“Relax, Rachel. This is a cruise ship. We aren’t in the middle of the ocean, we’re docked in Barcelona. Don’t you want to spend two extra days here? It’s beautiful.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve always been afraid of the water, Chad.”
Then why did you agree on a sea cruise for our honeymoon?”
He held her close. They were standing at the rail facing the city. Their ship the Oceana was going to be delayed here while divers made emergency repairs on a leaking propeller shaft seal.
“Face your fears. That sort of thing. When we have children, I can’t be the Momma who’s afraid to take them to the beach.”
“Great. How about a swim?” He chided her.
“Swimming lessons after we get back home.” She was only mildly annoyed at his teasing, but she never told him about the dreams of drowning in icy water, of a sinking ship named Titanic, of a twenty-two year old woman named Catherine Buckley.
Her lifelong nightmares had faded until she read a news story saying the Titanic was slowly being eaten away and would vanish entirely in twenty years.
Maybe then the dreams would disappear again and Catherine would finally have peace.
I wrote this for the Sunday Photo Fiction of October 15th 2017 challenge. The idea is to use the image above to inspire crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 200 words long. My word count is 200.
Seeing the words “Ocean Princess” on the side of that small craft, I did a bit of Googling and found it could match up to several craft. Renamed MV Oceana, the Ocean Princess entered service in November 2002. According to Wikipedia, “In early April 2014, Oceana underwent emergency repairs after she developed a problem with one of her propeller shaft seals. The ship stayed in port in Barcelona for three days instead of the scheduled one for divers to carry out the repairs.”
I’d recently read about how the Titanic is slowly being deteriorated by bacteria and will be completely disintegrated within twenty years. This breaks my heart because it is the final memorial for all the souls who went down with her. Also, I’ve been fascinated with the legend of the Titanic since I was a child and was both excited and disappointed when the wreck was actually found.
I decided to tinker with history a bit so that both the Oceana being stuck in Barcelona and the discovery of the Titanic’s imminent demise occurs during the same year. I also decided to play with reincarnation a bit. Catherine (or Katherine) Buckley did die aboard the Titanic and I picked her more or less at random from a list of the victims. Her body was recovered and interned in St. Joseph’s Cemetery in Massachusetts by her sister who lived in Roxbury at the time.
I took the title for today’s tale from Revelation 20:13.
To read more stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.
Absorbing to read James. You’ve built a lot of information into such a brief passage (if the last two words look like a nautical pun, it was unintentional).
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Thanks. Actually, I was sort of impressed at how the story turned out being able to use so many and varied references in a scant 200 words.
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Me too!
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Fascinating tale, with a nice bit of history mixed with fiction. Nicely done.
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Thanks, Iain.
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Very layered and detailed plot here, James. And thanks for the little history lesson.
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You’re welcome, Varad. I learn bits of history as necessary for writing, but one of my sons continuously listens to podcasts and is a font of information.
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A skilful mix of fact and fiction.
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Thanks, Sandra.
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I see what you meant by taking a straightforward approach to writing about Titanic. 🙂 And I love the reincarnation aspect. Well done!
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Thanks, Sonny.
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I like it. It is written well enough that the extra explanation isn’t really necessary; just icing on the cake so to speak.
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A lot of people like icing, Susan. 😉 Thanks.
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I do too. I just meant that the story stands on its own merit.
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I know. I was making a small joke. Thanks again.
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Good story James. I like the reincarnation aspect. I wonder if she will ever tell him, and if he would belive her
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She might not really believe it herself. Perhaps if/when the dreams fade, she’ll just go on to live the life she has now.
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