Chapter 71
He had been aware of this sound in the house,
a sound without a visible source, he could only
assume it was a ghost. His invisible house
was haunted.
Chapter 72
After sharing the house with Albert for
weeks (relaxing like a television image
in a pool of clear sea water that Albert replaced
twice a day, with gourmet minced kelp to eat)
it took this quiet October morning for the fish
to finally notice the ghost too.
Chapter 73
“Albert!”
He opened his eyes.
“What’s that noise?”
Albert sat and listened to the ghost
turning pages.
Chapter 74
“There’s a spook in your house!”
“Yes,” Albert told the fish. “I know.”
And then something miraculous
occurred. The fish chimed,
“I want out of here!”
Chapter 75
On the journey back to the sea,
the fish went on and on about it.
“That’s one thing we don’t have to
put up with in the ocean. If there’s
any ghosts, the tide takes care of them
and washes them away.”
Chapter 76
The October wind was picking up
and it was hard rowing but even
the cold blowing couldn’t drown out
that fish’s talking.
Chapter 77
Albert stopped in the same place
that used to be lucky for him,
the bed of brown kelp leaves.
Chapter 78
The sea parrot was back in the bucket
waving its fins. It took its own little white
cast off—that’s how much a hurry it was in.
Albert lifted the bucket by rope and began
to lower it hand over hand.
Chapter 79
The sea parrot was going in reverse,
taking the exact opposite journey
on a line back to the water, hopefully
for forever.
Chapter 80
He let the bucket sink into a wave,
he could see the fish flap out and
blur away into the murkiness, then
he pulled the fresh weight of water
back up again. It was heavy but to
Albert it felt so much lighter.
to be continued...
(Ghost with Fish picture by Rustle)
0 comments:
Post a Comment