by Tom Lowe
Wynona smiled, pointing to Max. Savannah laughed, “You three. How could we ever forget Max?”
Nick chuckled. “Hot Dawg may be small, but her legend grows around the marina longer than her wiener body. People are already talkin’ about how she helped Sean take down that hitman, making a charging run for the bad guy’s ankles.”
Dave grinned. “Between Ol’ Joe the cat, and little Maxie, Ponce Marina is well defended.” He looked over at us. “When you get to a port where you plan on dropping anchor for a while, let us know. We need a good excuse to visit. We’re going to miss you all. If you can take care of each other on the high seas as well as you do on land, no worries.”
Wynona smiled. “Nick gave us permission to use his mantra … no worries … no hurries.”
Nick sipped from his beer. “Under one condition, you gotta live the lifestyle. I know it’s not easy for my man Sean and his built-in sonar and radar, but for you, Max, and the rest of the known universe, it’s doable.”
Wynona laughed. “I’ll have weeks at sea to train him. He has nowhere to escape.”
“Good luck,” Dave said.
Wynona smiled, pulling a strand of her hair behind one ear. “Savannah … Rex …Dave and Nick, we are going to miss you all. You’ve become far more than friends. You truly are family, and we love you so. It’s hard to say goodbye. I feel like Dorothy at the end the movie, The Wizard of Oz, trying say goodbye to Scarecrow, Tin Man, the Lion … and Oz himself. They had become family to her as you have to us.” She turned to me, eyes watering. “This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.”
Nick said, “Aww shucks—but don’t forget you’ll be back.”
I smiled as Rex cleared his throat. “Sean … Wynona … I just want to thank y’all for being here … having our backs. For Savannah when she needed you both. I can’t ever thank you two enough.” He looked over at me, his eyes welling. “Man, you saved my daughter’s life. Savannah told me what you did. If you hadn’t got there when you did, she’d have been another girl in a mermaid tail and ….” His voice trailed off, a tear trickling down his weathered face. Dave reached over and affectionately squeezed Rex’s shoulder.
I said, “When I got there, Savannah was putting up a good fight. You raised a daughter who is a survivor.”
Wynona nodded. “And the important thing is that she’s as beautiful inside as she is on the outside. We’re proud of you, Savannah. We can’t wait to see where life takes you as a marine scientist after you graduate.”
Savannah said, “Thank you. You guys are so sweet. I can’t wait either.” She walked over to us. “I just want to give you two, excuse me, you three a farewell hug.” She reached for Wynona, holding her in a long, warm embrace.
I could see Wynona’s eyes water. And then Savannah turned to me. She licked her bottom lip, blowing out a deep breath. “Sean, I owe you so much. One time, Nick told me how you saved his life when he was attacked by two bikers and almost beaten to death before you showed up. He said you two are brothers for life. I want to be part of that family because I owe my second chance at life to you.” She paused, wiping the tears off her cheeks. “I had a lot of time to think when I was with Dad in the Keys, and I thought about something you once told me. It was in my second year of college. You didn’t ask me what I wanted to study. You asked me what I wanted to do … not so much with my profession, but with my life. You told me destiny wouldn’t be so much about chance as it would be about choice. You said, just like the early sailors used guiding light from the stars to sail the sea, I’d have to transfer that light into my own hands and set a solid course. Now, more than ever, that makes so much sense. And, as you, Wynona, and Max set sail, I know that you’ll take our Creator’s guiding light from the stars as you navigate your path in the seas. I wish you fair winds along your journey.” She knelt down and picked up Max, giving her a hug. “Max, you know I really didn’t forget about you.”
We boarded Dragonfly, and I cranked her engine, the diesel purring, Nick uncoiling ropes and tossing us the lines. He and Dave lifted their drinks to us in a toast as we motored the sailboat out of her slip, turning to head toward Ponce Inlet and the Atlantic. Rex and Savannah stood there with them, waving, the breeze stirring Savannah’s hair. I looked back, and even from the growing distance, could see the confidence in her stance and in her face. I glanced at Wynona. Not only did she share a sense of renewed confidence, but somehow, in a different way, seemed more at peace.
Within a few minutes, we motored through Ponce Inlet, raising the sails at the mouth of the ocean. I shut off the motor, letting the wind become in sync with Dragonfly as she quickly reached a clip of eight knots, the bow breaking the blue water, sea spray in the air, her white sails inhaling the salty air. Max trotted toward the bow, her ears flapping in the breeze. Wynona stood in the cockpit next to me. I reached for her right hand, placing it on the wheel. She smiled, taking my lead and steering Dragonfly.
I looked at the sky and moving clouds, then checked the compass mounted near the wheel. I glanced at the GPS screen, shutting it off, pointing toward the southeast. Wynona nodded, turning the wheel, Dragonfly following her lead. The sea seemed to call to us like an old friend, the warm breeze in our faces, the sky a deep shade of sapphire blue. We sailed on, moving away from the coast of Florida, heading to the Bahamas and eventually, St. Lucia. After an hour, there was no sight of land behind us, only the vast expanse of the Atlantic Ocean in front of us.
• • •
Three days later, when we came close to Bimini, the remote and isolated small islands north of Alice Town, I pointed to them. The sun was rising in the east, the surface of the ocean speckled with mauves and pinks, gulls laughing, the silhouette of swaying palms in the distance. “Those islands, somewhere out there, was where Nick said he thought he spotted a mermaid. But, of course, as he admitted, it was after a night of drinking rum at one of his favorite bars in Alice Town.”
Wynona smiled, a cup of steaming coffee in her hand, Max sitting on the cockpit bench seat beside her. “Nick has a way of embellishing a story, but he does own a boat that looks like it sailed the Aegean Sea back in the days of the myths and legends of mermaid sightings.” She got up, standing next to me, looking at the islands, a wide smile forming. “Although we know there’s no such thing as real mermaids, the legendary lore lives on now as it has for centuries. So, maybe, for the sake of our journey, we follow the trade winds … and, if by some crazy or weird fluke, we happen to see a mermaid along the way, we’ll just wave to her from a distance. Maybe put a note in a bottle and toss it overboard.”
“What would the note say?”
Wynona laughed, the breeze in her hair. “It would say that Nick Cronus sends his love and admiration … and it would say swim the seven seas Miss Mermaid with no worries and no hurries.”
I laughed, leaned over and kissed Wynona. Max barked, once, trotting toward the bow. I said, “Maybe Max sees something out there on the islands.”
“I wonder what that might be?”
We sailed on, past Bimini, heading southeast, Dragonfly performing as if it were a thoroughbred racehorse, cutting through the swells, the ocean like a gentle hand, softly rocking the cradle, the events of late now far behind us, mentally and geographically. The future lay somewhere in front of us, the wind in our sails pulling us into the unknown. I let Wynona take the wheel, her face filled with trust and poise, Dragonfly following her light touch. At that moment in time and place, we believed we could do anything we really wanted to do.
And so, we did.
The End
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