Sea A short story by Ng Guo Yi They said that the only thing that separate human race is the sea. The five ocean cuts and divide the world into different parts, America and China cannot be cross by foot. Australia and Canada cannot be swim across. So sea does really separate people. A person who just live in one country will just only see from one perspective, it like the fish who swim in the tank and thought that the world is only as big as tank. In this 5 billion population world, what if your Bashert (is a Yiddish word that means destiny) is right across the other side of the sea? Bracha is tired of wooing the wrong girl after girl. His parent name him bracha which means blessing and hope that he will be a blessing to the world. He often thinks how could he be a blessing to other when he find himself trapped by the society and world, often in night the thoughts of never finding his Bashert will make him sleepless. When he was young, he love the sea. There seems to be endless possibility beyond the horizon. The sloshing of the wave sound is a familiar sounds to him. He lives mile away from the nearest ocean, he always cycles for hours before he reach the coast and the red sea always never disappoint him. His dad told him that they are chosen people and God once part the Red sea for them to save them from the Egyptian. He decided to see the world and set for himself a time span of 1 years to find his Bashert. However, because of his Israeli passport, he always get subjected to random check at the airport. Under Israeli law, Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, Libya, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Yemen are designated enemy states. If he choose to visits any of these countries, whether using an Israeli or foreign passport, may be prosecuted on their return to Israel. He decided to save enough money through a few years of world and travel the world in a clipper. He will learn how to harness the wind to drive the clipper, prep himself for the emergencies like fire, man over board, flooding and pirate attack (especially at the Gulf of Aden). The place for him to launch the clipper at Mediterranean Sea and made a loop via Red sea to be back at Israel. He decided to travel to Turkey first. A country that always intrigued him. It was so close to his country but he never had a chance to visit. The first voyage was rough on him. He could hardly keep any food inside of him, all the food was heaving and swaying in his stomach. He could not keep any food in him except apples. Many a time, it crosses his mind to stop this fool errand, and just settled down with a nice arranged marriage back in Israel. However, the thoughts of finding his Bashert spur him on. On the third day of his voyage, he decided to fiddle around with the Morse code based safety system just in case he get in trouble. “Is there anybody there?” “Yes, I am here.” “Oh I am just trying out the system to see if it works” “Sir, please do not abuse safety network. You can use this frequency 3006-2014 to test your system. We can rectify the non-emergency case there.” “ok, switching to 3006-2014 and out.” Bracha was embarrassed and happy at the same time. This was his first human connection in the last 3 days. He was going to reach turkey soon. And he looks forward to finally set foot on land. Turkey was more than what Bracha imagine, it is floating over sunken cities with surreal mountainous landscape. What take Bracha’s breath away is the majestic Blue Mosque, there seems to be some much collective wisdom within it. He was swept away with the colorful bazaars in the narrow streets of Konya. During his travel, he made friends. Some friends travel together with him and they have a lot of fun hiking through the Ancient Lycian Way. They also managed to stumble into a town that the time had forgotten and enjoy a cup of fruit wine together. However, his Bashert was not there. Soon, he round up his trip in Turkey and set back to his clipper. A few of his new found friends wanted to join him for the trip. He politely declined them as this is a mission that he would like to carry out by himself. However, he promised them that they will meet up soon for the fruit wine. Feeling lonely when he is back on his clipper, he tune to the frequency 3006-2014 at around 9pm. “Is there anybody there?” “How was your Turkey Trip?” “How come you know that I went to Turkey?” “Silly, we have your GPS record.” “ But still it could be from Syria or Greece?” “ I have a feeling that you went to Turkey.” “ Are you my confidante? Haha” “Maybe?” Bracha enjoyed the conversation with the mysterious person. Bracha continued to share about his adventure in Turkey and the mysterious person replied with humor and the same anecdote that Bracha adhere to. It was an enjoyable experience that night. He begins to plot his route to Italy, each night he will never fill to call up the station with the frequency 3006-2014. Some time, there will be no reply. Other time when there is a reply, there will be a joy within his heart. Over the next 5 days of journey, Bracha realized that the mysterious person that he was speaking with each night is from Yemen. It turns out that they have many common interest. They both love the sea, it seems that the sea are speaking to them and call them. They argue about which country have the best food. They both agree the hostility between both their state are pointless, why should they paid for the debt of their forefather. This pose a problem for him. If he ever enter into Yemen’s water, he will be arrested when he goes back to Israel. Bracha thought to himself that it was a silly thing to think about, he is never going to visit her in Yemen. Finally, the clipper berth at Italy. He thought he will be more excited than he was right now. So how, he cannot bear to leave the clipper as that means for the next few weeks he will not be able to contact the girl in Yemen. With a heavy heart, he proceed on to his Italy adventure. Italy was spectacular. Major works of Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci & Raphael dots the street of Italy. Whenever Bracha chance upon any awe inspiring sight, he will make a mental note and jot it down his note book. He look forward to share it with the Yemen gal. Drinking fruit wine in the country side of Tuscany made him think of his friends in Turkey. However, most of his time was spend thinking of the gal back in Yemen. There was just an unshakeable feeling that she was the bashert that he was searching for. He was back into his clipper within 2 weeks times. He set sail into the next part of his journey. He kept looking at his watch and hope 9 pm will be there soon. “Hey yoz, do you still remember who I am” “Of course, I do, Bracha! How was Italy, you must tell me all that you see…” Bracha was relieved that she still remember him. They relived the good old day and pick up from where they stopped. They chatted late into the night. “So where are you going next?” “ I just want to stay in the sea with you…” “…” “Is that going to be a problem? Am I taking up too much of your time?” “Bracha, I enjoyed all the time when I talking with you. I see a lot of myself in you.” “Is not that great? We could just continue talking endless over the endless sea and countless star in the sky?” “No, that is not good. You need to carry on with your journey. I am sorry but I am not your Bashert, we leave in different world. I am going to delete you from this frequency. Good bye Bracha, thanks for sharing all your beautiful trip with me. I hope you see more beauty in this world.” “I do understand. Good bye. With each beauty that I laid my eye upon, I will think of you.” The radio went silence. Bracha went out to the main deck, he cupped his mouth and cried. When he cried till he have no strength left, he gazed upon the stars in the sky. He picked himself and glad that this Yemen gal came into his life, he knew one day he will find his Bashert.
Posted on: Wed, 01 Oct 2014 05:02:41 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015