An Early Bird
“Beep, beep, beep, beep, beep, beep.”
“Huhhhh,” James yawned. He reached over to the left side of his wooden cabin bed to turn off the alarm clock. He laid back in the middle of the bed with his covers rolled up half way. He stared up at the wooden ceiling, thinking what his day was going to be like. For every second that passed by, his eyes were getting smaller and smaller. It was like somebody was putting weights on his eyelids but every second was a heavier weight.
Finally James thought, “What’s the sense of fighting it, it’s my day off from work,” while closing his eyes. Not a minute later, he opened his eyes so wide and so fast that he didn’t even know he did it until he blinked.
“Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God!” he excitedly yelled fast as he jumped out of bed. He held his head with two hands on each side of his cheeks, crouching down on his knees. James accelerated back up and ran to the left side of his bed like a hyper dog and looked at what time the alarm clock said. It was 5:53 Am. He ran around his bed and then straight, running towards the wooden door with a brass, hammerhead like doorknob with a nail for a lock. Just as he turned the doorknob, he grabbed his blue cotton robe hanging on the back and leaped out into the hallway. As he was walking down the short hallway, he studied the wooden walls. There were areas of smooth wood but there were areas of a lot of black circles and dents making the walls look more antique. Although he has seen the black circles before but he gets amazed every time.
When he got to the end of the hallway, he walked slowly down the stairs, holding the narrow railing tightly for he could not even see his own hands grabbing it. For each step he took down the earth toned, multicolored carpeted stairs, it began to be a little lighter but still not enough to see anything. Finally, when he reached the bottom of the stairs, he turned left and opened the front door. Then he walked out onto the porch. The porch was old, creaky and had holes in it. It was made of wood and every step he took, the porch would make a creaking noise. James stepped down on one step and peered up into the sky. It was so dark that it was almost impossible to see but what gave it a little light was the incandescent stars. They looked like little tiny flashlights in the sky. It was also lightly raining but enough to ruin an outside party.
“Perfect weather for fi….,” he immediately covered his mouth, remembering that his thirteen year old daughter, Trish, was sleeping in the next window up.
James then hastily walked back inside, slamming the door accidentally. He walked straight to go into the kitchen but before he did, he switched up the light switch and rose the dimmer just enough so that he could see the back of his hand. James walked into the kitchen dragging his bare feet along the bland wooden surface of the floor. He grabbed the coffee pot sitting next to the switch on the counter and poured the coffee that was made at 5:00 Am, into his favorite fishing mug given by his daughter. The mug had two fish on it, one was the father fish and the other was the daughter fish. It showed the two fish swimming together. James took a sip and closed his eyes while smiling, as the warm coffee filled his cold stomach. He took another sip and quietly walked up stairs to put on his kaki shorts and stained fish shirt that had pictures of fishhooks all over it. As he left the room, he grabbed his favorite fishing hat. It had fishhooks of all different colors and said, “Got fish hooks?”
After James was ready, he grabbed his tackle box and fishing rods and packed them in his car. Next, he checked to see if his mini fishing boat was safely attached to the car, then he ran back into the house. He went straight like he was going into the kitchen but made a right, down the stairs and into the storage room. He searched all along the shelves looking for a cooler bag.
“There it is!” James said in his head.
James reached high up and grabbed his old red and black cooler bag. James ran back up the stairs and into the kitchen. He packed the cooler with three sandwiches, a couple snacks, a couple bottles of water and ice packs. He zipped it up and put it in the front seat of his black SUV. When James was already to go, he went up into his daughter’s room and stood over her bed, watching her sleep peacefully. He kissed her on the cheek and whispered “I’ll be back by noon baby,” and closed her door. James locked the front door and got into his car. H pulled out of the drive way and onto the street. It was now six forty- five am and James was off on a hunt.
Off on a hunt
James drove to the end of his neighborhood street and made a right onto the main street. He halted at a red light and saw a big wooden sign that had all the local places around. He studied the sign looking for something that had the word fish, dock or boat in it.
“Ahh,” he said, pointing with his long skinny finger at the sign that said, “Fishing dock- 10 miles” and had an arrow pointing to the right. As James waited for the light to turn green, he looked to see what was around him but all he saw was blobs of dark figures and objects. He saw nothing but the darkness of figures and traffic lights glowing like Christmas decoration.
When the light turned green, he pushed the narrow black gas pedal with his foot in his black rain boots. The car accelerated at thirty- five miles per hour across the intersection and onto the single lane road.
“Whoa,” James said when the car hit a pothole.
He looked in the rearview mirror to check on the boat with his sky blue with a touch of golden eyes. Just as he looked back on the road, he saw a sign. It was all black until he got closer and saw what it said. It said “Fishing dock” and had an arrow pointing to the right. James noticed that there was no right turn.
“Where is the entrance to this darn thing!” he said in frustration.
As he passed the sign, he saw dark figures in the shape of bushes and trees covering part of his view of the dock and the ocean.
“Ok, there’s the dock and ocean. Now where is the entrance!” James called out.






“You’d think that since I’m a fisherman for a living that I would be able to sense where the entrance is,” he thought.
When he passed the sign and the view of the ocean and the dock, he pulled into some restaurant’s parking lot and made a U turn. Then he drove out of the parking lot to go back to that sign. When he got to that sign again, he pulled off to the side of the road and got out of the car. James walked up to the sign and looked to see where it was pointing. He saw nothing but the part of the dark blue ocean and the boat dock.
James went back to the car and grabbed a flash light out of the glove compartment. He pushed in the black button and the light came on. James went back to that sign and shined the light everywhere that he could see of the view of the dock.
All of a sudden, James saw a glare of light coming off of the sign but it wasn’t his flashlight.
“Another car?” James thought.
He turned around to see what it was. It wasn’t another car, it was the sun rising.
“Wow, how beautiful!” James exclaimed.
He was amazed by all of the beautiful colors in the sky. He saw a little half circle filled with bright glowing pink, orange and a light goldish color. There was a thick straight line going horizontally that started from the top of the trees to the top of the half circle. The rest of the sky was getting a little more like a dark bluish color.
When James turned around he saw the road to the parking lot of the dock. James never saw it because the road was blocked by a couple of miniature trees. He moved the trees out of the way and went back into his car. Next he put the car in drive and drove onto the road that leads into the parking lot. The road was covered with wet leaves the colors of red, orange, green and yellow. When he got into the parking lot, he parked into an end spot closest to the exit; next to the short, wet grass and a tall tree with hardly any leaves on it.
James got out of the car and looked around. It looked and sounded like the place was deserted because it was very quite. Then James came across a small building that said “The Boat Shack”. He walked up to the entrance and peered inside the dark tinted windows. He saw a young teenage boy working on the cash register so he pulled on the black handle on the door and walked inside.
“Good morning sir, can I help you with anything?” The teenage boy said energetically.
“Uh, yes. I need help getting my boat in the water,” James replied.
“Uh, hold on please, I’ll get Steve for you. He’s the expert with that,” the boy said.
As he walked around the counter and to the back of the store, his fluffy, brunette hair waved up and down. A few minutes later, an older man and the teenage boy walked out of a wooden door.
“Hello sir, may I help you with something?” The older man said as he walked up to James. Meanwhile, the teenage boy went back to the cash register. Before James could even open his mouth, the older man held his hand out and introduced himself.
“My name Steve and I’m the owner of this boat shop,” Steve said.
“Hi, I’m James and I need some help putting my boat in the water,” James replied as he shook Steve’s hand.
“Oh sure, I can help you with that. Where’s your boat?” Steve asked.
“It’s attached to the back of my car in the parking lot,” James answered.
“Alright. So this is how to get your boat into the water. First back your car up onto the beach and I’ll tell you when to stop. Then…. I’ll do the rest because it’s my job and plus it’s tricky,” Steve instructed.
“Great, thanks for your help,” James said in return.
“Ok, lets do it,” Steve said as he pushed the door open.
When they walked out, Steve said, “Alright, first drive the car close to the water so that the back of the boat is facing the water.”
“Ok, I’ll be right back,” James responded.
Then James jogged to the car and unlocked it with his car key. He got in, closed the door and put the key in the ignition to turn it on. He backed out of the spot and drove from the cement parking lot to the soft sand. When he entered the beach, he turned the car around and reversed towards the water. He kept glancing in the rearview mirror at Steve to tell him when to stop as he was reversing.
“More, more, more, more,” Steve called out to James as he was signaling him with his hands. “Stop,” Steve shouted as he put his hands out.
James put the car in park and got out.
“Good, now do you have a detach button or do you have to untie or unhook it?” Steve asked.
“No, I have a detach button,” James answered as he hit the button on the inside if the driver’s seat.
After he pressed the button, the boat unhooked from the car and started to roll back towards the water.
“Is there some way we can get rid of those wheels on the bottom of the boat?” Steve asked as he quickly slowed the boat from crashing into the waves.
“Yea, just hit the button up top there, and they go in,” James responded while pointing to the button.
Steve reached up and pushed the button on the side of the steering wheel and held it there until he saw the wheels from underneath disappear from sight. Then Steve got behind the boat and pushed it a little farther into the ocean and tied it up with ropes and buoys that were attached to something under the wet sand.
“So, are you from around here?” Steve asked as he was tying the ropes to the boat.
“No, I just moved here with my daughter about three weeks ago, so this place is pretty new to me,” James answered.
“I thought so. You don’t have that South Carolina accent! So no wife?” Steve wanted to know.
“Yea, my wife is back home. I’m only out here for the job and my daughter wanted to come with me since she has never been to South Carolina.
“Are you staying out here forever?” Steve asked.
“No, I’ll go back if I get another job opportunity,” James answered.
“Nice, nice,” Steve said nodding his head.
“Alright, now all you have to do is pack your boat up with the stuff you need and you can go park your car back into the parking lot,” Steve said as he was finishing up tying the last rope and buoy to the boat. “When you all ready to leave, come back into the store and get me, okay,” Steve said.
“Ok, thanks a lot for your help,” James said as he shook Steve’s hand.
Then Steve gave a smile and turned around to go back to the store. James walked back over to the car, grabbed the cooler and the tackle box along with the fishing poles back to the boat and made sure everything he needed for the trip is in the boat. After he was all ready, he ran back to the store to get Steve.
“Ready to begin your fishing trip?” Steve asked.
“Yup, I’m all set!” James exclaimed.
“Ok, lets go untie your boat,” Steve said with a smile as he pushed the door open for James. When they got to the boat, Steve instructed James to first get into the boat.
“Ok,” James responded.
He pulled open the fold out ladder and climbed up. He then walked into the cockpit, sat down and waited for Steve to tell him what to do next.
“Now, I’m going to untie these ropes and push you out farther. Then I’ll tell you when to turn on the engine,” Steve told James as he nodded.
Steve, like he said, untied all of the ropes attached to the boat and pushed the boat out farther. As he pushed, the waves crashed into the front of the boat, making it harder for him to push. Then the waves got wilder and harder. They crashed into the boat so hard, it was like the ocean tried to prevent the boat from entering its waters. Harder and harder Steve pushed. He was up to his knees and the waves splashed and soaked him everywhere else. Soon enough he was up to waist. Steve then moved to the side of the boat.
“Ok, turn on the engine,” Steve yelled up to James.
James quickly turned the key to start the engine and then looked at Steve.
“Ok, good, now pull back the throttle and make your way slowly to towards the center of the ocean,” Steve yelled over the loud crashing waves.
“Thank you for your help,” James yelled back.
“Anytime. Have a safe fishing trip,” Steve answered.
James pulled back the throttle slowly and made his way into the ocean. As he was moving, the waves still got harder and bigger. They crashed into the boat so hard that James thought he wasn’t going to make it past these waves. James pulled back on the throttle more for he wanted to get out of there! He held tightly onto the throttle as if for dear life. He closed his eyes tightly, not wanting to see what was hitting him. Then all of a sudden, the waves calmed down.
James opened his eyes to look around and saw nice calm water. He looked back and saw Steve. He looked like an action figure toy. Steve waved at James and he waved back. Then James turned back around, pulled back on the throttle and zoomed through the water.
“Alright, this looks like a good spot,” James thought. He slowly and gradually slowed down the boat until he came to a total stop. After the boat was completely stopped, he lowered the anchor into the water and shut off the engine. He opened the tackle box and took out a fake green fish with big black eyes. He took the hook from his fishing pole and attached the fake fish to it. He then took stepped back, putting the fishing pole behind him, swung the pole in front and making the fake green rubbery fish go flying into the water.
James waited, waited, waited and waited but no fish bit the bait.
“What’s wrong,” James wondered.
“Maybe it’s not a good a spot as I thought,” he thought.
So he pulled up the anchor and the fishing pole and started the engine.
As he zoomed across the water, James was looked for a better place to fish.
“Ahh, this looks like a good spot,” James said in excitement in his head.
The spot he picked was a big empty spot with nobody around to create any big waves to scare the fish.
He set up his fishing pole once again and cast it out far away from the boat. After he did that, he put the pole in the white and black plastic holder and went down into the cabin. The cabin had a full size bed with green and blue fishes on the sheets. There was about fifteen little green and blue pillows that were too small to put your head on but there was three regular size pillows with green and blue fishes on it. In the front left corner of the bed was a small thirty –two inch black TV. To the left of the bed was a small white table that wobbled every time somebody sat on the white long cushion seat to the left and to the right of the table. Next to the table on the left was a queen size bed with the same sheets as the full size bed.
When James came down the three steps to the cabin, he pulled out the red and black cooler. He grabbed one of the sandwiches and a bottle of water and sat down to eat his lunch. After about twenty minutes, he went back up to check the fishing pole. He reeled it in and saw nothing on the line.
“Alright, what’s going on here,” James said in frustration. “Maybe I’ll try a different bait,” he thought.
Just when James turned around to take a different bait from his tackle box, he noticed the light from the sun disappeared. He turned around quickly and looked up into the sky.
He dropped the bait and the fishing pole in his hands and his mouth dropped open. The sky was very dark with colors of dark blue, purple and black mixed into the sky. The clouds looked very heavy and he could see a lightning bolts zinging between clouds.
Instantly, James turned around to go turn on the weather on the radio.
“Warning, this is a hurricane warning. Everybody evacuate the towns near Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. We are predicting this hurricane to be a three. There will be strong winds of sixty- five miles per hour. There will be a ninety- seven percent chance that it will rain very hard and a ninety- seven percent chance it will thunder and lightning.”
“I can’t believe what I’m hearing,” James said putting his hands on the side of his head. “I’ve got to get out of here,” he exclaimed with a nervous face.
James pulled up the fishing rod and threw it on the ground as he went to go pull up the anchor. As he waited for the anchor to come up, he turned on the engine.
“Come on, come on, come on,” he yelled as if it would hurry up the anchor to pull up faster.
Once it was up, he pulled back the throttle and zoomed on the water. As he zoomed, he looked back at the storm coming his way. The storm was moving fast and caused the waves to get rougher and higher. Even though the waves crashed into the boat and caused it to slow down, James tried to go as fast as he could go on the rough waves. James could hear thunder getting louder and louder. Soon it sounded like thunder was booming in his ear. He looked up in the sky and saw the storm moving above him. Then the rain got harder and harder, almost hurting James. James began to lose hope of getting home.
“Crack.”
Thunder hit the side of his boat, sending him flying into the sea. It happened so fast that he didn’t even know what happened until a few second after he landed in the water. James turned in every direction, looking for his boat, but he couldn’t see over the high waves. Finally James saw something floating a few feet beside him. He picked it up and saw that it was a green and blue fish pillow.
“Oh no, the boat! It’s gone! It can’t be! This can’t be happening!”
The under water adventure
“Whoosh.” A fifteen-foot high wave pushed James flipping five feet beneath the surface. James held his breath with puffy cheeks and tried his hardest to climb back up to the surface. When he got close to the surface, stretched his arms high up and his hands back down, catching the water and pulling him up to the surface. Just as his face reached above the surface, he immediately gasped for air. James was breathing fast and deep, trying to take in as much air as he could.
Diving below the surface, dodging the next wave, he thought, “I have to find something to float on.” When he reached the surface again, he looked and searched everywhere for something to float on. Then James saw something white, drifting about ten feet away from him. He dunked under water again to dodge the next wave and swam over to it. As he got closer, he moved towards it slowly to see what it was. It was the door to the entrance of the cabin! After he noticed what it was, he put his top half of his body on it and left the bottom half in the water.
James turned around in the opposite direction of the storm and started kicking as hard and fast as he could. As he was kicking, James turned his head to look at the storm to see what was happening behind him. Then he saw something. The something that he saw triggered his brain to remember what he learned in fishing class when he was first studying to be a fisherman.
“As soon as you know a sea storm is coming, you need to get yourselves out of there as soon as possible,” James remembered his teacher saying to the class.
“Do not underestimate a sea storm. It can get pretty bad and it is less likely you will survive it if you get caught in the middle. For example, whirl pools. One way you can tell when a whirlpool is forming is when two currents coming from different directions; colliding into each other. Most likely, there is no chance of survival if you are caught and sucked into a whirl pool,” the teacher said.
As James was remembering this, he was watching what he was back flashing. Two waves and the currents with them from two different directions were colliding into each other.
Immediately James started kicking and pulling faster. He was really pushed himself for being tired and weak but he will do anything just to see his little girl again. He kept glancing back to see if anything was happening to those two waves from different directions colliding into each other. All of a sudden, James saw a spot of water circling. It got bigger and bigger until there was a hole in the middle. As he was kicking, he felt a force or something that pulled him back. He tried to fight it but it was too strong. Closer and closer he was getting to the whirlpool. James held on to the door for dear life. He closed his eyes very tightly and took a deep breath and held it for he knew it was over.
The whirlpool sucked him into the vertex like a vacuum cleaner. As he spun down, he tried to open his eyes to see if there was a way out. He looked up and saw something spinning very fast horizontally down. It was long and it looked narrow. As it got closer to him, he noticed it was the door.
James tried to move out of the way but the whirlpool wouldn’t let him move. The door hit James on the side and sent him flying out of the whirlpool and into a dark place. James swam out of the dark place and rushed to the surface. When he reached the surface, he sucked in so much air, it made him hiccup. He looked over at the whirlpool and saw that it was getting smaller. It will soon disappear because the waves were getting smaller. James took a deep breath and looked under water. He remembered flying into something dark but he didn’t know what it was. He swam a little further and saw that the dark blob was getting clearer but still didn’t know what it was. Further and further down he went.
Then James saw pieces of his boat all around this dark thing. He finally figured out what it was. It was his boat! What was left of his boat.
James went back up to the surface, took a deep breath and dove down. He swam into the cut up boat and looked for something he could use. He swam into what was left of his cabin. He opened cabinets until he found goggles. His old goggles from his child hood, the ones his dad first got him for his birthday. James grabbed the goggles and swam up to the surface. As he was waiting to catch his breath, he loosened the goggles all the way and put them on. He took another deep breath and swam back to the boat. He swam around the boat and looked for anything else he could use. Just as he was going back up for air, he saw a square box.
“It’s definitely not the tackle box because it’s still in the boat,” James thought.

He swam towards it. It was the cooler! He quickly grabbed it and swam up to the surface. All James needed now is something to float on. Will James have a chance to survive the wild hurricane?

A Burst of Hope but No Faith
For a minute James was excited. He had hope and believed he could escape but he needed something to float on.
James already searched in and out of the boat. There was nothing he could use in the boat that would float.
“What am I going to do without something to support me? I could drown in my sleep!” James thought. “I have to keep looking,” James was determined.
He went back into the boat and searched again. He looked everywhere, high and low. Then James thought of what he was floating on before. The door but it’s in the whirlpool now. James turned around and looked up.
“The bathroom door! I could use that but how would I get it off those hinges,” he wondered.
He noticed that there was a crack in it at the top. James swam out of the cabin and grabbed the tackle box. He wedged it between the table and the front of the door so if the door was pushed open, the door would stop. Next James got behind the door and pushed it open as hard as he could with his foot. He then grabbed the handle in front of the sink behind him with his hands and then pushed even harder on the door.
“Crack.”
The door cracked in half but it was still a good floatation device. James grabbed the broken door and swam up to the surface. He gripped the door with his hands very tightly and started kicking in the opposite direction of the storm but far away from the whirlpool. It seemed that the storm was turning in a different direction.
James was relieved when the waves calmed down but still worried about getting back to land. He was stuck in the middle of the ocean with no idea where he is with no communication devices. What else was James supposed to do but kick but soon enough James got weak and tired and decided to just float on the door and let the ocean take him wherever.
Left with Nothing but Saw Something
James was left with nothing but a few crumbs of potato chips and no water. He was dieing of dehydration and starvation. Within a few hours, James will be dead.
He was just laying there, half way on his back on the board with his mouth open and his eyes closed. When he flipped over on his side, he saw a figure flying in the sky.
Saved…. at Least I Think He Was
James tried to wave his hands but he was too weak. He noticed something else in the background that looked like houses and buildings but he couldn’t move. James gained all the strength and energy he had left to scream and wave “help.”
As he lay there, strong winds were blowing in his ear. He looked up and saw the flying blurry figure stop in the air. Then he saw a line drop from it and saw something drop in the ocean. Whatever fell in the ocean, popped out on top of the surface then everything went black.
The Survivor
James slowly opened his eyes and saw something blurry in front of his face.
“Dad,” James heard a whisper.
“Dad,” Trish screamed as she gave James a hug.
“Hey Trish, great day for fishing, huh!” James said in a weak voice.
“Daddy, as soon as I heard about the hurricane, I called the police and the coast guard. They searched for you for hours!” Trish said weakly.
“How did you know where to find me?” James asked.
“When I noticed that you weren’t home I thought where else could you be so I went down to the dock and a guy named Steve told me where you were,” Trish said fast.
When Trish backed up, James saw that he was hooked up to all these tubes.
“The coast guard that found you said that you were dying of dehydration and said that you might not make it,” Trish said as tears went down her cheeks.
“Come here sweetie,” James said as he held out his hand.

Trish grabbed his cold shaking hand.
“I’m alright, I’m not dieing, I’m right here. And the only thing I will die of is old age. Very old age, that will not happen in a very long time! And I’ll tell you why I will only die of very old age. It’s because I’m a survivor.