Episode 80. All in the Twinkling of an Eye

Sam's mind was wild and he had let it run off with him. His friend Sylvester had let him stay aboard and he had stolen the boat and he knew it was wrong. But the rum he had found in a cupboard had erased his gratitude and replaced it with the strongest reoccurrence yet of his desire to reunite with Delilah his wife and his son Noah. And he had crashed his car and lost his job and so there was only one way he could get there.

Sylvester had stayed until sundown so it was already dark when Sam put Halifax harbour behind him and headed down the coast. And by the time he was off Terence Bay he was forced to reduce sail because the ketch was being overpowered by the rising wind. And to sail with only jib and mizzen meant he had to drop the main. And to drop the main he had to leave the wheel and make his way forward to the mainmast itself.

He was fumbling with the halyard when a gust and the crest of a wave coincided to make the boat lurch so that he lost his balance.

His last chance was the lifeline but his falling weight tore the stanchion right out of the rotting side deck and then he was there in the ocean and the boat was sailing on and all the light from all the stars was not enough to save him from the night.

*

He was found with his wallet. Delilah had come and confirmed it was him. And she was paying for the funeral and since it was her job she asked to be allowed to be the one to make his face presentable.

At first her mind ran wilder than her husband's had. Before she knew it she had made him up as a clown and in her anger laughed and laughed until at last the tears would come. And then she did her best to make him look like that young hero that had won her heart.

*

Little Mac was at the guvvie sitting on the edge. A trimaran up from the States had come in, tied on, and now was rocking at the wharf. The near pontoon cast a reflection on the water that had all of Mac's attention. The death of Big Bertha his wife of course was on his mind, so much so that he had to have a place to hide his eyes, some anchor of stillness to keep the grief from blowing him away. At the same time he was searching for the strength to stand and walk back to his house and face the situation. For not only had his heart's companion left the scene. So also had his daughter's husband and his grandson's father. It was up to him to help them with their double loss. For they had lost Big Bertha too. And Cousin Minnie needed him. He had left her wailing on the back porch with Sir Barksalot howling alongside in accompaniment. Because Bertie was the lifeline for them all.

He imagined her back at her sewing machine, at the wheel of Noah's Ark, sitting with him on the sea cliffs, off adventuring on her own, helping him regain his goodness when the war was done, taking him to Cuba in search of his memory, lying with him in their bed so many sleeps so many years so close so close so close.

He imagined the twinkling in her eyes that was its own reflection of the humour in her soul. And she had sat down in a chair back by the wild rose hedge and it all had gone away, all in the twinkling of an eye.

"All like the wake of a boat in the waves, like a wave falling back in the sea," he said softly, still contemplating the reflection of the trimaran. And then he added a melody and sang what he had said. He imagined her again in her lawn chair but this time in his heart with her singing along.

"All in the twinkling of an eye," they sang together.

And suddenly knowing she would sing with him forever, he got up and went home, stumbling a little along the side of the road as if he were drunk.


7 August 2018
Texas Jim
Prospect, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca