Memory's Pier

Abner stood motionless, smoking his cigarette and staring out over the pier. His frame was thin and steadfast; the wind seemed to blow right through him, messing his wavy black hair as it did so. How many times have I searched the horizon…and for what? He wondered. She was not coming back. He had seen her drown himself…and yet something inside of him told him to wait.

He imagined her as a siren lying across some distant rock while water broke into mist like a veil trying to hide her beautiful face. He wondered if he should join her. He wondered why he stayed in this middle place between life and death. He no longer asked the heavens, because he knew they were empty. So, he waits and takes what little comfort he can get from the kiss of the wind and the soft mist.

‘Sir?’ It was one of the workmen, “She’s gone sir.”

“I know that son, but I am not, and I cannot understand it.” Abner did not move and held his tan face toward the horizon. This scene had played out numerous times, but the young workman felt it important to play his part. Perhaps it was out of empathy, or perhaps respect. It did not matter. Abner let the whole thing happen as it needed to.

The young man turned his eyes to the ground as confusion furrowed his brow. He hadn’t an answer or a word to console the old man and so he began to return to his work.

“Boy.” Abner’s eyes smiled a bit as he heard the workman’s footsteps stop. “Thank you.”

The boy smiled with a bit of relief as he nodded his head. “Aye, Sir!”

At that, the boy was gone and Abner held her face in his mind as the sun rested on the ocean. He remembered her smile when they first met; and the kiss he had surprised her with. He remembered the cowrie shell earrings he had bought from a merchant while he was across the sea and remembered her embrace upon receiving them. Looking back he thought, they were just a trifle, but she loved them just the same. He smiled a moment as tears swelled in his eyes. He flicked his cigarette out into the rocks and took a deep breath of sea air. The horizon was pink and soon he would have nothing to see but the stars.

“Bye my dear.” He spoke as he turned his back and went on his way, but not before something delicate and small tapped his boot.

Kneeling down Abner picked up the two small things that lay there on the wood of the pier. He raised one withered palm up to examine the objects and gasped at what he’d found: two small cowrie shell earrings, the very same he had given her long ago.

“Hello Abner.” A voice as gentle as the breeze spoke to him.

At that very moment he felt a hand upon his shoulder; a woman’s hand.  Chills went up his spine and his eyes widened as he felt it. He held his breath as he turned around slowly to confirm his suspicions.




Thav