Weather Shield

Ting! Ting! Ting! The sound of the raindrops bouncing off the yacht. It is almost rhythmic, and it's relaxing. I would be able to fall asleep to this sound if it weren't for the fact that Olivia is not in the cabin. Meaning she is on the deck during the storm. She could get sick, I should go out there. I leave the comforts of the padded cabin. The violent wind blows my hood off , exposing my head to the elements. The rain flattens my hair and nearly covers my face. Sure enough Olivia is on the deck, but not a single raindrop falls on her. They seem to bounce off an invisible force field before they come anywhere close to her. "How in the world are you doing that?" I ask. "I made a huge bubble." I turn around and head back to the cabin. "Where are you going?" I stop walking and turn back to her. "I was checking up on you, but you're fine." "Don't you wanna stay a while?" "I'm wet. I should probably head back in and dry off." I head for the cabin once more. "Wait." She stops me.  She fires a pink heart from the palm of her hand. It floats its way over to me and sinks into my chest. It's a weird sensation. Like an almost calming, warming feeling. At that very moment, the rain stops. I pier into the sky. Nothing but blue. The grey is gone. "You did it!" I exclaim. However, shortly after I shout out in jubilance, the rain and grey clouds come back. Dismayed, I shuffle back to the cabin. Olivia shouts out to me. " It's ok. Just take whatever victory you can get. That'll make it better."

Dark Clouds

Go away dark clouds. Please. Leave! Go! Be gone. Just my luck, I was on my boat in the middle of no where, enjoying the day. What should show up? Dark clouds. Big, dark clouds. I can't escape them. I can't outrun them. They always catch up to me sooner or later.  Is it time to just accept it? The visitor who shows up even though I specifically ask him not to? I stroll into the cabin and plop down on the cushions. Come on rain, give me your best shot.

Boomaranging

Things come to surface when you least suspect it. Perhaps that is how it is supposed to work.  A few months back I found myself alone, in distress, and on a long boat. I wrote myself a letter of encouragement, basically saying to keep moving forward and not stop.  I placed it in a bottle and threw it overboard. The idea was that it would one day find it's way back to me. I don't think I full -heartedly believed that it would or even could come back to me. However, the end of September rolls around and I find myself in the pristine waters of the .... Atlantic Ocean? It's hard to tell when you're in the middle of the sea. They all tend to look alike after a while.  Anyways, so I'm in this large body of water. I have my boat parked. I'm minding my own business, not thinking of anything at all. What should I see out of the corner of my eye, but a glass bottle partly submerged. Curious, I  grab the net.  I'm careful when plucking it out of the water. Especially because it appears to have some sort of weight to it. I see the glass bottle on top, but that's not all that's in there. I can't tell what the rest is because it's covered in sea weed. That's ok, I'll figure out what the rest is later. I carefully take the message out of the bottle.  By this point it is probably very fragile. To my surprise the message stayed dry and intact. The ink did not run. I glace over the message. Sure enough, it's mine. It has my atrocious hand writing and stick figures in the margins. I jump for joy at this crazy coincidence. My loud celebration wakes up Olivia. She groggily emerges from the cabin. "What's going on?" She says , rubbing her eyes. "I found a message I sent myself." "How do you know it was from you?" I show her the message. " Oh yeah, that's definitely you." She confirms. "Isn't this great?" Olivia's eyes move to the net. " Yeah, but what else did you catch?" She asks.  "Just some sea weed." " It looks like more than that."  "You can look if you want."  Olivia rummages through the net. Her  face winces as her arms graze the slimmy sea weed.  Then, suddenly, her eyes light up. "Baby, look what I found." She says jubilantly. She pulls out her plastic sugar skull mask. "I thought I had lost you forever." She says directly to the mask. " You know, I thought you looked different." I tell her. "Didn't you not notice this was missing?" "Evidently not." Olivia rolls her eyes. "What about when I put on the third eye mask? Didn't you wonder how I could fit one mask over the other?" She asks. " Now that you mention it , that did seem a little odd." Olivia shakes her head and puts on the mask. "I'm just glad it's back." "Me too. When do you think you lost it?" " Probably the UFO crash." I'm in complete amazement. I guess things do come back to you when then are supposed to.

At Sea

My cape flaps in the wind as I head into the horizon. I don't know where I'm going. I just had to get off the island. Something about being stuck on an island that felt like being in prison. I smile as I crash through a wave and the water splashes my face. Like I said, I don't know where I going, but at least with the boat I can be mobile. That makes all the difference. I stop the boat and stare out into the endless blue. This feels like a good place as any to drop anchor. I pick the anchor off the deck. It's heavy and bit rusted, but it should do the trick. I toss it over board. It seems it takes forever for the anchor to hit bottom. I feel a slight tug. I know now that Her Majesty is safely resting. Olivia is down below in the cabin catching some Z's. Right now I don't want to do anything. I just want to stare out into the nothingness of the sea, and enjoy this moment.

Her Majesty

"Meet me at the beach." Should have dawned on me when he said that. This is an island. It's 96% beach. "Meet me at the beach." Which one? "My legs are tired." Olivia says to me, wearily. "Mine too, but we are almost there." "You think so?" "Actually, I have no idea." Olivia groans. " You think he'll notice those bags were just coats?" She asks. "If he does, then we're right back where we started. And that's all that'll happen." Olivia chuckles to herself. "What's so funny?" I ask. "We were in a classroom with modern day equipment. surely, there could have been trash bags or at least something closer to a bag." I snort. " The island makes you crazy." "Tell me about it." She sighs. In the distance I see the silhouette of Norm standing on a Yacht. "There he is!" I shout. I take Olivia by the hand and we run towards him. Running in sand is never a fun task. It always seems you never make as much progress as you would like to, but we push forward. We make it to Norm. He sits behind the wheel of a behemoth of a boat. "A hoy mates!" He yells to us. We wave back. " I was worried. I didn't think you guys would show up." "That's the thing, when you say "Meet me by the beach-"" Olivia nudges me and shoots a "Don't you finish that thought" look. "We over think and over analyze things. So of course that's gonna confuse us." I continue. Norm smiles. "I figured. We can't all be leaders. But anyways, what do you guys think of the boat?" "It's beautiful." Olivia says in awe. "You didn't specify what you wanted. So I figured you should get wherever you are going in style." "That's very kind of you." Olivia says, sweetly. If raccoons could blush, that's probably what he'd be doing right now. "Think nothing of it. Just remember me when you use the cup holder." "The cup holder?" I question. "Yeah, for when your eyes are tired. You pull into an oasis and get yourself a coffee." I look down. "That's very kind, but we don't deserve it." "What do you mean?" " We tricked you, those were not bags of trash." I explain. "I know." He says, unphased. Olivia and I stare at each other in surprise. "Come on, who do you think condemned all those buildings? Which by the way you probably were breaking the law going in there." "If you knew, why did you build us a boat?" Olivia asks. Norm takes a breath. "Listen, I have no use for money. I know where all the food is. The only thing I could do was make you sweat. And I did." Norm smiles smugly. Neither Olivia nor I know what to say. "But with all that aside, you guys have a kick ass boat." Norm leaps out of the yacht. He holds a cup of coffee in one paw, the other paw is clenched. He walks over to me and hands me the keys. "Looks like you tow are ready for a new adventure." "Thank you. Does it have a name?" Norm waves his paws in the air. "Her Majesty." Olivia and I nod in agreement. "It just needs one more thing." He continues. Norm removes the lid from his coffee and splashes it on the side of the boat. "Now you two are ready for and adventure."

The Con

Sometimes twenty four hours is not enough time. Sometimes it feels as if it stretches on forever. In this instance, it was just enough time. We are currently arriving at the bonfire with the five bags. Fingers crossed, Norm will not suspect a thing. He's by himself tonight. This could be a good thing, as a second set of eyes might throw off our plan. We drop the bags at his feet. " Here are the five bags as promised." I say to him. "Not so fast. Let me look at it first." Norm grabs one of the bags. He stares at intensely. He then glances at us and looks at the bag once more. "That is so neat!" He exclaims. "What?" Olivia asks. "They make little zippy pockets on the outside of bags now. Who knew?" Olivia turns to me. "Yeah, who knew?" Norm continues his speech. "It's great. I mean it makes perfect sense. I mean once the bag is full, you can open up one of these pockets and fill 'er up." "I thought you'd like it." I say. "Alright, I didn't think you guys would do it, but you did. And I am a raccoon of my word." "Thank you , it is very good to know you have principles." Olivia tells him. "I do. So how bad do you guys want to get off the island?" "Pretty damn bad." I blurt out. "Well I can work through the night and have it ready by morning." "That would be great!" Olivia shouts out. "Then meet me at the beach tomorrow. And try not to make any racket when you leave. I gotta get my beauty rest."