So I had to write a one thousand word short story for Uni this week and decided to take Nauta for another spin. It's not quite that many, but I thought I'd share it with everyone as this weeks Blog post. I also accidentally included a few tongue twister like sentences, which, if you're reading this aloud, I apologise for.
Nauta wasn’t even five when she started learning to steer a ship. Her father using one of his ships many tenders to teach his only child to navigate the oceans. They’d chosen a quiet day, the crew of his ship sleeping through the pinks, oranges and purples that danced before the sun’s gentle rising. Waving as they embraced the oceans caress upon the horizon. Stretching towards Nauta as she settled herself down beside the till, gripping it in her left hand like she’d seen her father do many times before. Ocean blue eyes settling on the horizon as she twisted the throttle in her hand.
Laughter peeled from her throat as she put the dinghy through its paces, fast and slow, round in circles and backwards. Mimicking everything she’d watched the crew do her entire life. Her father watching with a proud smile as she took to it all like a natural.
“Okay Nauta, let’s head back to the boat for breakfast.” He spoke as the sun rose higher in the sky, it’s gentle warmth turning harsh against his already leathered skin.
“Aye Papa.” The tender turned easily in her grasp, pointing towards the magnificent hardwood ship they’d left anchored in the bay. The throttle turning once more in her grasp as she speed up. Her home looming closer and closer as they sailed over the waves.
“Kill the engine Nauta. We’ll drift in alongside.” Her father yelled over the roar of the engine, but she didn't catch the words that tangled in his beard. Twisting the throttle up higher rather than turning it lower as she approached the massive ship. Any crew that were still asleep in their bunks woke with the resulting bang.
It was this incident that plagued her mind as she took the wheel of her father's ship. Watching him go down to help his crew fight against the giant sails as the storm ripped them from their grasps.
The storm had pounced upon them quicker than they expected, what started as a few grey clouds on the horizon now overwhelmed the ship. The howling winds whipping up waves that washed over the decks and tried to sweep sailors from their sea legs.
The safe haven they’d hoped to reach before the storm hit had hidden itself in a haze of pelting rain. Nauta struggling to see the front of the ship, let alone the bay she needed to navigate into. White-knuckled hands turned the wheel ever so slightly, combating the push of the waves attempting to change her course. Using the compass’ needle as a guiding beacon into the bay.
Nauta knew of the rocks that guarded the entrance to the harbour. The scattered attempt at a manmade reef to protect the ships that sought sanctuary near its sandy shores. She remembered the crunching feeling of wood scraping against wood. The splash as her father fell overboard and the laughter from the crew as they scrambled down the netted sides to help her. Guiding the tender into the boat lift as they hauled her father back into the boat. His dripping wet frame draping over her as he laughed and told her the tale of his first time in control of a ship.
She didn’t have time for that memory now, the fear that accompanied it plaguing her mind. The stakes were much higher this time around, and despite all her successful sailings, it was the one failure that stuck in her mind. Numbing her brain and robbing her of her concentration.
“Nauta! You got this!” Her father’s voice roared at her, wrestling the sail under control as the engines started beneath her feet. Sparring her into action. The crew needed her, her father relying upon her, she had this.
She felt it the second the massive ship slid into the safety of the harbour. The harsh waves that were trying to rip the wheel from her grasp settled until they were barely a caress on the side of the ship. Harsh winds settling to nothingness once they were nestled within the safety of the nearby mountains. Words that had been yelled could now be spoken normally, able to get the sails down and put away safely without the gusts that whipped them out of their hands and threatened to throw the ship off course.
“Well done Nauta!” Her father and the crew praised as the sound of chain links sliding through the metal grate sounded, the anchor splashing down into the calm bay as she slipped the engine into neutral. Squinting through the rain until she locked in a transit line, a flick of her wrist sending the ship’s engines into reverse as she tested if the anchor would hold.
“Totally makes us for the time you crashed and threw me in the drink.”
No comments:
Post a Comment