The Luckiest Man In The World

 The Luckiest Man In The World   

by Paul McCann

 

Jack has lost trach or reality after his wife died . His mind was hijacked after the car crash that took her life . Her death was so sudden , there was no time for Jack to process any of the grief hr felt . He was deeply traumatised and suddenly on an  impulse Jack decided to take off in a small boat to anywhere . So, as he disappeared into the ocean with no plan on where he was going je made his escape . Jack just  wanted to be alone and keep away from everything and everyone .

Far out on a stormy sea he had no idea what to do and what was happening to him . There was no captain said there was no crew and when his boat was hit by a large wave, he was thrown out into the raging water .

He could swim  but for how long , He could float but the waves were rough so he would either float , sink or swim and hope for the best. .

Right there and then before his eyes , lightning struck a passing ship . The ship went down as if sucked up by the sea . He saw his wife’s face , like a flash and then pictures of their life together , flashing like past like a movie in front of him .

Then some wreckage and the mast from the sunken ship came drifting near,  in arms reach to where he was treading water ,

He grabbed on and held tightly . Even though life meant nothing to him anymore the basic instinct to survive kicked in and there he was a man overboard in a stormy sea with some pitiful excuse to stay alive .

He had thought about just letting go  and just drift away into me where ever the  stormy current would take him , All night he clung to the wooden mast and in the light if a new day he was washed up on the shore and lay on the sand of a small island somewhere between the devil and the deep blue sea and the lost horizon .

He crawled from the seashore to the trees in the forefront of the seaweed and  driftwood that lay everywhere .

Coconut and banana trees were scattered around and on the side of a cliff he saw a cave and immediately made his way there to take shelter from the hot sun above .

He made it to the cave where he fell asleep . After a few days he managed to recover with the help of some food and drink that were inside some wooden crates s that had been washed up on the shore most probably from the ship that had sunk .

One morning as Jack walked along the shoreline looking for anything else that might be washed up on the shore and to his disbelief , lying there on the sand was  a mermaid . She seemed to be wriggling in anger or in pain .

Her golden hair fell across her shoulders with a fishes tail pounding the seashore as if trying to make it back into the sea and away from the sand . This creature was not meant to be on the land .m Jack approached her and asked if she was ok , She tried to speak but could only murmur words which he couldn’t understand l She pointed to a ship far away on the ocean and then  clenched her open hand .and made a fist . She shook her fist at the ship and there was anger written all over her face .Then Jack noticed she was injured . The mermaid had an open wound .He looked at her with pity and decided to try to bring her back to his cave .

.He carried her back into the cave that was his home and he started to come to terms with his loneliness , He washed and dressed the mermaids wound and removed the large hook that had been embedded there .

She never spoke but trusted that he would not harm her . Jack spoke to her and fed her with some of the food and drink he had , she loved the tinned sardines and orange juice .

One evening she began to sing , her voice was enchanting with no language , just a chanting sound that was hypnotic . In a deep sleep Jack dreamt he was swimming with the mermaid out to the sea .She took him to an island where other strange creatures  lived in and out of the water like the funny jumping octopus and the talking turtles . There was seals with wings that could fly and wobbly legged wobbegongs and they were all happy to be there on mermaid island where time was stood still and the sun never set , it just changed colour  .
When Jack awoke from the dream he felt refreshed and at peaceful rest with the world . He was on a ship at sea and nurse was there and said ,

“You must be the luckiest man alive; we found you there floating on a raft . I don’t know what your story is but we managed to get a lifeboat over to you and bring you on board “

The captain came to speak to Jack and said ,

“So, man of mystery . Do you speak English ?”

“Oh of course :”

The captain asked .”

“I detect an Australian accent there . “

“Jack Wright , From Sydney at your service sir “

“Well Jack I don’t know where you’ve been or what you’ve done but you were spotted near a small Island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean “.

The captain , informed Jack .

 

“Oh, by the way you were a little delirious when we took you on board . Telling some story about a mermaid ,

Jack immediately told the captain he was just a lone a fisherman who was lost at sea when a freak storm capsized his boat and he hadn’t seen a human being in a long time “

The captain said ,

“In case you’re wondering  I have your bag of jewellery and gemstones in my safe So if you like I’ll keep it there for safe keeping until we arrive in Sydney next week “

Jack just nodded his head feeling bewildered and flummoxed inside and said ,

“Oh yeah , Sure , Thanks for doing  that  “

The day they arrived in Sydney the captain came to see Jack with the bag he had been keeping in his safe and said.

 

“ Looks a little to me like you found some pirates gold there Jack . Did you find a  sunken ship out there  , :

“Nah , it’s just some family treasure I have “

“Lucky it never sank when you were on that raft . It must be worth a fortune .“

The captain said .

“Jack just smiled and said  ,

“Yeah , lucky me “

Later when Jack took a look inside the bag, he discovered a gold pendant of a mermaid sitting on a rock that was a large blue gemstone , there were other gems and gold coins, bracelets and necklaces and Jack just smiled and said to himself ,

 

“I must be the luckiest man in the world .”

.Jack had not only been healed from all the grief but he had been recharged again and ready top start a new life with all the new wealth that had been bestowed upon him .

 

The End