07 March 2012

Rainy Day Blog Chain - Absolute Write

This month's prompt:
Rainy Days - by Absolute Write

Write wherever the prompt inspires you. It can be fiction or non-fiction, all wet or high and dry, mushy mud or hard-packed earth. If you want to go with snow, hail, boiling hellrain, biblical frograin, or some other kind of precipitation, knock yourself out. So, here's mine:


We’d decided to drive to St. Mark’s, get out on the water for a bit, and enjoy the salty breeze along the banks of the Lighthouse. When we arrived, some fishermen were assessing the sky. We could see some grayness on the horizon, but far enough away it didn’t bother me. No different than what we’re used to here in Tallahassee, Florida.

I removed my Oakleys and said, “So, what do you think?”

“I don’t know. I think we should consider a rain check.” He always sides with caution.

I tried not to show my disappointment, but my voice sounded a bit whiny, even to me, “We always do this. Come out, it’s gray, we head home, and it clears up.” I felt his eyes on me while I studied the late summer sky.

The Shell Point Fish Camp deckhands had our boat tied to the docks, awaiting our arrival an hour beforehand. I felt bad that we’d be telling them to put it back in storage. Thanks for nothing, right?

I heard Tim sigh. Then he said, “Fine, we’ll take her out for an hour. But first sign of bad weather, we head back.”

I agreed and gave him a huge hug.

We climbed into our maroon and white Q4 run-a-bout and took off. The water was smooth as glass, but I expected to reach the saltier mass and all its choppiness soon enough.

Two miles out, Tim pulled to the left of the channel, dropped an anchor into the 8-foot deep water, and retrieved a beer from the cooler. I baited one of the fishing poles we keep stored on the boat and then heard a mumbled curse. Before I could cast my rod, Tim was readying the boat for take-off.

"Let's bring her in."

“What’s wrong?”

“You don’t see that?” Tim pointed to the east. What I saw looked like an innocent hazy mist, but only for a few seconds. The encroaching wall of rain moved closer at a pretty quick speed and whirring winds and splatters of dime-sized raindrops hit us like a freight train.

Immediately we both moved to grab the aluminum poles used to frame up the waterproof, cloth cabin roof. Tim unzipped the compartment to unleash the cover and the wind pulled it from the opening and whipped it into the open air.

“Hurry up! I can’t hold this side up much longer!” I yelled into the wind, but I knew he couldn’t hear me. He was trying to screw in the bolt to hold up the opposite end. The aluminum pole wasn’t heavy, but the wind blew with such force I was losing stamina fast.

Then the lightning started. I saw the electrical bolts strike next to the boat and my stupid ass was holding up an aluminum pole. “Fuck this shit!”

I let go because we were both soaked to the bone and neither one of us wanted to become a conduit for the electrical frenzy happening so close by. Tim gave me a look that told me if we weren’t getting ready to die, he’d kill me for talking him into taking the boat out. I didn’t care. If I was going to die, I wanted to say goodbye to my friends and family.

I grabbed my blackberry and huddled under the partial dashboard to keep my phone dry. The boat rocked violently in the storm while I posted my status to Facebook, “If we get out of this alive, I promise, God, I will never go out on the water when the sky is gray!” Then I cursed myself for being Agnostic.

The lightning bolts crackled down into the body of water around us while Tim navigated the boat back toward the inlet at a creeping 10 miles per hour. All the while he was steering, he held onto his hat as the wind beat into his face. The sky had gotten so dark, but I could see the frown lines between his brows and along his mouth when the lightning flashed and lit up the area.

By the time we docked the boat, the storm had passed. Our bruised egos kept us from speaking to one another. We drove home in silence and it was killing me. So I spoke up.

“That was some Gilligan’s Island shit, huh?”

After a brief moment, we both laughed. We stopped at a local pub and ordered a pitcher of ice cold beer. Life was good.

Check out the other participating Rainy Day bloggers!

orion_mk3
Bogna
Ralph Pines
Nissie
pyrosama You are HERE!
Lyra Jean
Domoviye
magicmint
areteus
julzperri
hillaryjacques
AFord
randi.lee
J. W. Alden 
SuzanneSeese 
Tomspy77
ronbwriting - (link to this month's post)

33 comments:

  1. Very nice post! I loved the imagery in the piece. I felt like I was right there on the lake with them. Few things are more worrisome than being on a large body of water when thunder clouds start rolling in!

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    1. Thanks! I tried to use sensory descriptions taught in one of a few online creative writing classes. This actually happened, but for this blog chain, I did embellish a bit.

      :)

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  2. Yeah, your imagery and humor are spot on. Favorite thin I have read yet on your blog.

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  3. Wow, quite an adventure. Things like that are awful during, but what a story afterwards. It's what makes life worth living if you ask me :)

    Good journey too, it kept me on the edge throughout. Great job

    Matt (Turndog Millionaire)

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    1. If I wrote one entry for what happened with every crazy decision I'd made in life, I'd be finished with volume 10 of my memoir. =)

      Thanks for stopping by! Can't wait to read more entries.

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  4. Exciting blog. I've had my own boating disasters like the time we were sailing to the Bahamas and there was no wind so we were going to motor but it broke down in the middle of the ocean and we had to turn around and try to sail back to Miami. I never did get to the Bahamas.

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    1. That must be a scary situation. Middle of the ocean, broke down. Well, you did have a sail.

      We once had to reverse a distress call for a boat tow because I accidentally hit the kill switch and the boat wouldn't start. Panic, then embarrassment. :D

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  5. Great writing prompt that has a lot of potential. And great story! I like your adventure! At least in the end, they lived and could laugh about it.

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    1. I was kind of glad they lived too, Lena! lol

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  6. Good work Diane! I love the honesty of this piece, the voices are so concrete and really easy to relate too! And the Gilligan's Island line made me crack up :)

    Great writing :D

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    1. Hi Julz! Thank you. I love these prompts and blog chains. They give me such a challenge which is fun for me.

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  7. Such vivid descriptions and imagery. :) Almost felt like I could have been there (except I absolutely don't haha!) Lovely work! :)

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    1. Thank you! It wasn't fun being there, but it's fun writing about it after the fact. :)

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  8. That's what I call using what you know. It was very exciting for me. And to be honest, I was bit bored, (not with your piece) just in general. I also loved the Gilligan's Island line.

    It kinda reminds me of something you might find someone writing a postcard to someone else. Loved the piece I was quite surprised. Of course, it would be the one time you go out that of course the rain doesn't clear up but instead turns into a lightening storm.

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    1. Hahaha! There was the other time I thought to write about when we were eating lunch in the Marina and a storm hit. The violent dock waves actually untied our boat in a methodical fashion and attempted to suck the vessel away.

      Nature is a force I respect!

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    2. Depending where you live if your boat had gotten away you could've been an official victim of the Bermuda Triangle. LOL!

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    3. The restaurant help knew more about what to do than we did. We panic, they go, "dude, don't worry, the winds push it out, the under current moves it back."

      The worse thing to happen was the sides get scuffed a bit knocking up against the dock.

      :)

      I read about the Bermuda Triangle as a kid. I always wondered what happened to all those boats. I'm surprised I don't think about that stuff when I head out! EEK

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  9. This reminded me of a picnic at a beach my family took several years ago. It got rained out quickly and a small tackle box got hurled about 20 feet into the lack because of the wind.
    Thanks for writing this, it brought back some interesting memories.
    Cheers

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    1. It was fun. The wind is a force we under estimate at times. It's a good thing that tackle box didn't catch someone on the side of the head!

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  10. Well-written, Diane

    You have a knack for setting scenes that simply pull the reader into the action as if we are right there ourselves. Also, admire your quick wit and humor where and when you can add it into your storyline as well. Makes for good reading.

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    1. Thank you, A! I can't wait to read more of the others. I feel like I'm getting a good lesson in geography. :)

      I'm always accused of being outrageously brave with my wit. Sometimes I think it might get me into trouble. But, thanks for noticing. I guess my personality does come through in my writing when I let it.

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  11. That was intense! I think I held my breath through the middle half!

    I'm sorry you had to experience it, but what amazing story material.

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    1. Thank you Hillary! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's only the middle of March and there are so many more stories to read. Enjoying them all myself.

      I bought a new book called "Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway" and it discusses the concept behind self-doubt. Every time we experience self-doubt and overcome things, there's a story to be told. :)

      Thanks for stopping by!

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  12. True story? It reads like one. Lots of fun!

    Incidentally, Blackberry should be capitalized (as a brand name) and agnostic should be lowercase (as a philosophical state like religious or ennui).

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    1. Yes, really happened! :)

      Leave it to me to get Blackberry wrong. I switched to an iPhone and now I'm all screwed up! lol

      Thanks!

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  13. Excellent, excellent read. What I liked most about this, as simple as it may be, was the last line of, "Life was good." It just put me in a chipper mood.

    Anyway, nice job! Keep on writing.

    Best

    R

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    1. Thanks, Randi! I always enjoy having a positive affect on others, even with just simple words. Stop by anytime and we'll drink some hot coffee and read the news together or just come up with some awful goodness.

      I had my second cup of coffee this morning, can you tell? Life IS good, and don't forget it. :D

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  14. Ha! Loved it. :) The pacing was superb and threw me right into the story. Your writing has such a lovely flow to it. So glad you two made it back to shore without being electrocuted! :)

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    1. Thanks, Alynza. This was a fun challenge. Heck, all of the blog chains are fun! Glad you could stop by and check it out. I'm also glad to be here still. When lightning strikes water near you, it's like instant flashback of your parents shouting, "get out of the shower NOW. It's storming!" Are you kidding me? We didn't even have shelter.

      :D

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  15. If it wasn't for Mother Nature I wouldn't have half the post I have for my blogs. I'm glad you made it to safety and were able to write about it.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Sue! I'm kissing the dry ground! What a beautiful, sunny day in Florida. :)

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