Rainy Rendezvous 2: “The Whistle”
PJ ♦ January 19, 2011 ♦ 2 Comments
This is part 2 of a 5-part mini-serial. You can read all episodes by going to the “Rainy Rendezvous” page or by navigating using the menu above. You can listen to my audio recording by pressing “play” on the AudioBoo player below and/or read the full text that follows.
“Rainy Rendezvous: Episode 2 – The Whistle”
by P.J. Kaiser
He snapped his head to the right side when he thought he heard a noise above the din. Must have been his imagination. He gripped the kayak and rolled with the waves. The downpour lessened somewhat and the waves began to calm.
There was that noise again! A high-pitched whistle – generated by human lips – came from his right-hand side. He couldn’t see a light in that direction. He couldn’t even look for very long against the rain falling into his face. But he kicked his feet and tried to guide the kayak towards the sound. The kayak stopped rolling as it hit shallow water. The rain let up enough that he could see he had come upon a shoreline. The whistling continued – a soothing but eerie sound.
Wobbly and disoriented, he climbed off of the kayak and tugged on it. There were no patches of dirt shoreline like this along the area where he was kayaking. As he trudged through the mud, the whistling stopped.
A female voice called out, “What are you doing out here? Are you crazy?”
Stephen considered the questions. “I don’t know. Probably. Who are you? And where are you?” He squinted into the rain and thought he saw some neon green.
“Over here – wait, I’ll come help you bring your kayak ashore.” A figure in a neon green coat approached. She scooped up the tail end of the kayak in her arm and the two drained the water out and then pushed and pulled the kayak up out of the water. “Come and have a seat. There’s nothing to do now but wait until the rain clears and hope it does so before dark. My name is Joanie, by the way.”
She offered a gloved hand to Stephen who shook it and sank onto the pale gray limestone rock next to her. “I’m Stephen. Were you out kayaking in this weather also? I thought I was the only one crazy enough to do it today. My kayak overturned and I lost my paddle.”
Joanie wiped the rain from her face revealing soft features and full, pink lips. “Yes, well, you can find me out here on the lake every rainy day. I just love the solitude of being out on the lake in the rain. The mist closes in around you and you feel like you’re the only person on the planet -”
“Yeah. I can’t say I’ve ever been out on the lake in the rain before, but it sure was nice until the rain really kicked up and I lost my way. Where are we, by the way? We’re not still on the Renton end of the lake, are we?”
“Well, sort of. We’re actually on an island just off of Seward Park.”
“You’re kidding! Wow, I really got blown off course. I must be five miles from where I put in the water. How will I get home from here?”
Joanie smirked. “Today’s your lucky day – I have an extra paddle aboard. Looks like you have a lot of paddling to do this afternoon before sunset.”
“Yeah, I guess so. Hey – it was weird, when the rain was heavier, I could’ve sworn I heard a whistling sound. Did you hear it?”
Joanie shook her head slowly. “No, no I didn’t hear anything.“ Her eyes narrowed and she looked at Stephen.
Photo Credit
2 Comments
Yeah, I think she knows more than she's letting on about the whistling. I keep thinking mermaid? Siren?
Nicely told and read!
Ganymeder – thanks for reading/listening! I'm not telling … you'll have to read on