The Boat

-Flash Fiction-

I have always lived on this boat. My father, his father, and his father’s father also. Though there's no telling how many generations have resided on this ship, it surely goes back further than anyone could possibly hope to remember. Documents contained within the captain’s quarters record the last 1000 years, and everything prior has been lost to time.

Looking in each direction, as far as the eye can see, is nothing but vast, deep, and endless water. At the outreaches of the horizon, the sky and waters converge to become one. The barrelman, constantly up at the top of the crow’s nest of the ship, stares unblinkingly at the horizon through large binoculars, ever ready to announce the sight of land. It’s said that every couple hundred years, the barrelman shouts in a crazed frenzy a sighting of land, but moving ever closer in the indicated direction only reveals more water, more blue. Despite endless searching day and night, there’s not been a sighting of land in nearly 300 years, so we continue living just as we always have on the boat, waiting patiently.

While large charcoal-colored clouds cover the hot sun, preventing shadows from being cast, I am sitting out on a chair on the deck of the ship when a receding hairline with a walrus-handlebar mustache approaches and takes a seat on the chair next to mine. He glances over at me, and as I turn to look at him, he quickly veers away. I turn back, and we continue in this furtive, coy manner for several minutes. Soon, I grow angry and demand, “What is it? Why do you keep looking at me? If you have something to say, say it.” The man rubs his hands together, then his ridiculous mustache, looks sharply from side to side, ensuring no one is listening, and then leans in and says quietly in a strange accent, either French or German, but which I am not sure, “You know this boat is sinking, don’t you?”

“What? Sinking? What gave you that idea?”

“I’ve reviewed the ship's schematics; it’s not even meant to float. It floats only by means of our belief it is floating. In reality, we are already in the water. It’s just a matter of time until everyone figures it out.”

“You’re crazy; this boat has been sailing for over 1000 years. Why would it sink now?”

“Think about it, you fool!” The man says, slowly losing his discretion, “Do you really think it’s possible to live on a boat for a millennium? Do you really think a boat can float for that long? It’s all a lie, I tell you, and I can prove it!” By this point, the man is now yelling, attracting the attention of all on the boat deck, and he pulls from his coat detailed schematics.

Trilling his ‘r’s’ aggressively, he begins, “See here? The starboard is rotted from algae, and here, the front bow is caving in on itself. Giant portions of the stern are missing from whale attacks, and the outboard rudder is almost completely disintegrated from years underwater. According to the calculations of professional engineers, this boat can be no older than 100 years!”

A large crowd of people are gathering around the man as he speaks, increasing in pace and furor as he continues. The captain is standing stoically beside the door of his quarters, arms crossed, the barrelman still single-mindedly peering through his binoculars, looking for land, while the anxious crowd of people glares imploringly at the captain, wishing for him to intervene and expel the rabble-rouser. The captain, removing his hat to reveal his stark white hair, ignores their wishes, turns, walks into his quarters, closes the door, and locks it behind himself.

The frenzied energy from the man now flowed throughout the crowd, no longer stymied by the presence of the captain. The more evidence he showed the crowd, the more hysteric they all became. 

“Well, what do we do now?” The crowd demanded.

“Jump, you fools! Abandon ship! It’s the only way!”

Tumult rose within the crowd. Murmurs against the boat began, at first quiet, then louder and more emphatic. The rabble-rouser continued with his systematic attack on the ship when a scraggly beard with a Russian accent interjected. “Calm down, everyone, calm down!” Moving to the center of the crowd, he continues, “How do any of us know if what this man is saying is actually true? Have we not all lived on this boat our entire lives? Where do you think he got these “schematics?”

“It’s all right here!” Shouted the dissident, “Here is the evidence. Prove me wrong if you can!” 

“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about; I can’t prove you wrong. All I know is I’ve lived here my entire life. What are we going to do if we…” but the man was cut off, this time by the frenzy of the crowd, “Liar!” They screamed in bedlam, “You just want to keep the truth from us!” The crowd, now pushing the man away, fixed their attention back on the dissenter.

“Follow me, everyone!” The man said, guiding all who would listen to the railing of the boat. He started helping people climb over the railing, encouraging the exodus from the ship. Men, women, and children started jumping down into the cold water. 

I look once more to the barrelman on the crow’s nest. He removes his binoculars from his face and glares down directly at me, wide-eyed, with large white circles around his face where the binoculars prevent sunlight from penetrating his skin. I blink and am now in the ocean. The people all around me are treading with great effort to keep their heads in the air. The water is freezing, and I immediately begin shivering. Finally, the instigator of the rebellion dives into the water, joining us.

“Yes! Yes, you have done it. You’ve broken free of the lies!” Said the man, trembling either from delight or from the icy water. Joy reverberates throughout the crowd as they celebrate their victory over deception.

After a few moments, the crowd began to ask, “Well, now what do we do?”

The mustached man looked incredulous. “What do you mean, ‘what now?’ Each of you will have to construct your own boats now! Go on.”

“But how do we do that while we are in the ocean?” Replied the crowd in astonishment. Fear and anxiety now redoubling in their hearts.

“How should I know? You have to figure that out for yourselves. It doesn't have to be a boat, after all. It could be a raft or a canoe. Whatever you want!” The man smiled wide, revealing for the first time a mouth without any teeth. The crowd’s ire now turned to the dissenter, 

“You lied! You tricked us!” the crowd shouted in discordant unison. 

The man now flushed red; his smile disappeared in an instant, and he said, once again trilling his final ‘r’ with additional exaggeration, “Me? Lie! You ungrateful, pathetic maggots! I showed you truth. I uncovered your eyes from the deceptive reality you were all sleepwalking in! If you no longer have the will to live, what business of that is mine?” 

The now wet crowd surrounded the man before he could say another word and began beating him. They grabbed him by his long, ridiculous mustache and held him underwater, his arms flailing as he drowned. I turned back towards the ship, and the bearded man with the Russian accent motioned me to climb back on. I started swimming towards the boat, getting closer and closer. Soon I reach the boat, and rest my hand against the back stern, gathering my energy as I prepare to climb up.

I then heard the barrelman from the crow’s nest shout, “Land! I see land!” And the boat started moving away from me, my hand slipping from the boat and my head slipping into the water briefly. I jerked my head above the water and saw the man with the scraggly beard throw a life buoy towards me. I grasped at it, grazing it with the tips of my fingers, but it slipped away. The harder I flail in the cold water, the further the buoy and boat become. 

As the boat drifts away from me, I grow tired and slow down. Soon, the entire ship vanishes in the horizon, though I can still hear the echos of the barrelman announcing land; his shouts are frenzied and filled with euphoric delight. I tread the water completely alone, but I'm too exhausted to continue. I look around, trying to orient myself, and see nothing but vast, deep, and endless water. I slip down slowly into the sea as the sun comes out from behind the clouds.