Woman Overboard, a wewrite
The Prompt
“They say a ship’s run aground over near Harper’s Cove,” said an old man in overalls, hanging up the corded phone. There was a sense of permanence about the Coast Rescue shack, between the scratched furniture and fading paint it looked as though it had sat there near the sea for ages. The midday salty air wisped through the open windows, gently rustling the loose papers on the man’s desk. “John says it’s a real doozy.”
“That's too bad, I was hoping to spend some time in town today,” Becky rolled her eyes, but smiled as she threw on her reflective red jacket. “Do you think we’ll need help from the mainland?”
“Nah, I don’t think so. Probably nothing you can’t handle,” he smiled back, with equal measures of pride and sadness. His own safety jacket was slowly collecting dust on the back of his chair.
“Thanks, Dad,” Becky said as she grabbed the keys off the wall. Stepping past the creaky screen door and off the porch, she could feel the August sun burning down. It was almost the off-season, when things would quiet down. The rolling crashes of the cobalt waves grew louder as she descended the wooden steps down to the rocky beach. It’d be a great day to go swimming, she thought, but duty calls. The tugboat by the dock rose and fell, and with the ease of expertise she climbed on and started the engine.
My part
She hadn't had any problems in Harper's Cove this year, unlike most years. Lined with high cliffs that ended abruptly in ankle deep water, the cove offered little of interest to tourists. Now and then one of those dummies would head in there easily enough and be unable to get their boat back out, either because it was a big fancy boat whose captain didn't know what a damn buoy meant and run the boat aground, or because it was a small boat and going the other way meant going against the very wind and current that had made it so easy to enter. Becky expected this "doozy" - her father's word for "dummy" - to be one or the other of those.
Being trapped in the cove might have been a solitary hell for some of the dummies, but time spent alone in Harper's Cove was Becky's idea of heaven. A small canoe could both enter and get back out easily, and Becky took hers there as often as possible right up until the winter storms prevented her going. It was best in the fall when all the dummies were freshly gone and she had time to be herself again, not out rescuing mental midgets from themselves. She'd hug the shore, duck under the scrawny poplars stubbornly surviving at the base of a lakeside cliff, and reverently paddle her way to the large, sandy, calm and very private spot under an overhanging weeping willow in the center of the cove. Her mother had taught her all about a canoe in that cove. They would picnic, swim and, just before leaving for home, bathe in the privacy of the willow tree. Becky still, these many years later, sometimes bathed there, remembering. The water was placid and warm, the willowy leaves gave perfect cover, and the place was magical.
And then there was that last time here with Hawke...
Becky gritted her teeth and ripped her mind off that subject. As much as her father insisted Hawke Taylor would one day be back both for good and for her, she put that man right out of her head whenever he made an appearance in it.
As she pulled the skiff into the cove she could see..... nothing. No boat stuck in the lake bed, no human, no reason at all for her to be here. She decided to pull ashore to catch some alone time. Her father could do without her for an hour or two, and she would razz him good for being wrong about a boat run aground in Harper's Cove. If anything did come up, well, the old man needed a good reason to get off his ass and get back into a boat.
Becky set anchor at knee deep, hopped overboard and waded ashore. Now that duty no longer called, she would take that swim after all. Off with her T shirt and her cargo shorts. There was no way anyone could see her here.
"Becky." A husky man's voice softly called her name from under the willow. Becky froze. Normally she was well equipped to take care of herself, but out here, all alone? And unclothed?! She had even left her ancient walkie talkie in the boat!
The hanging fringe of the willow parted and there stood Hawke Taylor, buck naked, just like that last time.
The old man was right to send her out here all alone after all.
This is my entry to https://steempeak.com/wewrite/@freewritehouse/we-write-2-by-the-sea-last-week-s-winner-announced .
I had a tough time with this! I got the first two paragraphs done but nothing worked after that. I decided to go read the other entries, and came across @sarez's entry @sarez's https://steempeak.com/wewrite/@sarez/a-real-doozy-my-short-story-entry-for-we-write-2
The rest of my story was easy to write after reading @sarez's, making it even more of a wewrite. Thank you to @sarez for your help! And your character! I hope you don't mind.
The image is mine, of Owasco Lake in NYS, which does indeed have an area like this one. And I went there with my mother.
Forgot my post footer!
A NEW TAG FOR ME I AM GOING TO TRY WEWRITE
Here's my best dust for that comment!
Hi owasco,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
Thank you! What a nice surprise to wake up to!
Hello!
This post has been manually curated, resteemed
and gifted with some virtually delicious cake
from the @helpiecake curation team!
Much love to you from all of us at @helpie!
Keep up the great work!
@helpie is a Community Witness.
For more information about our project,
please visit this month’s UPDATE post.
Now that is my kind of cake. No frills, just yummy chocolate. Whoever made it for me, thank you!!!
Nice story! I think it's cool how Becky ends up with a guy from her past, but in much different ways. It'll be interesting to see how many of the posts go in that direction. Congrats on the curie also. It's well deserved!
Thanks so much! It's a pleasure to know you!
I was completely stuck after the first two paragraphs, which took me forever to write. This wewrite is no freewrite! I started several different endings, had actually given up, and started to read the other entries instead. That's when @sarez's entry gave me the idea, the name, and the character. I feel a little like I cheated!
It took me some time and re-reading to figure out what might be happening. Despite her vulnerability, Becky seems to be up for a revenge.
Everything suggest that is a chapter that needs closure and that she can take care of everything. Without witnesses, though, anything can happen. Really intriguing story, as suspensful as it can get.
Congratulations.
Thank you! I am loving reading your COMMENTS on other people's posts. The time you must put into those. It's nice to run into you all over steem.
Thanks, @owasco.
I'm flattered. I do my best to build community and engagement. i think that is most needed.
I am devoting as much time as I can to this. It's a pity the price of steem continues so low. It's in the interaction with other users where I have found the motivation to keep going. There are days when I feel it is not worth my time, but then one gets a nice comment that makes one's day and we give steemit another chance to surprise us.
There are so many people living amazing lives all over the world, showing amazing talents and places, and I live in a country that is falling apart. This has been therapy for me. I sort of live vicariously through my fellow steemians.
Isn't he the best? I love @hlezama's comments too. And yours, @owasco!
Your way of writing is entertaining, I would like to read more about your historys...
Thank you! And thank you for stopping in!
I need to learn a few more descriptive words and practice on bring them together in sentences that make sense, I enjoyed the read.
Thanks! I worked really hard on the descriptive stuff, spent hours on it. It doesn't come as easily to me as it seems to for other writers. I;m sure the more I do it, the easier it will be. Glad you came along!
The old man was right to send her out here all alone after all.
What a great ending!!!!
Congratulations on that curie!!!
Thank you! And congrats goes to you for one as well I see! And like you, I was very surprised this one was chosen, even though I do feel pretty good about it.
I haven't quite finished your entry to @bananfish's contest, but what I have read was brilliant. Is this the first time you've written for them? I enter their mizu no oto haiku contests, which are great.
You're welcome, and thanks. :)
First time I've entered @bananfish's contest, and it's one more account I need to follow more closely! So many many stories. So little time to keep up with them all. I haven't even seen the "mizu" (what's that....off to find out) contests. Someone else sponsored a haiku contest and I'm resisting the urge to go hunt for it now....
@vdux offers regular haiku contests which I also write for. That one is looking for the classic 5/7/5 total of 17 syllables. Very fun and lots of interesting voices.
Mizu no oto is a haiku contest by @bananafish. There's a Spanish edition and an English edition. The characteristics looked for in these haikus are stringent, and the allowable syllables are fewer.
Love them both.
It was interesting to read how you've cocooned the character in moral virtues before springing to actions.
Well I suppose I did, but not knowingly!
Thanks for your visit, comment and upvote.
It's always a pleasure.
That's by far not a reproach. In this type of setting, it was very beneficial to open up the internal makeup of a character before plunging her into actions so that the reader could evaluate her actions in the light of the offered retrospect.