Far Away Nearby (Part 2)

The rain had come and gone, for the third time today.

Charlie had taken a walk along the shore. And once coming upon a nice collection of large rocks jutting from the sand, he climbed up and had a seat.
The rocks were wet, but then again, he wasn't exactly wearing spring fresh clothes.

For several moments he just looked out over the vast blue ocean. Not really thinking of any one thing in particular.

The sound of the waves melodic dance with the shore, had put Charlie in a writing mood however.

He had not brought his guitar with him. But that was fine, he would play the music inside his head.

He thought for only a moment of what to write about. The topic came to him quite easily.

He would write a song about Claire.

But as he put pen to paper, it was not a song that come forth from his creativity. Instead, it ended up being a poem.

Well, a poem as best as Charlie knew how to write one.

He started, then stopped, then started again. The words were there, he just had trouble getting the words to match the feelings.

Then with a spoken "Oh, bugger this!" Charlie decided to just write without focuing too much on it.

After a few minutes, he had finished.

He smiled that goofy smile of his. Proud of what he had written.
He then began to read it aloud, to no one but the sea and the rocks.


Inspired By...

My world is filled with thousands of faces
Faces that seem to blur...to mask the features
My world is filled with thousands of voices
Voices that blend to make a most unpleasant noise.
My world is filled with contact
Contact that causes me to withdrawal...to find solitude.

But then there is you

You with a face that is starting to stand out clearly
You with a voice that is beginning to sound like music
You with a contact that is more valued and welcomed

Yet I still keep a distance from you...just in case

For you I have so many questions...so much I want to know...yet nothing important

My world is complicated...
My world is different...
My world is something I am very protective of
So I find it better to value where we are right now...instead of making them where I want us to be

Perhaps the day shall come when I will make you a part of my world
Not today though...but maybe one day

Thank you for being who I think you are so far
It is difficult to find the precious gems among the colored glass
But it is even more difficult to not desire the gem that is not mine.

He was pleased with it. But he knew he had not a lick of courage to ever give it Claire.

Not yet anyway.

So he folded the completed poem, and placed it into his pocket. Then, with a whistle, he climbed off of the tocks, and began walking back to camp.




Sitting near the waterfall by the caves, Claire watched as Jack filled up a couple of water bottles. She had overheard him making plans with Kate, to check out some possible fruit bearing plants about five miles into the woods.

Claire watched as Jack and Kate set out. She wondered if anything had grown between them. She lingered on the thought, as she watched them go deeper into the woods. Then, with a slight sigh, she shifted her body to get more comfortable.

"Can you hear me?" Asked Claire, rubbing her stomach. "Do you recognize my voice?"

A rolling kick along her left side signalled an apparent "Yes."

Claire let out a small laugh, as she rubbed her stomach.

She began moving a stick around the ground with her foot, just to have something to do.
She then grabbed the stick with her toes, and tried to lean down to grab it.

No luck. Baby was blocked a clear shot.

So Claire shifted her body to grab the stick, and once holding it, she began moving some leaves from here to there and back again.

She then began to use the stick to draw in a muddy area near her feet.

She was not very good at drawing, but she was not looking to win any prizes anyway.
She first began to draw a caricature of what she thought her baby's face might look like.

Her skills were of such limit, she ended up making the baby's head look like some vegetable. But she was fine with that. After all, her baby would be beautiful to her, even if it had a weird shaped head.

Next, she began to draw a caricature of herself. Her head next to the baby's.
It came out looking even funnier than the baby's head, which caused her to let out a laugh.
Once finished, she just looked at it. Smiling, and wondering what kind of life she would be able to provide for her baby.

Then Claire began to draw another face. A face to go on the other side of the baby.

While no one seeing it would ever correctly guess, but she had drawn the head of Charlie.

For several moments she looked down at these faces she had drawn. A thought of "What if?" danced around her mind.
The thought made her smile. Then it made her really smile.

What if?

Siddenly a voice came from behind her.

"Knock, knock." Joked Charlie.

"Hello, Charlie." Claire said, as she tried to casually rub away the caricatures in the mud.

"How's baby?" Charlie asked.

"Running a marathon at the moment, actually." She replied, followed by a laugh.

Charlie smiled.

He wanted to say more. But he was still afraid it would come out sounding "Bloody stupid."

So instead he just said, "Well, I think I'll catch a nap. Long walk, made me a bit tired."

"Oh, okay." Claire replied. "Sweet dreams."

Charlie knew it would be sweet dreams. He knew it would be her that he dreamed of. So just before walking off, he simply said, "The sweetest."

Then Claire watched, silently, as Charlie walked into the cave.

She let out a soft sigh, as she rubbed her stomach. And just under her breath she whispered, "The sweetest."


TO BE CONTINUED