Tethys

The goddess of sail sighed a long sigh and a sad swirly breeze danced across the marina.
The varied collection of sailboats rocked gently at their moorings and the lone human looked up briefly pushing his wool, Greek fishermans cap back ever so slightly. Then he returned to his task of scrubbing the teak toe-rail along the starboard side of the sloop. There was nothing out of the ordinary to see. No one else was around this day. Still for a moment there seemed to be a presence about. The mood passed as the maverick breeze faded.
This marina was more or less typical of many others, except much smaller, in that most of the boats were never or seldom used. Even on weekends, during beautiful weather the majority stayed in their slips.
The goddess of sail did not like this situation and it was getting worse all the time. Humans were building and buying more sailboats but were using them less.
Tethys turned a small part of her attention to Mireathea, the reflection sprite, and communicated in some goddess like manner,
"Shimmering shadow one I think that it is time I stepped in and took control of the sailing vessels as I once did. Too long its been since humankind was filled with the wonder, romance and adventure of wind filling flaxen billows."
"Please forgive my rude interruption of your eloquent reverie dear protector and director of all who sail upon the seas, lakes and estuaries, but flaxen billows went out with the ox drawn plow."
"Oh! I know that. In fact that is the whole point. Synthetic sails, fiberglass, smelly motors. Oh for the days when strong back strained on long oar when ere I withheld my sweet breath from canvas and sails lost their fair curve and fell to slapping and shaking in time to powerful strokes."
"I think you just got turned on by all those sweaty bulging muscles" Mireathea said mischievously.
"Careful now playful sprite, I might forget that your incestuous ancestors have bequeathed you an intellect somewhat lower than a river slug, but I am all forgiving. Besides, I have a place for you in my plan."
"Plan, what plan?" Mireathea asked worriedly.
"Why my plan to bring sailing back into prominence of course. I will do it and you will help me. Yes I can see it now, the old energy is coming back. Mira, men are going to raise their eyes to heaven and call my name again."
"And will sailors pitch coins over their shoulders into the water when they become becalmed like they used to before they quit obeying the old customs, so you will blow your breath across the water in a fair direction?" Mira asked.
"Yes"
"And do I get to keep all the coins in a secret place like I used to?"
"Yes and by the way, where are all those coins that you used to get. There must be mountains of them in your old secret place."
Mira thought a while and then answered sadly, "I cant remember. Its been too long ago. But it doesnt matter. The fun is just in the doing. Well have a great time again."





Rayford Cogian sat on the edge of the slip, feet over the edge resting on the cross member just inches above the water. An occasional maverick wave would wet the sole of his deck shoes. The slap-slap-slap of the water against the hull had a very hypnotic and relaxing effect on Cogian. The hull belonged to Cogians 26 foot sloop "Pi-Seas."
The slightly abrasive polish gave satisfying resistance to the circular motion of the cloth against the hull as Cogian applied just the right pressure. He had been applying pressure for about an hour, representing progress of four feet along the sheer stripe from the stern forward.
At first it seemed as though someone had stepped onto the docks from the walk way. The yacht club marina where Cogians boat was slipped was small, about sixty slips, and sometimes when it was still and no one else was around, you could sense a person walking onto the docks. Cogian looked up and around. He could see a good part of the docks. There was no one in sight. No cars in the parking lot except his own.
A shadow of ripples whirled across the cove toward Cogian. The ripples swirled in a vortex fashion. The air just above the disturbance shimmered slightly as it passed where Cogian sat. "Pi-Seas" shivered in her rigging and her ample freeboard forced her to strain against her lines. One by one the other boats in the marina joined in the dance as the zephyr moved along the docks and into the trees on the shore.
"This footstep like feeling was probably caused by the approaching breeze," Cogian thought. He looked up at the rigging, humming ever so slightly now, and pushed his cap back slightly. The sky seemed a darker blue and Cogian could sense tiny sparkles at the edge of his vision, like the last few flashes of a fourth of July rocket burst. Dark, deep, matronly, moaning sounds came from the moving of the dock planks as they worked against the wind. Hearty laughter did the rope halyards make and the steel wires clinked and tinkled as they played against the mast.
Cogian had heard the sounds of the marina before. The frantic storm sounds, the social sounds of the light breeze, the silence. This sound, this breeze that crept across the cove and murmured to the marina and its inhabitants was different. When the little hairs on the back of Cogians neck settled down and the sky returned to its normal brightness, Cogian shook the feeling away and returned to his chore.
The polish ran down the side of the boat into the water at Cogians feet. As he rubbed, he watched the cloudy mixture of polish spread into shapes like cloud pictures. There was a cow changing into a tree, no, now "My god, theres a beautiful woman, with long wavy green hair and shes talking to me" Cogian thought. The apparition moved her mouth and her eyes flashed at Cogian as the sun glinted off of the dimpled surface. Cogian tried to blink his eyes but couldnt. Tried to look away, that didnt work either. Minutes seemed to pass and then another, fainter face appeared. It was younger, pixy like, slightly behind (under) the first figure. It too seemed to be alternately laughing and talking.
The boat moved away from Cogian a few inches. He was still leaning against it with the polish rag in his hand.. The movement brought him alert. He looked up, checked his balance then when he looked back down at the figures, they were gone. Only his own quizzical countenance peered back at him from the lake. Many times that day did Cogian look down, only to see normal reflections coming back. Once though he had looked up at the sky, whistling in an off hand way then jerked his head down so fast that his cap slid off his head. That time, he thought he caught just a glimpse of her again. But on closer inspection it turned out to be the reflection of the bow sprite of a neighboring cutter.
That evening as the Gemini chased Orion and Scorpio across the southern sky, Cogian lay in the cockpit seat, snug in a heavy sleeping bag. As his eyelids began to drift closed, a plan began to form in his half dream. At times he would seem fully awake, staring up at the night sky, but then he would suddenly snap awake with the plan slipping out of his conscious grasp like the last vibrations of lute strings at the end of a haunting melody.
Cogian wriggled out of his sleeping bag and climbed down into the roomy cabin. He fired up the alcohol stove and put water on for tea. By the time the water was bubbling he had made his bed and was ready to call it a night. The chronometer showed midnight.
Sipping on spiced tea, sleeping bag wrapped around him, Cogian contemplated his surroundings.
"Why was he the only one in the whole marina that was using his boat? Why werent there people in all of these boats having fun just like him. In fact, it would be a whole lot more fun for me if there were other people out here," he thought, "Ill bet there are thousands of people who dont own boats that would love to do this." Cogian realized that he had made the tea a little strong so he poured some more hot water in his cup.
"You know," he said to the open hatch, "if I could get some people to come out here to the boat and try various aspects of sailing, some of them would have to like at least some parts of it. They wouldnt have to all be sailors. Some could just ride around and get to be outdoors and be with friends. Just spending the night like tonight is great fun for me and it might be for others too, even if it is pretty cold tonight. After all, I have my sleeping bag and my stove." Cogian freshened up his tea again and drew pen and paper from a cabinet.
The moon was low in the west when Cogian stuck his head out of the hatch for a little fresh air, and it was fresh. A glow in the east seemed to forewarn dawn, but it could have been from city lights twenty miles away. Mist rose quietly from the water in miniature self generated cyclones as Cogian turned out the light and fell asleep. A few minutes later the chronometer silently showed five A.M.



Fikes

For a man who had just lost his job, Rayford Cogian appeared to be pretty relaxed. He had spent the weekend on the boat as usual, but now he should be in his office, the cockpit of a corporate jet, doing Monday morning work five miles high. Instead he was raising the mainsail on the twenty six foot sloop as he motored out of the yacht club harbor into the main body of the lake. One other sailboat was motoring out from a marina across the lake. The mainsail and the boom it was attached to swung slowly across the boat and back.
"The wind must be somewhere else." Cogian said to no one and dodged the boom as he stepped from the cabin top down onto the cockpit seat then to the cockpit floor. He tied the tiller so it would be centered, then climbed backward down the companionway steps into the roomy cabin.
"Well, lets see whats for breakfast." he hummed a little song as he rummaged through the galley cabinets.

"Hello there in Pi-Seas." came a male voice from outside.
Cogian had listened to the approaching boat as he cleaned up the breakfast mess. Now he looked out through the port window and saw the hull of the boat as it pulled along side.
"Ill be right up." Cogian yelled as he secured the last of the dishes and grabbed his hot cup of tea.
"O.K. Ill just throw a line over your cleat if thats all right." the man said.
"Yeah, thatll be fine." Cogian said as he climbed up into the cockpit. "Hi, my names Cogian."
"Marlan Fikes. Not much wind today for sailing."
"No, not yet any way. Want a cup of hot tea or instant coffee?"
"Thanks, I have one sitting here. Nice boat. Do you race her any?"
"Not at all." Cogian answered, "As you can tell, shes built for comfort, not speed."
"Im disappointed." Marlan said, "I thought we might run down to that point, winner makes lunch. Of course theres no wind so we couldnt race any way."
"I can tell thats a pretty fast boat, and a good looking boat too." Cogian said. "It seems like I remember the name Fikes in the winners column quite often in the yacht racing news. Any relation?" Both men laughed.
"Tell you what." Cogian said. "I was going to work my way down there any way and anchor in that cove where the stream comes in behind that point, so lets see who gets there first."
"What about the wind," Marlan asked.
"Oh, it ought to be coming up soon," Cogian said. Then he took a coin out of his pocket and pitched it over his left shoulder into the lake.
"You think that will do any good," Marlan asked.
"Sure. Especially since the wind usually starts picking up about this time."

Cogian chanced a glance back. Marlan was in trouble. His boat was much faster than Cogians but also more tender. He had put up a huge lightweight foresail at the beginning of the race. Now the gusty wind was heeling him over so far that he was losing steering control at times. He couldnt let go of the tiller to let the sail down. He just held on. When Marlans boat would straighten up a bit, she would accelerate and catch up to Cogian. Then a gust would knock her down and she would come screaming toward Cogian, out of control and pass close by, sometimes in front, sometimes astern of Cogian. At least so far.
Cogian knew that that they would ram together if he didnt do something to change their relative positions. As he thought this, Marlan caught another gust. His boat laid over until the boom was touching the water. At this angle of heel Marlan could not get enough rudder control. The sleek racer spun around and headed straight for Cogian.
Cogian put the tiller hard over and headed for the point of land. Better to run to shallow water if they collided. They could at least walk ashore if they were able and the boats wouldnt sink. The sound of the boat charging up from behind grew loud in Cogians ears. Marlans bow was going to hit his stern square in the middle of the transom, right where Cogian was sitting. Marlans bowsprit raised up as if to slam down on Cogian, then stopped.
Cogian turned hard again to keep from running aground. Marlans keel was at least a foot deeper than Cogians. As he turned he could feel his keel also dragging through mud.
"Please dont hit a stump or big rock," Cogian said to the boat.

"Sure that grounding didnt hurt the boat?" Cogian asked later. The boats were tied to a tree as far up the creek as they could go. The wind shrieked high above in the treetops but there was not a ripple on the tiny creeks surface.
"Not at all," Marlan replied, "My keel swings back and up. It was a quick stop but no damage."

"Thats the most awful concoction I have ever seen," Marlan said, looking at the sandwich that Cogian handed him, "what is it?"
"Tuna and Catalina dressing," Cogian said as Marlan lifted one corner of the bread to view the reddish mixture.

"You know its a shame that a couple of old sea dogs like us cant make a living sailing like the sailors of yore." Marlan said between bites "Say this mess is pretty good, where did you learn to cook?" he grinned.

"Yeah funny you mention that" Cogian said "Not the cooking but the sailing for a living, I was thinking about that last night. Matter of fact I wrote down some ideas how I might just be able to do that. Kind of weird though, it just sort of came to me. It was like I would doze off and then another part of the idea would come and I would wake a little and write it down and then drift off again for a while."
"Hay thats great," replied Marlan. "Id like to take a look at that sometime if you dont mind."
"Help yourself." Cogian handed him the papers. "Ill have to interpret some of the scribbles. Want another sandwich?"
"Sure and maybe some of that tea if there is any left."

"Listen, if you need any help with this count me in." Marlan handed the papers slowly back to Cogian after reading the whole manuscript, some parts several times. " Ive been looking for something like this for a while but there is nothing like it that I know of. In fact I didnt really know what I was looking for until I read this. "You say you wrote this last night?"
"Yes" Cogian replied. "I really never gave it any thought until last night. I just became unemployed and came up here to mess about on the boat for a few days and get my head straight. Im not used to the quiet and I guess my imagination got to working overtime but I will tell you this, I have a distinct feeling that this whole thing came from somewhere outside of my conscious mind."
"Well Im not going to say that Im glad youre out of a job but I almost wish I was because this is as about as excited as Ive been about anything in a long time." Marlan took a slow sip of tea and made a face because it had cooled again. He noticed Cogians eyes were a little droopy. "Listen if you put this thing into motion keep me in mind and I will help out in any way I can on my days off at least to start with. Who knows? I wouldnt mind being a full time sailor."
The slight movement of the boat brought Cogian alert as Marlan stepped over into his boat, slipped the lines and drifted silently out of the little cove toward the open lake.
"Ill see you later Cogian." Marlan yelled back. "I wasnt kidding about what I said. Give me a call."
Cogian watched the trim little racer catch the open wind and disappear quickly around the point. "Wonder what he meant by that." he thought.



Soliciting Restaurant

The pretty young waitress did a quick turn as she went around Cogians table making her short skirt flair up exposing some white panty and making her dark braids fly around her head like a carousel of beads. She gave the fiftyish couple two tables away their check and accepted their payment by credit card. As the couple started to move toward the door Cogian got up and walked by them, then stopped and smiled.

"Hi there, say arent you the folks that have the little sloop just down the dock from me at the Yacht Club Marina?" He asked.
"Well no." the man said. "would be nice but you might have seen us in here before."
"Thats right." Said the lady. "but we sure wish we did have a yacht or a sailboat that you could stay on. So what kind of boat do you have?"
Cogian pulled a zippered plastic bag out of his back pocket and pulled some pictures from it. "Come on. Ill walk out with you and show you these pictures of my boat. Most people carry pictures of the grand kids but I carry these pictures of my boat and some of my friends that go sailing with me." Cogian continued to walk out with the couple as they showed interest in his pictures and sailing.
"My name is Cogian. Nice to meet you."
"We are the Bronts. Im George and this is my wife Alice. Boy these are some neat pictures. That is a beautiful boat. How big is it?" George asked.
"Shes twenty six feet, a very roomy boat with stand up headroom in a cabin that you can walk around in and has an enclosed head, er bathroom with shower and sink and so on."
"So can you spend a weekend on it and sleep and everything?" Alice asked.
"You sure can" Cogian answered. "And it has a private double cabin forward and can sleep two more on the seats in the main cabin. It also has a galley with stove and sink for fixing a good meal for the crew and there is tv if the sunset isnt everything you had hoped for" Cogian laughed.
"Well look folks," Cogian continued "if you are interested in sailing or just getting out on the water how about going out with me. I could sure use the company and its always more pleasant not to mention safer than going out by myself."
" Gosh that sounds great Mr. Cogian. Wed love to do that."
" Fantastic." Cogian said. "And its just Cogian, so how about next Friday? The weather is supposed to be beautiful and I was kind of hoping to go out about noonish. Do you think you could go or is that a busy work day for you?"
"No Im in business for myself and I could get away then if you are sure that its no trouble. Dont you think so hon? "
"Absolutely I can hardly wait." Alice answered.
"No trouble at all and in fact I would be grateful if you both would come along with me then. So let me give you some directions to the marina."

"So are they going sailing with you?"
Cogian sat back down where he had been sitting in the restaurant.
"They said they would Bridget. Next Friday about noon. Want to come?"
The waitress frowned for a second. "You keep on asking me I might some day. But its not like no date right? I mean I got this ole boyfriend. And .. well you know."
"Ask him to come along." Cogian said.
"He dont care anything about any sailboats." Bridget said.
"Besides, thursday is my night to work at the bar. Thats when I make most of my tips for the week. Then Ill sleep till noon Friday so sailing is out. But keep asking if you want to."
"Can I have some more coffee?" Cogian asked.

 

 

 The Bookstore

Elise rolled the heavy two wheel dolly of books to the science fiction section of the store. There he was again. The man smiled over the top of A is for Asimov and said

Hi. Who are you going to bring with you when we go sailing?

The man had asked her to go sailing before. He had shown her pictures of his boat. In all the pictures there were several people on board apparently having a good time.

Elise thought it would be fun to go sailing but had been a little evasive the last time they had talked. She had been reluctant to ask if she could bring someone else. That might seem a little rude. But now that he had brought it up….

Well. Elise said. I’m sure my boy friend would like to come too.

Fantastic. the man said. When would be a good time?

Ripples circled out from the center of a disturbance and brushed by Pi-Seas as she lay in her slip. The maverick breeze ruffled her sail cover and made the loose corner flap now and again like the clapping of a gleeful child. The murmur of the waves against her hull couldn’t hide the mirthful sounds coming from under.