The boat seems to scream its
distrust as they pulled their kayak close it. He knew, if he’d thought about
it, that the hundred year old derelict was settling its old iron bones into the
river silt, but the adrenaline rush of actually being there hampered his
rational mind, and let his fanciful reptilian brain take charge.
“I heard it was a pirate ship,”
Trajan’s utterance pulled him out of his internalized trance. While he’d heard
the same rumor, he knew there had never been pirates on the Ohio River. Trajan
owned the kayak and was easily offended so he knew he needed to gently let him
down.
“Maybe, but the guy at the library
said it was an old transport ship.”
“So, why’d it end up here,” Trajan queried?
“He said a tug company was so
supposed to haul it off for salvage, but the line broke during a storm -- they
lost it. He figured it must have drifted around for a few years and eventually
washed ashore, but he couldn't be sure”
They secured their rope to the bow
of the iron hulk.
“I guess we’ll know for sure once
we get in there, Trajan.” A quick tug on the rope let them know it was secure, and
then they carefully tied their kayak to the other end. Suddenly the hatch on the deck or
the derelict hissed open and two ghastly mugs with machine guns burst out
spraying the younger Kayakers with a plethora of other worldly bullets-- their
boyhood journey came to a sudden end.
I read somewhere that some famous
writer said, “if you’re ever stuck in a scene simply have two mugs burst
through the door with machine guns, and now you have an ending.”
I want to credit the tongue in cheek idea to
Raymond Chandler, but the internet takes away as easily as it gives and I can’t
find the idea anywhere. So, to avoid plagiarism or worse yet unknowingly
steeling some one’s brilliance I have to credit the mugs with guns to someone
else.
I have always been a writer from
inspiration, only writing when my muse is hot, which is probably why I only
have a few publications and two uncompleted novels.
I’m trying an experiment, taking my own
advice, and setting time every day to write. To write mostly shit, but write
none the less. Sometimes I may wind up
with a good start or maybe even a good story, but mostly I think mugs with
machine guns will burst in to get y out of a boring story.
