Nathan Hystad - The Event

The rest of the day went by quickly, as if we were sailing through time, and before we knew it, late afternoon was upon us. Dark clouds threatened to cause rain in the distance, the direction we were heading into.

“What do you think of those?” I asked Vanessa, who was staring at the looming clouds miles away.

“I think we may have reason for concern. The weather down here can be very touch and go, and that storm may pass, or we may pass through it with no problem.” She paused. “But we don’t have a choice at this point. We have to keep going.”

“Why don’t I head down to the kitchen and make us something to eat? Who’s up for some world-famous grilled cheese?” I asked, hoping to take their minds off the potential storm.

“I’ll help you,” Mary said, and we headed down the steps into the ship’s small underbelly.

“I hope we don’t have to deal with anything too harsh. I don’t relish the idea of being tossed about the sea in this thing. We’ll get ripped to shreds.” I was surprised by her honesty. Again, I felt like I was getting to see the real Mary, the one behind the mask of the Air Force and tough attitude. The more time I spent with her, the more I enjoyed being with her. My cheeks burned, and I turned to the stove.

“Yeah, I agree. My stomach doesn’t want to deal with that. It’s uneasy enough as it is. How about we make some food and hope everything works out?” I kept my back turned to her.

“Is everything okay, Dean?” she asked, hand coming to rest on my back. I spun around slowly and felt self-conscious with how close she was standing to me. All of a sudden, I wondered if I smelled fresh, or if hours of hot Caribbean air had washed away my deodorant.

“Sure, everything’s fine,” I whispered as she took my left hand with her right. It was slightly cool, and soft in my grip. If ever there was a moment to make a move, this was it, at least under normal human circumstances. Still, I knew I couldn’t let this piece of time fly by without seizing it. “Carpe diem,” I said under my breath as I raised my other hand to her cheek. I closed my eyes and leaned in to her perfect face; our lips met for an instant, and it was like nothing I’d ever felt.

“You guys better get up here! Looks like we’re in for some weather!” Ray called down.

My hand lingered on her face, and she looked down to the ground. “We’d better get up there and see what we can help with,” Mary said, heading up the steps. I watched her go and remembered to turn off the gas burner before following after her. If only I could have turned off my own burner.

The wind was blowing hard as I got above deck. The clouds were black and angrily spitting rain on us. “What do we do?” I called out.

“We have to reef the sails. Ray, I’m going to turn into the wind. It’ll ease tension on the sail. Grab the reefing control line and untie it, letting it loosen. The sail will shrink and the wind will cut around it rather than catch us like a parachute. Mary, you grab the rope and help him tie it off when I tell you. Dean, come and help me manage the wheel. It gets tough in the wind and waves.” We were finding out Vanessa was good under pressure.

Lightning flashed around us and the waves grew larger. Facing the wind, we fought the waves head-on, and the boat rose and crashed over and over. Thunder boomed as Mary and Ray finished their task; the sail contained, Vanessa called for them to tie it off. She told me to take the wheel and hold it tight. Pressure from both directions made it tough to control and keep even. Every time I felt it slacked in one direction, the wheel would try to spin the other.

“See that clear patch over there? I’m going to use the engine to drive us over past the storm.” Vanessa turned and lowered the engine down into the water. She threw on a life jacket and we all followed suit, me wondering why I hadn’t done that the moment the clouds looked imposing.

With the engine on, she took over the steering again and turned us to ride along with the waves, slowly easing us away from the lightning. The wind was so loud ripping through the masts, and the crashing of the waves against the wood was adding to the deafening experience. My heart pounded almost as loud as the thunder in my ears, and I told myself that my trembling was mostly due to the incessant rain and splashing of sea water onto the deck. I knew I was kidding myself.

“Take Carey and go below, while I get us out of here!” Vanessa called.

Mary picked up the panicked dog, and she and Ray climbed below.

“I’ll stay with you!” I called over the noise.

We were moving quite fast, and the rain was pouring down hard now. Vanessa smiled as she kept her hands on the large wheel, arm tendons and muscles bunched tight against the angry sea. A huge lightning flash shot out into the sky, and I thought I saw the shadow of a ship. Not a boat in the water, but one of the gray alien ships, which we hadn’t seen since the one that tore up the ground on the interstate. My heart hammered when I saw it again on the next flash. We kept moving along, and even though it felt like hours, in a few minutes, we were on the outside of the storm, the wind blowing it northwest of us.

I scanned the sky for signs of the ship but couldn’t see one. Maybe it was just my imagination, but I didn’t think so.

“Did you see that, Vanessa?” I asked, my voice wavering.

“See what? One hell of a scary storm? I think I saw my life flash in front of my eyes… but that could have just been the lightning. Dear God, that felt close. Too close.”

Mary climbed up top, Ray close behind her.

“Mary, can you check the GPS and see how far we are away from our landing spot?” Vanessa asked.

“Sure, are you guys okay?” Mary asked back.

I wasn’t sure if I was. I’d just had the fright of a lifetime and to top it off, I was quite sure I’d seen a ship. Did they know we were here? What were they waiting for? Us to kill ourselves? I found Carey curled up and drenched. When I held him, I could feel his little heart pounding away.

“Yeah, we’re good. Vanessa really came through and saved our asses. We owe her big time,” I said. I decided not to bother telling them about the ship. Maybe it had just been my imagination.

“GPS says we’re still four hundred miles away. Not too far off what we’d thought,” Mary told us.

Vanessa headed over to the sail and untied a rope. Ray went over and helped her get the sail back to its regular position. Soon we were sailing full speed ahead, with the sun setting to our right. The crew looked tired, soaked, and hungry.

“How about those grilled cheese now?” I asked, laughing a little bit.

“Sure, but first I think we’d better give this boat a name. We fought the sea and won, and it deserves a better name than the letters on it,” Vanessa suggested.

I leaned over the side and read the lettering. Princess . I said it aloud and we all laughed.

“I don’t know, maybe we should just stick with Princess . They always get their way, after all.” This from Ray.

“ Princess she is,” Vanessa said, smiling with wet hair plastered to her forehead.

We took turns sleeping on the bunk, and Mary and I didn’t talk about the moment we’d shared earlier. Ray and I demanded that Mary and Vanessa take the first shift, and around three am, we woke them up and hit the hay. My mind was reeling from the past few days, and I couldn’t believe the crazy adventures we’d been through already. I could only hope that once we landed in South America, things would run smoothly. As I lay my head down on the pillow, I doubted it would be quite as simple as I was dreaming it might be, but we’d already shown what a resilient group we’d become.