Marc Twine is the Readers’ Choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. The winning entry is decided by the popular vote and rewarded with a special feature here today. This week, we actually had a three-way tie – the first time ever that has happened! (In the case of a tie, the writer who submitted an entry first is the winner per our rules.) Without further ado, here’s the winning entry:
Horizon
by Marc Twine
Tim sat alongside his grandfather, next to the lighthouse on a cliff overlooking the ocean.
It had become routine. Every morning they’d bestride themselves on the rocky promontory and survey the horizon looking for a rare passing ship.
Grandpa was a crusty old mariner, gruff at times, long-retired from his sea-going days. But he was good company for his grandson and told many a captivating tale.
This day was akin to many others, except a thick blanket of fog had rolled in clouding the horizon. The onshore wind produced an impenetrable shroud…with a rare, momentary gap in the otherwise dense obscuration.
“Look grandpa, it’s a SHIP!” Tim exclaimed.
“No boy. It’s probably just a sailboat out for an early morning run.”
“NO grandpa. It’s a ship. A tall ship, three-masted and carrying full sail!”
“Nonsense boy. There’s nothing there.” Grandpa scanned the veiled horizon. “Nothing at all.”
“But grandpa, I SAW it!” A full thirty minutes went by. Suddenly another break in the fog revealed itself.
“Grandpa LOOK!”
“Give me those binoculars, boy.”
Grandpa scanned the horizon and caught a brief glance of the vessel’s stern as it retreated into the low-lying cloud.
“By thunder! I can see the name on the stern!”
Marie Celeste it read.
Reported lost and abandoned in 1872, it had become the object of speculation and legend.
Marie Celeste. “‘Tis a ghost ship,” grandpa muttered as the ship retreated into legend…and history.
Well done, Marc, Judith and Dale.
Thank you, Kevin, and well done Marc and Judith! I don’t usually enter contests and normally am not prompted by writing prompts, so I’m gratified to have made it into the top three.
Congratulations Marc and Dale! Does this make us the 3 Musketeers? Thanks to Kevin. Good writers all.
Love it! Well written! I am a grandma myself to 3 great boys!