Purple Water

Shortly after the end and right before the beginning there was me in the little yellow raft floating along in the Indian Ocean, which is quite an ocean I can tell you.

Of course there was the sun. Quite a sun. Ungodly, to say the least. No way to defend against the sun or the heat of it, or the fact that I had no drinking water since my 32 foot double-ender wooden sloop, that was our home and our church, hit the thing whatever it was I ddin't see while I was asleep and thought I was awake. And with the both of them down below where they should have been. I had told them it was safer there. The storm and all.

I haven't found them yet. One of the missing is very bald and named Joe-Joe and doesn't quite weigh twenty pounds yet. If you ever see him tell him to give me a call. I believe you will see him. He is my son and the other is his mother, my Jully Fourth and First day of Summer and my friend before we got married when we rode bikes through Golden Gate Park on Sunday mornings.

But like I said, it was only me now in the little raft--

My eyes searched the sea. Staring out.

Somewhere in time later, my eyes opened, and there were others aboard with me on the raft. None of them I knew.

There was a woman in a mink coat. She was perfectly dry and stately. Elegant. She had on freshly applied ruby red lipstick .She was very old and very ugly, and next to her was perhaps her great-grand-daughter, who was far from ugly, but very fragile. She seemed to pay a lot of attention to the skinny, dark haired boy next to her. He looked about her age, maybe sixteen. I think she liked him, or feared him. He was with dead eyes and he slowly licked his lips without cease.

We looked at each other, the four of us, for the longest time. I wanted to ask them where they came from. I wanted to ask if they had any water. I knew if I asked them anything they would alll jjust disapear and I didn't want to be alone. So I said nothing. We bobbed along. And bobbed along. And bobbed...

When I saw the ship I yelled, "Look a ship!"

My ship-mates didn't seam as pleased.

And poof, they too were gone. I found myself standing and waving my arms for a long time, and then as the big ship got closer I took my shirt off and twirled it in the dead hot air over my head. I knew the ship spotted me. I didn't want to be alone. I wanted to be found, and I was found, and I will not say I'm sorry so much about this strange fact that I was saved. If you ever see Joe-Joe, if he pops up, and I think he will, tell him I'm doing fine and that I'm starting again, and I'm going to be alright. And that I'm sorry. And though I hardly really knew him, I miss him each and every wonderful goddamn day.