Chapter 7
I unfolded the detailed map, and
laid it out on the old disintegrating sidewalk. There were several dislodged
cobblestones from the old street lying in the gutter so we used them to hold
done the edges. The wind had unexpectedly picked up, bringing with it scattered
clouds and loose trash swirling in and around the abandoned doorways. A random
gust blew the shops old sign back and forth, and on that single strand of
rusted chain, it was producing an eerie metallic squeaking sound. I heard a
door slam down the street, almost simultaneously accompanied with the sound of
broken glass. Garrett and I suddenly straightened up; realizing that this part
of town was by and large abandoned, we suddenly felt exceedingly vulnerable and
on edge. A sinister figure, hunched over in a frayed dirty brown hooded cloak,
unexpectedly shuffled out from one of the many deserted shops across the
street, he was grumbling and talking indistinctly. He impertinently threw down
an old brown bag that shattered when it hit the cobblestones, and then looking
up at the sky, began shaking his fist and cursing. We stared at each other
uneasily and shook our heads. Having completely stopped what we were doing, our
full attention was now on the sinister figure slowly making his way up Cockburn
Street. Still cursing and mumbling when he crossed
over six shops up, he then turned towards us and began scowling repulsively,
with one hand gesturing towards us rudely he vanished into an adjacent alley.
Something was gravely wrong with this old decaying neighborhood, and that
disturbing man had unsettled our emotions.
Chapter 11
Nervous tension was glutinous in
the evening air, and it seemed that our once silent wristwatches now ticked
with an exaggerated persistence, accentuating the strange vocalizations from
the approaching Mortiken. Suddenly the chanting
ended, leaving an eerie silence that filled us with even more apprehension.
What was next? I clutched my oak bat tightly with both hands and braced myself
for the unknown. At Captain Olaf’s behest we joined
hands and prayed, asking God for wisdom, strength, safety, a warrior’s spirit,
and for his will to be done. Afterwards, a wonderful sense of peace and focus
filled us as we assumed our predetermined positions.
The mist had risen about three
feet from the waters surface now, and while the setting sun cast continually
lengthening shadows on the wooden deck we waited in breathless anticipation.
Silently casting off our fore and aft lines, the Captain pulled in the
gangplank, and while he nervously glanced up and down the length of the deck,
he put down the oak bat and started the diesel. As he was slowly maneuvering
away from the dock, one of the market employees suddenly started waving
franticly and gesticulating fearfully towards the stern of our vessel,
prompting the Captain to quickly disengage the transmission and slam down the rpms. Snatching the bat up with his left hand and hunching
over like a large cat, he deftly jumped from the wheelhouse door and onto the
deck. With a grimace and clenched teeth he pulled out his 357 Magnum and
prepared himself.
Chapter 17
While we prepared for the first
day of diving, it appeared even Jonah’s sagacious, outgoing personality had
become reticent; it was the first time I’d seen him so preoccupied, there was
something bothering him. When Roxanne came up from below she was immediately
cognizant of the emotional quandary her husband had found himself in and pulled
him aside. Together they went forward to the bowsprit where she put her arms
around him; putting their heads together, they began praying.
Working together in quiet
harmony, and all absorbed in our own individual thoughts, I pondered why
whenever I became sullen and introspective, I felt compelled to express and
notate my feelings in the intriguing verbiage of my doctorate. I was thankful
though, that words had become my chosen medium of expression, and like a
painter embracing a palate of many powerfully varied colors, I wanted to
express the complexities of life’s struggles and victories in lexis. Sometimes
though, no matter how much we desire it to be different; life becomes an
emotional struggle, fraught with redundant rancor and the unforeseen. At the
most inopportune moments, we are surfeited with the unknowable, and begin
struggling fiercely against nasty little things besieging our minds, that
during fleeting times of joyfulness seem so inconsequential. I rationalized these dreary, helpless,
somber seasons, were a requisite part of the human condition, and it was in
those moments of despair that we all strove harder to understand our small
places in life’s enormously complex puzzle.
Chapter 36
There was a sudden blur in my
right peripheral, I quickly turned and watched Rorek
stumbling out the galley door with binoculars in hand. Unexpectedly infused
with the Captains optimism, the crew struggled up the stairs in cautious
pursuit, and when we’d gotten safely on deck, we all attached ourselves to the
rails with nylon safety tethers. The outside environment was frightening, an
intense exhibition of the laws of nature in upheaval. The wind whipped around
us mercilessly, ripping at our skin and raingear as if hundreds of invisible
fists were pummeling us at the same moment. Heimdall
sloshed about indiscriminately on the agitated surface like a cork in the sea
of churning white foam. Hunched over and peering out through the blur of wind
and rain, in the direction Captain Olaf was pointing,
I gasped at the incredible sight unfolding around us, while Betsy clung to me
tightly. I immediately understood the reason for the Captain and Rorek’s unexpected joyfulness; we were safely anchored in
the eye of the Maelstrom.