The island was up; crowded with familiar strangers preoccupied with tired itineraries. Eat, shop, sleep, repeat. Nothing of substance in their coming or going; autopilots of autonomous kingdoms, oblivious to the winged ship hovering over the harbor like a pilgrim spacecraft.

The light in the cove was neither night or day but I registered the time as departure from the ordinary. Was I the only one who could see the pirate ship, three football fields long, with ivory, macrame wings, propelling itself from within, above the ocean? That was the plane! Anybody? Just me? Ok. Carry on zombie apocalypsers. Meanwhile I’ll be over here, climbing the refurbished tower to wait.

Do we crash and burn? Yes. Screaming and flailing. Losing everything, again and again. So, what’s your point? Am I dead enough to the undead yet? The real question is; how many times do we have to die and be reborn before we finally set sail?

Anticipation was eating me alive, to which Joni replied; let’s get a drink. She thought nothing of having a Bloody Mary at 8:30 in the morning and while I’m in no position to judge, I’ve never had the desire to day drink and always found the name nauseating. Blood. Mary. Is celery the cross? Was the whole thing made up by a bunch of tweens at a slumber party? No. No thank you.

She talked into her tumbler as if I weren’t there anyway, so I didn’t think it was rude to hide my true feelings and stare out the long windows, absorbing the 360 degree view of the peopled cove and harbor, fixated on the floating boat. That contraption was my ride up and out. What was it waiting for?

We’d walked up the now plushly carpeted, royal blue stairs, past whitewashed wooden walls, stiff with fear and rigid thinking. Tacky brass light fixtures gilded the faux surface of the now claustrophobic, narrowing path to the oasis at the top.

This place has become a complete facade. It used to be a lighthouse. It used to shine. Now it’s just a gilded perch for flightless birds. A lookout for people who can’t see that magnificent vessel waiting to transport anyone with eyes to Vastly Infinite Possibilities above the illusion of departing clouds.

xo

Dreaming like crazy lately. Anyone else?