Beyond the Sea
Here’s the story I wrote as the Round 1 Bonus for the writing contest I’m taking part in. The instructions were to google an image for one word out of a few possible choices, then write the story based on the word and picture. I chose ‘drowned’ and the following picture:
Beyond the Sea
The summer holidays had always been Susie’s favourite time of year. Ever since the age of five her parents had taken her to stay with her grandparents on the South Coast, and she always listened with interest to her grandfather’s tales of years gone by. Such was her love of her grandfather’s stories that she could usually be found sitting at the kitchen table, waiting for him with a dish of her favourite breakfast cereal, as early as 7am (something that would be considered a miracle when she was at home). Her grandfather came from a long line of fishermen, and as a boy he too had listened eagerly to the tales told to him by his own grandfather. Many of the tales he could still recite word for word; tales of smugglers that hid their contraband in a network of tunnels at the base of the cliffs, and treasure found buried on the small island a few miles off shore. All of these tales had been passed down through the generations, although some had been embellished slightly over the years. There were also tales that were less pleasant, as that particular stretch of coast was home to sharp, jagged rocks that were almost invisible in severe weather, and ever changing currents.
Susie was fifteen years old when her grandfather told her the story of the Cartwright brothers. It was a hot August afternoon, and they were sitting in the shade of the willow tree drinking iced lemonade when her grandfather began the tale.
“That day wasn’t so different from this,” his sighed, “but it ended in a tragedy that none of us who were there will ever forget.”
It was 21st July 1960 and Tom Cartwright would be getting married in two days time. His elder brother, Gerald, had just returned from Cyprus where he had been stationed during his National Service, and as the boys hadn’t seen each other for the past six months they’d decided to spend the morning waterskiing. Everyone used to joke that the brothers were really mermen, as they were both excellent swimmers. In fact they excelled at anything involving boats and the water. That morning was bright and sunny, and the sea was as smooth as finely polished glass. Tom had been engaged to his childhood sweetheart, Diane Reynolds, for little over a year, and the couple had arranged to have a picnic lunch on the beach with their friends when the brothers returned from their trip.
As it was the peak of the holiday season the beach was crowded that day - parents and children were building sandcastles or watching the Punch and Judy show, others were paddling in the sea close to the beach or playing football. Diane and her friends were sunbathing and talking excitedly about the wedding, and they could just see Tom and Gerald waterskiing in the distance. The weather forecast had said that there was a chance of thunderstorms later that afternoon, as it was a particularly hot and humid summer. Even the sea temperature was higher than normal, which meant that more people had taken the opportunity to spend their free time at the beach. However no one took much notice of the forecast as there was hardly a cloud in the sky.
“At around 11am everything started to change and old Fred Jones, who was the skipper on my fishing trawler, was the first to see the storm clouds moving in.”
