6
And
that was that. We said our farewells and departed to the quayside. Andy slid
down a rope from the poop deck and handed Helen an envelope. Inside was a
slightly dog eared Action Comics #1. Helen made to object. “Just be gracious
and accept it.” he said. “It won’t go for full value, but you should be able to
get something for it.” Helen thanked him. They hugged and he strolled up the
gangway.
Mechanics
whirled and sails unfurled and the ship took on a whole new level of mystery.
Helen saw my confusion. “Oh yes.” she said. “Among other things, Andy is
an engineering genius. Three years I was on board and I never figured out how it
worked. To be honest, I don’t really know how the Samurai suit works, but it
seems to and that’s enough for me.”
Andy
appeared at the side and shouted something she didn’t catch at first. He came
back with Sarah’s megaphone: “I said, get yourself ready Darling. It’s coming.
Soon. Ride the wave Hon.” Helen nodded. I saw she knew what he meant.
An
engine started and slowly the ship manoeuvred out into open water, it’s sails
filling as the masts turned into the wind. I thought there was a danger of it running
aground, but Helen assured me that while the ship looked like something Nelson would
have sailed in, it was equipped with state of the art sensors. She sailed off
down the estuary and I swear a bank of fog swept in from out of nowhere,
enveloping the ship’s form. It lifted just as we were driving off and just as
quickly as it had arrived. The ship was long gone.
Case
closed and it was still only mid-afternoon. We went back to the boat, finished
up some work and a couple of celebration cocktails turned into an impromptu
barbeque. It’s the way the best parties always start. Ruth came. Their dad,
Ray, came. Antonio came, even Lenny came and laughed it up good and proper
about the Nicholsons’ arrest. It had been top of the local news all afternoon.
There was a lot of laughter that night. A lot of drinking and some other substances
too. And a lot of music. There was always music whenever Helen was around. My
strongest abiding memory of that night is her playing the acoustic guitar,
singing Nick Drake songs against a blood red sky, everyone so quiet you could
hear a can of lager creak.
Helen
disappeared. Well most everyone did, didn’t they. Me and Jo arrived at the boat
one morning to find no trace that it or she were ever there. Even the allotment
she had worked so hard to cultivate had returned to its previous state as a
scrapheap.
“Well
that’s that then.” I said.
“Yes.”
Jo agreed. “We knew it was coming though. At least we know she’s safe.”
“True.
I just wish we knew what caused all this.”
“Do
you think this Andy has anything to do with it? Or the girl?”
“Sarah?
No, I don’t think so. Andy I’m not so sure about. He seems to have the power to
induce amnesia. Amongst other things. I still don’t remember much about him.”
“So
what now?”
“We
go back and tell them what we’ve found out.”
And
we did. But that, as they say, is another story.
Get it done.
See Also (click links)
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