The Sailboat

Bruce

“The Sailboat”
There was a little boy, about ten years old, who had a friend. His friend, a girl his age, had recently moved into his neighborhood. They began spending time together after school. They would walk and talk as he carried her schoolbooks. Sometimes they would go exploring at the local lake for hours until it was time for them to go home.

One day while exploring the lake they came upon on old boat dock hidden in the grasses. Tied to the dock was a weather beaten, barely seaworthy red sailboat built for two. The boy and girl knew nothing about sailing and knew they could get into a lot of trouble but they climbed into the boat anyway.

Day after day they would go to the boat, still tied to the dock, and make believe they were explorers sailing off to discover new lands. One day, they decided it couldn’t hurt if they actually untied the boat and drifted out into the lake. It was a little scary at first but the little boat was strong in spite of their clumsy attempts at seafaring.

Before long the boy and girl became good at the art of sailing. They would ride the winds briskly back and forth across the lake. On calm days they would drift, silently, aimlessly on the glassy water. On stormy days they would stay tied to the dock sitting inside the boat as the rain drummed on the canvas.

A day came when the girl didn’t meet the boy after school. Puzzled, he decided to go to the sailboat to see if she was waiting for him there. As he approach the dock he could see that the little red sailboat was slowly moving away from the dock. He ran to it. As he neared the water he could see the little girl on their boat. She was waving silently, unsmiling, just looking at the boy as she drifted away. Standing next to her in the boat was another boy.

The little boy noticed that the sailboat’s rope was untied and there was still some of it on the dock. He grabbed the rope and pulled as he yelled for the girl to come back. However, the harder he pulled and the louder he yelled the further away from him the boat drifted. He was not strong enough to pull the boat back and as the rope pulled through his hands it left searing burns on his tender palms and fingers. The girl just stood and waved. Silent and unsmiling.

Finally, the rope ran out and the boat disappeared beyond the horizon.

Confused, angry, and sobbing the boy turned around and slowly walked home.