When the Dance is Over

Since I got to this island, I haven’t been able to draw myself away from the incandescent glow of the dancing women at this bar. I’d get so perplexed in their motions that I’d forget my longing to be with my daughter back in Chicago. It’s like as soon as I got to my little table, weathered from the salty rainfalls and warm breezes of the island, the rest of the world disappears.

I work for a small newspaper based in Chicago, and they want an article about island fishing. It’s a dead-beat job; the paper probably won’t even last. But I’ll do anything for Ellie; she means the world to me. She’s been one of the only sources of happiness for me since her mother left us. I love her.

I flew in on a Monday, and headed immediately over to Coral Wharf on the northern side of the island. The sky was a color blue no artist could mimic, and there were only a few clouds, like feathers, floating in the sky. The docks creaked musically, and gulls cried as they floated in the breeze. Walking down the pier, I watched a school of fish swim in the crystalline water. But, I was abruptly taken aback when a deep, booming voice came from behind, shattering my contentment, and raising the hair on my neck. I quickly moved my eyes to the dock, seeing a beastly shadow towering over mine on the dock. It was swinging a noose.

"Goo’ Mornin’! How you be feelin’ this mornin’?"

I slowly turned around to see Frankenstein’s monster, but much to my relief, I saw a gigantic bear of a man, waving hello to me with a handful of rope

"I’m doing pretty well. How about yourself?"

"Ah, pretty goo’-"

"I’m here gathering information for a report on island fisheries," I said cutting him off. I’m sure he thought it was weird to see a random guy, obviously from the north, wandering around the docks.

"Well you come to da right place. Call me Stu. And you be…"

"Jon. Jon Caught. Nice to meet you Stu," I said pulling my sunglasses to my forehead.

"Are you a fisherman?"

"Yep, same as my pap, same as his pap."

"Mind if I ask you a few questions?"

"Nah! I don’ need ta head out fo’ a few minutes," he said while throwing down the rope he was carrying. He led me over to a stack of barrels we could sit on. I got out my notebook and began to scribble a few notes.

"Stu, do you have a family?"

"Ah, ya, I did…"

"Did? What happened?"

"Well, ratha not talk ‘bout it. But I lost ma wife an’ son."

My thoughts went immediately to Ellie. Last Sunday I took her to the park so she could swing on the swings. I can still see her curls blowing in the wind.

I looked at Stu, now rubbing his head with calloused and cracked hands. I could see the immense pain he was going though. I could only wonder how his family died. I couldn’t ask how or when it happened.

"I’m sorry. I cannot even begin to imagine how horrible that must be."

He looked up at me, forced a smile, and said, "Yeh, welp, ‘sall in the past now."

I then changed the subject, but I know both of us were thinking of our families; his dead, and mine alive.

This wasn’t the first time I met with Stu. I have actually seen him every day I’ve been here. Let’s see…that’s five times then. We’ve actually become pretty close.