Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: CONTROL (02/18/21)
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TITLE: No Explanation | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
02/25/21 -
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It had been one of those days for the ages and we were far from home.
Wind and water can be your greatest friend. A breeze caressing your sails under a blue sky can power you to that sweet fishing hole where you strike gold and feel like the wealthiest man in the world. Wind and water can also be your greatest enemy when they decide some insignificant pioneer needs to be humbled and maybe even humiliated.
Tonight, was far from friendly.
Not one of us questioned the instruction to head home. We’d done this trip a thousand times. When the wind picked up and the whitecaps breeched the bow a few of the rookies on board silently checked the set of our jaw. The jolt of adrenaline surged through our limbs and laughter tumbled over the gunnels as we took in the sails and pulled out the oars. The retching of the money-man only added to our glee. The muttered prayers made us smile.
When the last smidgen of light disintegrated under the tumbling clouds overhead and the flickering fires of the distant shoreline faded, I elbowed the brother pulling hard on the oars beside me. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this.”
“I’m sure the sky looked favorable when we left,” he said. “This can’t go on much longer.”
Yet it did. The one person we needed was no where in sight. Others were praying now. We were soaked to the skin and the bitter cold wind chilled us further. Someone’s teeth were chattering. Someone else was moaning.
I stood to stretch, holding the mast for balance. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say that wind is pushing us deliberately away from where we want to go.” Two of the brothers were scooping water over the edge with their hands but the volume pouring into the vessel was greater than that heading back where it belonged. Nine hours, ten hours – the boat was skittering, battered by the wind. By this time, I was begging for dawn.
The waves rose as high as I’d ever seen them and at the top of one of them I saw the first flicker of a glow. One problem. It was coming from the north and west – not where the sun should be. It almost appeared like a figure – a ghostly figure.
No one was sleeping and when I reacted several stumbled to strangle the mast with me as they looked. Rumors proliferated in our towns. The dead walked the lake in the storms, looking for others to join them. And here was enough evidence to scare the most seasoned skeptic. “A ghost!” Someone stated. The prayers stuttered out of shuttered throats.
And like an arrow of light – he was there, then he was here. “Courage!” the figure said. “It’s me. Don’t be afraid.”
My mouth always speaks before my brain engages. This time was no exception. Let me do that. “Lord, if it’s really you, tell me to come to you on the water.”
“Come!” As he spoke, the skies seemed to lighten a little. I waited a moment.
Come! Step out of a boat that is ready to sink - into the sea itself? Walk where no one walks?
Step by step I did the impossible. He waited. The wind whipped his hair and his tunic. The waves somersaulted around us and onto us. His smile had a glow all its own. I took another step and my brain thawed out in a gasp of terror. What was I doing? Did I think I was him? Only the dead walked here.
He stood face to face with me and then, as ice took over my soul, I saw him above me as the water swallowed me like Jonah’s fish. “Save me!” I called.
He grabbed me and pulled me back up. “You of little faith… why did you doubt?”
We walked together - carpenter and fisherman. We climbed into the boat and the wind died.
“You are the Son of God,” we all said. And then we were there. Right where he wanted us.
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