The Aged Man of Negril , part one

The Beatles - Here Comes The Sun [1 HOUR]

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The aged man stood up on his boat, a mid-sized fishing and scuba vessel he used as a way of life these days. He locked everything up for the night and hopped down onto the old wooden dock, it swayed with his weight on top of the gentle ocean currents below. He looked up at the sky, the shades of dark blue and green and grey slowly engulfing the vibrant island sunset hues of pink, purple and orange, a few stars peeked through the colors to welcome the sailor home for the evening. He walked along the pier until he reached the beach line, he opened the dock gates and closed and locked it behind. A rusty sign hung on the gate saying; “Negril Marina, Jamaica if you need assistance, please contact_______, “ but the phone number wasn't listed anymore, it had worn off with the sea air.

The aged man wasn’t old by any means, but he was no longer the young vibrant man he once had been, and walking on the sandy beach on his way to the street to pile into his car and drive home was becoming a bigger challenge daily.  But he did the same thing each day and each night. He reached his car and opened the dark door, he sat down and took his boat shoes off, he emptied the sand out and looked out towards the ocean to say goodnight. He got in his car and drove about a mile and half to his home, he parked in his empty drive and entered.

He was quickly greeted by two dogs and a cat that had decided the man's house was his own. He smiled, patted their heads and pet them, let them into the back yard, and cleaned up their messes of the day. He went to the kitchen and sat his work bag down on the table. He gently unzipped it and pulled out some large shells and a weird rusted watch he had found that day while on scuba adventures with his clients. He sat and looked at the items and for a moment he went back into his memories. He remembered a woman he had once loved. They had talked about a life together here on the island and how she would have her cafe and he would have his boat and she had told him about a dream she had where he would come to the cafe after his long days, she’d fix him a drink and he would give her “gifts from the sea” which she proudly displayed on the wooden shelves he had made for her for the cafe.
The aged man came away from his memory of the lady that loved him once and the dreams they could have shared had he made different choices when those choices were there to be made. The man's smile gently faded as he picked the trinkets up and placed them on the wooden shelves he had made for her, but that now lined the walls leading to his bedroom. He had quite a collection of gifts that were for her and he hoped, maybe, by some trick of fate, the beauty he had once adored so completely and had lost so abruptly would somehow show up there on the island and they would see each other and the love that they thought was lost would still be strong between them. He hoped fate would allow her the chance to see all the years worth of love he had still collected just for her. He hoped that day could arrive and he thought of her face as he lay down to rest for the night, a moment of sleep to ready himself for tomorrow's next set of scuba and fishing attendees. He leaned over and turned off his lamp and the darkness fell across his lonely home and his simple bed and he slept.