Fisherman
When Harrison became five years old, Auntie Hannah told him that his father left and never came back. The sea took him, she said. Harrison thinks of his father as a fisherman, married to the sea as he pulls in fish and squid to make for his supper. He'd had a scruffy orange beard with warm green eyes and a smile that could kill. His father would wear giant rubber boots and rubber overalls that reek of sea water and kelp. He'd puff on his Popeye-pipe and sing a sailor song as he pulls in the fish on his magic boat. Harrison would be comforted as the ocean lulled him to sleep; it means his father's coming home soon.
When he got older, he told his class one day that his dad is a fisherman, lover of the sea. The teacher watches sympathetically as Harrison spins his tales of his father the superhero fighting the Kraken, pulling in sea food, and telling the ocean to remind his little boy that he's coming home soon. Hannah listens in as he tells his tale, tears in her eyes as she puts on an artificial smile.
No one had the heart to tell him his father's dead.
Harrison continues his fantasy, even dreaming of one day being a fisherman himself one day, so he could reunite with his father. When he tells Hannah this, he becomes puzzled when she starts crying and won't stop until bedtime.
In his dedication, he paints pictures of the sea; he collects seashells, kelp, sea creatures, anything to remind him of his dream to see his father again one day. It isn't long before his room is decorated in cool blues and fishes, boats and sand, letters wrapped tight in bottles that are tied taught with kelp. His childhood dreams are riddled with him, Hannah, and his happy father in a boat, sailing into nowhere, catching fish. His dreams bring him comfort when Hannah couldn't, when reality became too much for the budding child.
As he grew into a young man, Hannah told him the truth. He hasn't been the same since.
The trashed the ocean in his room, smashed the bottles that held letters that have yet to be read, threw the floating fish in his trash. His father isn't coming back. He left him and Hannah for the sea.
Harrison hates the ocean; it mocks him with their calming waves and teeming shores. They ate his loving father and aunt, swallowed him whole and spat out his bones. The sea robbed him of his father.
That damn sea.
"Harrison, why won't you take our children to the beach?" his wife asks him. Harrison sits in the house, bitter and disgruntled, as his miserable children fan themselves profusely.
"I hate the beach. Take them to the pool." Harrison grumbles out as he reads his newspaper.
"I don't care; I'm taking them to the beach-"
"Don't you dare take my kids to that fucking beach!" He shouts at his wife. The children look in fear. He doesn't want them to go to the beach; the ocean will swallow them whole.
Like it did his father.
A ninety year old Harrison looks at the sea, hurt still in his heart. Days away from death, he knows it's time for him to meet his father.
He gets a boat and rides out to sea, not caring that the storm's coming quickly on the horizon. He keeps going, memories and dreams of his fisherman father sailing out with confidence. He sees his father's smile, hears his laugh as the ocean moans and wails.
"Welcome, son. I knew you'd come for me." He smiles, the pipe in his mouth as he pulls in the fish. Harrison smiles as he hugs his father, tears in his eyes.
"I missed you, dad. I got married, had kids, and…"
"Tell me all about it, son. I want to know every detail. Did you have fun?"
"Yes, Pop. I had a great time. I just wished you were there."
"I'm here now. Where do you want to go?"
"Anywhere, Pop." Age no longer weighted Harrison; he's five again, beaming at his larger than life father, who laughs heartily.
"Whatever you say, son. Hold on tight. This ocean can be real mean when it wants to be."
Harrison holds on to him as the ocean swallows him whole.
He hears his father's laugh and the ocean's calming tide, and he knows he can die in peace.
He, like his father, is taken by the sea.
~Fin~