Recommisioned
RECOMMISSIONED
(based on a dream)
by
Clem Mason
(age-16+)
(wc-1225)
He wasn’t real sure how much longer it was going to last; their marriage? If it does, Fred and Eva Bennings will celebrate their thirtieth wedding anniversary next month. They were married right out of college. He thought it was for love and forever. Now, he wasn’t sure. However, he, not prone to ceremony, has nothing planned. Because she’s changed. She is quite moody, cranky and primarily hard to get along with. Fred maintains that Eva is the most even tempered woman he knows; she’s angry all the time.
On the other hand, she thinks a trip to Hawaii will do them a world of good. So, that’s what they’re going to do whether Fred thinks so or not.
Fred, taller than most, had no trouble stuffing the carry-on into the overhead storage above their seats. He noticed the paperback book lying in the very back. He reached and pulled it out. He examined it thoughtfully, turning it over several times. There was no cover and it was well worn.
“What are you doing?” she asked him, irritated.
He showed her his new find.
“It’s nasty. Throw it away and go wash your hands,” she ordered.
He looked at it again, turning it over. “It looks harmless to me,” he said with a shrug.
“Well, my god Fred. You don’t know where that’s been. Now toss it and sit down and buckle up.”
“We won’t be lifting off for thirty minutes yet. You wait and see, Besides, I feel the book was there for me to find. I’ve always felt that all things happen for a reason.”
She snorted.
Fred sat back and started reading the tattered book, ignoring Eva’s constant complaining. He chuckled. “Captain Cook! It’s about his adventures,” he said, smiling.
She poked him with her elbow. “Are you listening to me?”
He gave her a long, stony stare and said nothing.
“Did you tell the post office to hold our mail?”
He nodded. “I’ve taken care it.” He went back to reading his book.
“Those were the days back then when everything was pure,” he said aloud. “The dark skinned native girls. The wooden ships out on the high seas. What a life.”
“I suppose you’d rather be there than here with me, huh?” she chided.
He gave her another stony look.
“Do you think the car will be okay? I don’t like airport parking lots. Things happen there.”
“Are you going on vacation?” he asked.
“What? What are you talking about?
“I’m wondering when you’re going to start your vacation.”
“What do you mean by that smart ass remark?” she growled.
“The car is insured. The mail is on hold. Mac is watching the house and now it’s time for you to shut your flap and start your vacation.”
Fred went back to reading his book and it propelled him back in time to heaving decks, billowed sails and ocean spray blowing in his face and for a brief moment, he was aboard the wooden vessel and could actually taste the salty mist blowing across the stern.
“Fred?”
“What now?”
Hers was a sorrowful face. “Fred, I just can’t do it. I can’t relax like you can.”
He held up the book. “It’s all in your mind; if you concentrate. If I concentrate, I can… dissolve so to speak into this book and live the words as if I was actually there.” He shrugged. “It’s all in the mind. You become one with the character. Right now, I am Captain James Cook.”
She actually smiled. “And you don’t even have an English accent,” she chided him.
Fred frowned. “In my mind I do.”
She laughed. “You are sooo weird.”
At 35,000 feet, Fred couldn’t see the ocean in detail. Although it was a cloudless sky, the water below was nothing but a vast blue mantle from horizon to horizon. But as they started their approach to Kauai, he thought he saw something below about a 1,000 feet down. It was an imagee on high seas below the plane slightly to the right. He strained to make it out. As he concentrated, it seemed to come into focus. It appeared to be a sailing ship with three masts under full sail; headed west. He tremble with excitement but knew down deep that it was a figment of his imagination. He smiled his pleasure and felt blessed though he knew it wasn’t real.
Their house, a time share on Kahakai Road in Waimea, sits at the mouth of the river where Captain Cook first landed years ago. Fred felt honored to obtain the share so close to this historical site.
The next morning, he was awakened by a distant ringing of a bell. Not a constant ringing but a short series of tones as if marking the time as on a naval ship. He listened but heard no more. The early morning sounds drew him out and he stood and gazed into the dense fog. Then he froze when the bell sounded again. Then, above the ghostly waves of fog, the masts appeared; three in a row. As he walked to the water’s edge, the wooden ship appeared like a phantom as the fog cleared.. Fred watched as there was a long boat being lowered into the gentle surf.
There was an alarm went up on board the ship and a crew rapidly lowered a long boat; fitted the oars and set about rowing towards him. Fred smiled, noting the authentic looking English navy uniforms worn by the men in the boat. They were playing the charade to the fullest. Just before the craft struck the beach, the officer in charge stood and called out. “Ahoy, captain.” This is great stuff Fred thought. He even has an English accent.
Fred played along and waved back. “Ahoy, mates.”
The young officer leapt ashore when the craft struck the sand and saluted smartly but seemed surprised to see Fred standing there.
Fred returned the salute and smiled. “You guys look great,” he said.
“Captain, we…we thought ye were dead,” the officer stammered.
Fred frowned. “Pardon me, but just who do you think I am?”
The young man blinked in total bewilderment. “Why, you’d be our Captain,” he said, saluting again. “Captain James Cook, Sir.”
Eva was pissed. Fred was gone when she finally got up about nine o’clock and he hadn’t even leave her a note telling her where he was going. It just wasn’t like him. However, after several hours of waiting around, she decided to go talk to the neighbor to ask if they had seen him.
“Yes, we saw him, although it was foggy. We saw Fred out by the water. He was acting real strange; like he was waving and saluting towards the open ocean. We thought that was pretty weird. Then, a second later, when we looked again, Fred had disappeared. We stepped out on the deck but didn’t see Fred anywhere up and down the whole beach. He just vanished into thin air,” they said.
Devastated, Eva filed a missing person report. The police investigated and assumed it was a suicide.
He was never seen or heard from again.
THE END.
if you liked this story and you feel the poor, old author deserves compensation in his retirement for this creation, please feel free to send $1.00 to Clem Mason, c/o Backwater Publishing. 66021-0213.
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Questions and comments are welcome. Thank you for your fairness and honesty.
Thank you very much and may God bless you.