Chapter Fifty (The Music Maker)

Captain has convinced me to meet him in the attic, he says that his poem is finished and he wants me to hear it as he practices reciting it, that he wants my opinion. I do not think that is really the case. I am a dog after all and we do not do much with writing. I think he only wants to have an audience as he reads what he has written. It turn out he has written a writes a love poem for Carolyn. I do my best to be polite as I sit on the couch across from him.

"Madam, I do not pretend that this bit of poetry is worthy of you, but it expresses what I feel far more effectively than mere prose." He pauses here for effect. "If only I could touch your hand, the shore birds call, the sea breeze smell, the Spruce wood mast that rises tall, I'd happily forget them all, if only I could touch your hand. If I could link your arm in mine…

I cry here because I am forced to endure this and try to leave.

"… the tropic…"

"Scruffy! Come back, what makes you a judge of poetry, doggerel perhaps, but not poetry. Come back,"

I reluctantly resume my position on the chair, not laughing at his joke, and listen some more.

"Stay there, spell bound."

Yeah, right, I think to myself.

"If I could link your arm in mine..."

At this point Carolyn calls upstairs looking for Jonathan. The captain disappears, and then remembers to get his poetry so that she doesn't see it. She looks for Jonathan and then says that she thought she heard voices.

"Scruffy, what are you doing here?"

Does she think we were talking? I wag my tail at her.

"No, couldn't be," she says and leaves. I stare after her.

Captain! Where are you? Come back. I call after Carolyn leaves.

"Scruffy, what is it? Would you like to hear the rest of my poem?" His blue eyes twinkle and he pulls out the poem again.

No, Captain. I do not want to hear the rest of your poem. You are lying.

"Lying?" His brows knit together in anger, but I do not care.

Yes, lying. You can touch her!

"But she doesn't think I can."

Then tell her you can, don't lie to her. I think she'd be happy to know that! I give him my most earnest expression.

"Or scared. How safe do you think she will feel knowing that I can be solid? That I can touch her and hold her in much the manner as a mortal man? Knowing that I cannot do that makes her feel safe, it allows me to live in the house with her."

I took a few moments to think about this.

"I cannot reveal this, she would run from me."

Then how will you ever be able to tell her? How will you ever be able to be with her if you do not tell her the truth?

"Perhaps I will not be able to."

The longer you keep her from this, the madder she will be when she does find out the truth.

"That is exactly what I mean."

So you would give up a chance for both of you to be happy because you don't want to tell her that you can touch her?

"It is for the best. I am but…"

A spirit…yeah, I know. It makes no sense, Captain. Why would you read that poem telling her how you feel if you don't plan to act on it?

"I want her to know how much she means to me."

You will only frustrate her. And you.

"Non-the-less it is what I am going to do."

Stubborn.

"You are a fine one to talk about stubborn."

Please don't read that poem to her if you're not willing to do anything else. It will only make things worse.

"You're a dog, what do you know of humans?"

We're doing that again? I cocked my head at him. Fine. I live with humans and study them all the time. You'll see I'm right.

"I doubt it," he said and gave me a superior look.

Go ahead and read your poem. You'll be sorry. I trotted away from him; he could be so maddening sometimes!

Later that morning Captain finds Carolyn out in the garden and decides that's a good place to say his poetry to her. I come running up to him interrupting, trying to stop him from reading that god awful poem. He is still quite put out with me and carries me into the house! I listen anyway and he decides to try reading it to her again. He clears his throat a lot and she wonders if he is catching a cold. Then Martha interrupts talking about groceries. Captain appears again and Carolyn shows him some of her articles but he is put off and disappears.

The kids play ghost with their mom and I sit next to Carolyn. They don't like the game and decide to go to bed. I still don't know why Candy can't see Captain, Jonathan says something about him and Candy scolds him for talking about his imaginary friend. I have a bed in their room and decide I have had enough for one day so I go to bed too.

Carolyn heads down the stairs and decides to go for a walk as Martha goes to bed. Captain goes out to see her on the porch; it is a very nice night. Captain shows up next to her and gives her a lovely weather report. Can't he do better than that? Well, awkward though this is, at least he is finally trying to tell her how he feels about her. He wants to read his poetry to her again. Some people show up on the beach making lots of noise and Captain is unhappy, he makes it rain. They get stuck and come up to the house. He still tries to surprise her with his poetry but is interrupted.

One of them is a musician he makes music. The Scared One shows up and sees Captain, Captain wants them to leave. Carolyn introduces Claymore to Tim and his manager. Tim agrees to play for everyone, and his music is quieter and nice. Even captain seems to like it. The kids and I listen on the stairs even though we are supposed to be in bed.

Captain has decided that it would be good to put his words to music for Carolyn, and manages to get his poetry to Tim. He convinces Tim to set it to music and sing it to the family.

The next morning I am hungry and ask Martha to get my food dish so that I can have breakfast. They discover that my playmates and I heard the music though. Claymore shows up and tries to be Tim's manager. Fortunately Tim is smarter than that. Tim agrees to sing the Captain's song to everyone (though no one knows it is his song).

Captain finally tells Carolyn that the song "speaks to her".

Tim says it has a haunting lyric of a love that just can't be.

"You will hear the young man's voice Mrs. Muir, but my thoughts." She gives him an interested look.

Then Tim sings a terribly loud song that no one likes, I thought the captain would die…again. I have a good laugh at that. He makes it thunder and storm very loudly so I dive under the pillows.

Then Tim does it the way he likes and the Captain is happy. He watches Carolyn who seems pleased. Maybe he is finally getting the hang of this.

Then he does something really stupid.

"The song is lovely, your poem is beautiful captain," she says looking up at him, giving him a soft smile.

Finally they might be getting somewhere!

"Just a piece of doggerel I wrote a long time ago, Madame. A very long time ago."

What? I could bite him! He finally took a step forward and now he has just taken several steps back. Why didn't he tell her he wrote that just for her? Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Carolyn looks less than pleased after he says that, and I can't say that I blame her.