ALONE

ALONE

By Peter Woodgate

Jimmy was a loner. He worked in a call-centre for an energy company and hated it.

Never a moments peace, if the phone wasn’t ringing, his work colleagues would be idly chatting

about superfluous rubbish.

    He was a confirmed bachelor and, even though asked, on several occasions, he would never accept invitations to join them for a drink down the pub. No, Jimmy wanted just one thing, peace and quiet.

Even when, at home in his flat, He rarely experienced a quiet evening. His neighbours, especially those upstairs, were always rowing or banging just about every door they had.

    On those odd moments when he did speak to other members of the staff he boasted about one day after he had won the lottery, he would retire to a place in the middle of nowhere.

    Well, that day arrived, it was no longer a boast, Jimmy had all the right numbers and, consequently,

had won 6.2 million pounds. No bottles of champagne, no farewell party, Jimmy simply walked out

of the office, leaving a resignation letter on the supervisor’s desk.

    Away from the crowded metropolis, Jimmy had decided to buy an uninhabited island in the middle of the pacific ocean whilst at the same time purchasing a small yacht. Jimmy didn’t know anything about boats, in fact, he didn’t really want to know and only took note of what he called essential information like, how to start and stop the engine, which way to turn the steering wheel and how to re-fuel. He gave no attention to the communications equipment or the various gauges for navigation.  Jimmy simply saw the boat as a means to isolation and was unaware of the dangers this lack of information could cause.

    At last, he thought, as he lay in his hammock listening to birdsong and the rustling of leaves through the palms.  Even these normally soothing sounds were mildly irritating to Jimmy who, it seems, would settle for nothing less than complete silence.

     I will take the boat out tomorrow, Jimmy was thinking, out beyond birdsong and rustling leaves, nothing but endless sea and sky above. The following morning was sunny and the sea calm as Jimmy set off with a packed lunch and a crate of beer. If I steer direct north on the outward journey then directly south on the return I should be safely back here, no problem he mumbled to himself.

    In theory, this should have been ok, however, Jimmy had not fully taken account of the effects of drinking five pints of beer. He felt tired and turned off the engine then laid down on the soft bench seat falling asleep almost immediately. It was about two hours later that Jimmy awoke and, starting the engine, he turned the boat around and headed due south.  Unfortunately, Jimmy did not realize that whilst asleep the yacht had drifted east and that, whilst going in the seemingly correct direction, he would miss his island by several miles.

    Jimmy looked at his watch, I should have spotted my island an hour ago, he thought, then a sudden wave of trepidation swept through his whole body. The sun was shining, not a sniff of a breeze and 360 degrees of shining water was all he could see.

    Suddenly the engine gave a cough and stopped. He checked the gauge, empty.

“What do I do now? He mumbled as panic set in.

Jimmy looked at the unending expanse of water underneath of which millions of life forms were going about their business unseen. There were no birds to be seen or heard, no whispers of a breeze through leaves, in fact perfect peace.

    Jimmy should have been happy, but he wasn’t. For the first time in his life he wanted to hear noises, voices of people, even the highly irritating sounds of car horns would have been wonderful but no, nothing. Then Jimmy looked up to the great blue yonder, not even a cloud. What he did see far above his isolation was a vapour trail streaming behind the barely visible outline of an aircraft. He waved his feeble arms whilst knowing it was pointless. He was now beginning to dehydrate, the five pints of beer making Jimmy feel extremely thirsty. He was now beginning to panic and looked around for something to drink. There was nothing, not even a beer, although he realized that this would just exacerbate his condition.

    “Stupid, stupid, stupid”,” he mumbled to himself, why, oh, why did I not bring water along?”

Jimmy then attempted to use the boat’s radio system to no avail, he simply did not have a clue.

He did manage to switch it on and heard crackling noises, but was oblivious to the button used for speaking and receiving. It was probably a waste of time anyway as he simply had no idea of his position.

    The sun continued to beat down mercilessly as Jimmy’s dehydration was beginning to frazzle his brain and he began hallucinating. He was in a cool lake and leaned over the side of the boat scooping the cold water up into one of the empty beer bottles.

    Laying down on the bench seat he started to pour the sea water down his throat then, almost immediately, sat up with a jerk and started to vomit explosively.

Jimmy,s eyes were now red and staring;  staring at a mirage. It showed Johnny, who used to occupy

The seat next to his whilst working at the call centre. Johnny opened his mouth and Jimmy could hear the words that Johnny had whispered to him on the day he left.

“You need to be careful about what you wish for.” 

Copyright  Peter Woodgate