The Cathabella Diary | Novella

08.02.22

We met at the rendezvous point at sharp eight today. I like to be punctual whenever its possible, and so does Brian. But before meeting up, it had all been quite the same... the morning. Honestly, I don't like to be alone anymore. Rather than an errand trip these last two days have been quite like a holiday trip for me. All thanks to Brian else these eight days would have seen me lingering around.

And now there was this charming old man, with all but allure and appeal. You just couldn't help but love him. His voice had not got old yet – like of a seventy-year-old one himself. It was still in its forties – soft and sharp rather than thin or rock hard or rather feeble. And when we reached the old man, he was sitting on a deck chair right there by the pool, sipping his pineapple juice with a newspaper in his other hand. Legs outstretched, one over another... and no official or secretary around. He was in his blue shorts and Miami cotton shirt which richly flaunted his ragged skin.

He removed his sunglasses when he saw us coming and keeping the newspaper down on his lap, waved at us. He had already arranged two deck chairs, forming a triangle of chairs. As we greeted each other and sat down, he asked if we needed something to drink to which Brian asked for a mild mocktail and I asked for soda. As the drinks arrived, we engaged in a healthy conversation. Firstly, it centred around our occupation and aim of the trip.

"So what brings you here, Mr. Brown?", Caleb asked me at the end. Brian looked at me in anticipation. He wanted to know the answer himself. How badly we want to know about other's lives, I thought to myself but replied, "Uh, it's my grandfather".

"What happened? Is he alright?", Brian rises a little and asks me immediately.

"No no... He's dead for a long time now". He leaned back in his chair. "Oh", he said.

"Yes... he was a navy man in his young days. He was in the Royal Australian Navy".

"Wow", said Caleb. "The Royal Australian Navy... My cousin was in a troop of theirs. I wish I were in navy but never got the chance. Now, I am running the navy of passengers for passengers".

"How many relatives you have around the world, sir?", Brian asked him. The three of us chuckled. "Please, call me Caleb. I cannot do anything about it if my family is big and productive". We laughed.

"Yeah, so Mr. Brown... George... You were telling something". I nodded.

"He loved the sea you know. A man always in his own utopian world. And utopia to him was blue – the blue water under the vast blue sky".

"Beautiful!", remarked Caleb. "A man after war, hm"

"The biggest pleasure in his life. Even old age couldn't take it out of him... When my grandma forced him to move Tennessee, I bet he lost his charm. Before that they used to live in Newark.

"Things have been happening to me... And I have been really insecure about it. I just couldn't doze on the bed of my home anymore, nor could I fly and catch up without taking some time off. Truth is – when grandpa would tell me his stories, it would immerse me. Like once, he said, they were at the Celebes Sea when they were hit by a storm. All of them—all forty of them on board... they fought it together. He was the Second Mate there. They were on an aircraft carrier that was headed to Japan. Nature reminding man of its aptitude. Testing the men, wanting them to show their might. Three of them were injured with some broken bones but when the sky cleared the next morning, all of them gathered up on the deck, kneeling together and thanking the sea for saving them. 'When you are on the ocean, it's not you in command. It's the ocean', he would tell me then. 'You've always got to respect those who give you your means of life or the peace you seek. The waters gave me both'".