Storytime: Swept by a Storm

Here is a memory from several hundred years ago. I don't know the exact date, but the earliest logical time would be the early 17th century.

The Memory

I'm on the deck of a schooner in the middle of a storm. It's pouring down rain, and the waves are almost swamping the boat. I can feel the ship pitching wildly up and down, throwing myself and the crew against the rails. We lose a man overboard.

Lightning flashes overhead, and I stab my finger at my men, "You, you, you, and YOU! Get to the aft! Secure the sails! For God's sake, get a move on!" Similar orders are issued, and I spit them out like a machine gun at individuals and groups alike. Some of the men are afraid, and they won't move fast enough. So, I insult them, call them colorful names. It seems to get them moving.

A wave crashes over the deck, and we lose someone else. I run to the rigging, hauling on a rope to try to steady the boom. It's going bad. I can see the ship pitching too far on its side. I look to the sky, suddenly knowing this might be my last moment on Earth, and I pray for the first time in a very long time. "Lord, if you're listening, save my crew. Save them. If I have to go to the Locker, so be it, but save them!"

And so I prepare to probably drown.

---

How It Arrived

I had a week's notice for this one before it slammed into my skull during another parking deck walk. My notice arrived as I was watching TV with my husband, and in the show there was an old schooner from the 1700s being toured. I opened my mouth and said without thought, "I think I had one of those."

A week later, I'm taking a walk in the parking deck, and seeing as we're approaching March, I'm in the mood for a little Irish music. As I'm listening, suddenly, I'm on the pitching and bucking deck of the schooner in a storm, shouting orders. It feels so real I have to remind myself partly of where I am, so I don't start shouting orders in the middle of a parking deck.

It takes about 2-3 minutes to download the full memory, and then it's gone. I'm left standing there, feeling uneasy as I'm not sure if the ground is solid or the deck of a ship. Then that sensation passes, and all that's left for the next few hours is that feeling of desperate hope.

I don't know if I survived that storm. I don't know how long I lived. I don't know much else about that man's life except that he was the captain of a schooner in a storm, and he really loved his crew as if they were his own family.