Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Lost

     A large vessel is tossed to and fro upon dark waters. An angry storm is brewing on the sea, as you shall see. The pirate captain paces his cabin thinking. He strokes his bristly black beard.
Thump Thump Thump turn.
Three strides, turn on heel.
Thump Thump Thump turn.
His heavy brown boots strike the wooden floor. How to get to port in one piece. How? His brown eyes are bloodshot and won't stay closed long enough for him to get rest. His bushy black brows are knitted together in frustration. He sighs involuntarily and fingers his dagger. How to slip out of this guillotine with my head on my shoulders?
     The chief sailor's mind labors.
Thump Thump Thump turn.
     Down below the crew is sitting oddly quiet around the mess table.
The cook rings his stained canvas apron over and over in his shaking pale hands. The cabin boy's face droops and sags with fatigue and his blue eyes are rigid. He pinches his arm to keep his eyelids from closing. How long had they been sitting there? He inwardly groaned, He was quite sore. A rough faced sailor of 45 thumbed through a scarred Bible. It's brown leather cover is cracked and torn, the brittle pages are defaced. The print is mostly illegible, but he keeps it all the same.
   He traces over the faded cross on the front of the book with his finger, over and over again.
Thump Thump Thump turn.
  The cook throws down his apron in despair. "He should've come to a decision by now!" He cries, his young grey eyes shine with unshed tears.
The crew looks at him, regards him coldly a moment, and then begin to converse.
"Do ya think we'll make et out thus time?"
a small grey lad asks worriedly.
"O' course we will!"
A burly man with a chipped tooth bellows irritably.
"If the Lord wills it."
The middle aged man points out.
"O shut it, preacher!" A ruddy man growls.
   Preacher shrugs, and retraces the dissolving cross.
"Keep awake boy!" The burly man gives the cabin boy a rough shove.
"Oh!" He mutters, sitting erect in his spot.
Thump Thump Thump turn. 
   Rain begins to cascade in torrents upon the ship.
The ruddy man growls and stands up. The man with the chipped tooth follows suit.
Thump Thump Thump turn.
   The captain sighs.
"All is lost."
Thump...hesitation...THUMP!
   The entire crew starts, and runs upstairs to the chief's cabin.
They swing the door wide, and there lays their leader, his cream shirt stained crimson...with his own blood.
His dagger protrudes from his chest, and as if on a timer, the boat capsizes at the death of it's commander.
   All is lost this night, for the crew of the FLEW...all, save a decrepit Bible, that floats, like a corpse, to the water's surface.




How was that?

-Cedar

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