my wrist.
He held out his left wrist, where a white scar went all around.
"It saved my life, but almost cost me my hand. I was thrown up at a beach somewhere - it looked like paradise, and when I came to again, I thought I had died - at least until I felt the pain in my wrist,, and my legs, and almost everywhere. It seems I was dragged through a beach beset with shattered remains of a small coral reef and onto that paradisiac beach. I was in hospital, feverish, incoherent for a long time. Only later I learned that I was the only survivor."
"You were lucky," Bill said. His voice still cool and cutting. "Is this your whole story? And why do you need help?"
"The whole story, unless you want all what happened until that day. And I need your help because of the ghosts." the man shuddered and took a big bite out of the chocolate spanner. "Every time I'm near salt water, or just water that in any way has a connection to the sea, they come for me. Out of the water, the whole crew. They are transparent. They walk through me. They make me cold and wet. I can't stand it any longer."
Hoping to continue in a more timely manner
Oh wow. This is intriguing. And powerful. And sad.
SvarSletI hope they can help him with the ghost trouble, it sounds awful, although your telling of his story is the opposite.
SvarSletYou said on my blog you have trouble commenting, I don't know why and I check spam daily, so none of your comments are ending up there. Blogger being blogger, I would guess.
Oh no! A shipwreck and then the ghosts. I hope he is able to get their forgiveness for still being alive, sometimes ghosts are angry that they died while others did not. Really good chapter, thank you.
SvarSlet