TERRY WIJESURIYA

Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea

The sun leached out of the sky as he stood there and watched it. He stood in the waves, and the water was cool against his burning feet. He looked along the line of the shore and saw how the men worked to bring the small boats in, their outriggers keeping the vessels upright even now in the shallows of the great basin that was the ocean. A pleasing view, calming to his thoughts as he watched.

He had seen three ships pass that day, all in the clear blue of the horizon. His boats couldn’t hope to keep up, and the ships had faded suddenly into the tropical haze. He lifted his face to the graying sky and asked for mercy for the next day. Just as the sun dropped under the white breakers, his prayer was answered. Red streaks shot through the clouds, painting the canvas of the sky. A slight smile curled the edges of his hard mouth as he watched.

The next day, he stood on the beach. All the colour of the day before had gone, as the grey waves dashed themselves with increasing fury against the pale sands and the black rocks. White, blinding rain whipped down on him, but still he stood, body as wet as the feet in the water. It was the day today. The sea would be unbearably rough. The ships out today would be in peril, the stark fear standing across the faces of the sailors and the passengers. Salt would break across the decks as they hurried to the ropes, praying to their own gods for whatever shelter they could bring. Their sweat would rival the stinging rain for cold, for they knew that the storm was only one of the horns they were impaled on.

He smiled a little more as he thought of how futile it would all be. None of it would work; for, even if they found safe haven from the storm in his harbour, he would be waiting for them.

Terry Wijesuriya is a History graduate who spends more time writing historical fiction than is good for her day job, which is only tangentially related. She is a fan of pulp Westerns and Biggles and other swashbuckling adventure stories.