Tiny Sailboats

A story I wrote in high school.

With the sun dissipating behind the hill we sat there, under our old weeping willow tree, contemplating the long day we'd spent together"and all the long years… Everything seemed perfect that day. Almost perfect. Nothing could've ruined it for us, though. It would be the last time we'd see each other in years.

That day wasn't perfect. Only almost. Something did ruin part of that day for me"and for you too. What it was, was that feeling. That feeling you get every time you're dreading something that you know is going to happen. Something you know is inevitable.

It didn't ruin our last day together, but it was in my head all day long"and in yours. I remember waking up early in the morning, and calling you. You were wide awake, I could tell: already getting ready to go.

I stopped my little, beat up car outside of your house. You stepped out wearing white sneakers, indigo blue jeans and a light yellow cardigan that complemented your beautiful, brown hair. You were an angel. We left.

We drove to the seaside, and all the way there, we laughed and joked about all the things we'd pass. There was nothing else to laugh about, besides all of the good memories we'd had"but we were saving those"we had the whole day ahead of us.

Such joy we created from everyday things. As we drove, we laughed at the windmills we'd see, brandishing their long arms in circles, as if they were trying to take flight. We laughed at the long line of pylons, towering above us, suspending the long wires that never seemed to end. We watched the clouds move, though there weren't that many that day. They moved fast.

As we drove through the little towns, we counted the mailboxes we'd see"there were tons, so it wasn't too difficult. If you'd count one, I couldn't count the same one and vise versa. We basically made a game out of it. P.O. boxes didn't count.

When we reached the seaside, we walked together, barefoot, on the shore. We felt the sand between our toes, the sun on our faces, and the warm breeze in our hair.

The sun was just now getting high in the sky. It lit up your smile. You were beautiful.

Next, we walked the pier, nodding our heads at all the fishermen who wore thick coats, heavy boots and old caps. I don't know why they were dressed the way they were. It was gorgeous outside.

At last, we reached the end of the pier. We looked out at the water and thought about nothing. Nothing at all. Not even “the feeling” bothered us, then. I sat there, you lying next to me, your head on my lap, and played with your long hair as we talked about everything"all the years together. We laughed a lot"but we didn't bring up anything about you leaving. That wasn't to be talked about.

We looked out, strained our eyes, and pointed at all the microscopic sails of the tiny sailboats that mindlessly floated on a horizon so far away, it didn't seem to exist"did it exist? And the sailors? And what of the sailboats? Were they going to fall? Off the edge of the earth? We left.

Next, we drove to the bookstore with the little cafe. I remember ordering orange juice. I remember reading the scripts from our favorite plays"the same ones that we participated in during high school. You usually had a major role"I didn’t though. The plays were really funny. Nobody else thought they were, though. We were being obnoxious. We didn't care.

You bought me a set of my favorite newspaper cartoons. I couldn't stop thanking you. I, then, bought you a collection of your favorite science fiction books. The ones we read in eleventh grade. You probably thanked me a thousand times.

Next, we went out to eat. We knew the perfect place"it wasn't some fast-food place either"it was a nice place. It's closed down now, but when it was there, it was the fanciest place in town. We even had a candlelight (which we had to ask for… it was still light outside!). We ate, then tried to figure out how much to give the waitress for a tip. I couldn't ever figure out the right amount to leave, but you were always smarter than I was, when it came to leaving tips. When you figured everything out, we left, unsure of our next destination.

As we drove, you noticed a fully functioning sprinkler system in the front lawn of a large retirement home. “You thinking what I’m thinking?” We parked.

With much momentum, we held hands, skipped, and jumped through the sprinklers, again and again. Just like we did as children. Rainbows formed as the sun hit the water particles that created the hazy mists all around us. We laughed. When I saw you laugh, I looked at your smile in the sun, your bright, wide open eyes, the rainbows forming around you, your soaked hair, and the water droplets on your face. I’d never felt so alive in my life. We leaned in to kiss, but before our lips could touch, we heard yelling. Somebody from the retirement home saw us playing in the sprinklers. We shook heads, smiled, linked hands, then took off running. The wet grass was slippery. We were tempted to slide, but somehow resisted. A man in a gray jumpsuit chased us"but we outran him. He wasn’t fast at all"his hair probably matched the color of his clothes. We didn’t get a very good look at him, though. We left.

We stopped at my apartment, to change into some dry clothes. You had plenty of clothes in your luggage. We left in a hurry"there was still some daylight left.

We decided to go to the park, just outside of town. I love that park. It has a stream, and there's even a little bridge that goes over it. There are some beautiful trees there too"one of them still has a small part of us engraved in it"it was our favorite tree, growing up. As kids, we spent a lot of time under that tree. That’s where we kissed for the first time, on that bright, beautiful, long summer day. I remember peeling the bark, then carving our initials in the trunk with your father’s pocket knife. I’m glad he never found out we borrowed it.

With the sun dissipating behind the hill we sat there, under our old weeping willow tree, contemplating the long day we'd spent together"and all the long years...

The sky was getting dark now. There wasn't too much time left. We had to go to the airport. Your flight left soon. We left, without looking back at our tree. We left it alone in the dark.

The way there, we talked happily"as if nothing were going to happen. We didn't need to talk about leaving each other. We knew we'd still talk, sometimes. We'd have telephones and computers to communicate with... right?

When we reached the airport, it was very busy. We had to pass through those annoying metal detectors. We waited for a long time. It took us awhile to find your luggage because it seemed as if everybody at the airport had the same bags as you"or maybe we were just tired.

At last, it was time for your flight to leave. I had hoped it would be delayed. Forever.

We had to say goodbye. We kissed (for the millionth time that day) and hugged and said our farewells and good lucks, for the last time. Then we softly cried for a moment, and it was time to go. After we parted, you turned around and waved. I saw you wave and waved back. You kept walking. I smiled, turned around, and waved at you again, but your back was turned and you were already boarding the airplane.

I stood there, in the middle of the busy airport, hands in my pockets. I'd never felt so alone in my life.

“Now what?”