When the Long Storm Is Over
"This feels weird."
The two women, one leading a large poodle, walked slowly past Noah's house, leaving the prints of their shoes in the freshly turned dirt of the lane.
"You have a meeting with a parent. That's what you're supposed to do. This is spying."
"He hasn't done anything wrong."
"Hattie, he wrote an essay that made you uncomfortable."
"It was an exceptional essay."
"Well, I see nothing here that explains anything. The cottage is nice, the yard well-kept, the boathouse and dock and his dinghy all ship-shape."
Two chairs had been bolted into the dock to keep them from blowing away in the frequently fierce ocean winds. Hattie suggested they sit. The dog pranced around the chairs till they were wrapped in the long leash. Hattie's friend got them unwrapped then held her pet by its collar.
"This is even worse. What if he comes out? What if his mother comes out?"
"We'll just act surprised. Now listen. When a long storm is over, what do normal people do? They relax. They breathe easy. Smiles and laughter are the order of the day again. Noah should be in that space. He says himself, his father and his grandparents dying, he's over that now. Instead he writes me this essay entitled The Horse Latitudes. 'The space is pregnant with not knowing what to do,' he writes. Honey, he's just a boy. A boy writes that? And, 'They had to throw the horses overboard, the ship had been becalmed so long. And the horses were screaming'!
Noah watched the women and the poodle from the kitchen window. He felt happy that the women felt it was okay to sit there in the chairs. Ma Bertie and Daddy Mac would have felt happy too, he was sure. His heart no longer ached when he looked out and they were not there. He thought maybe he should offer to make his two visitors some tea. But then he thought better of it. They might want to talk. And he still was not ready to talk. It was a beautiful day at last. They should all just enjoy such a beautiful day. He wished he could get in his boat without having to pass them.
4 May 2024
Texas Jim
Prospect, Nova Scotia
www.granitecoast.ca