The Riveting Adventures of Captain Dude

Day 1
So my first day is done and I didn’t catch any fish or find anything good to eat so I’ve eaten my emergency cereal bars for dinner. I’ve been working on a poem in my head all day and this is what I’ve got:

Setting out to the unknown,
Anything is better than home.
My life it was so stupid
But now things are bright and

I can’t figure out what rhymes with stupid that would work, but there is always tomorrow. Camping tonight along the stream that didn’t give me any fish, but I’d rather be here than back at that job. I’m done doing paperwork for a shipment of periwinkle buttons that should have been lavender that were delivered in six business days instead of five which doesn’t even matter because they went to the wrong place anyway! And then I’d have to make duplicates because the freaking company is too cheap to pay for that paper that you can write through onto other paper! But I can put all that behind me now, because out here I can finally start to live, I just know there is something more for me, and it starts out here.

Day 2
I woke up this morning way too early and with a bad back, and that pretty much tells the story of the day. I’ll stick it out a little longer.

Day 3
I’ve finally found some food to eat out here, yesterday I had to go to the gas station for donuts but I’m saying that is okay because I’m still adapting to this whole wilderness thing. I found potatoes and then I found an apple tree, although there were no apples because its not apple season. But that’s good for the future, right? I moved out further into the woods today following a stream and I hope to keep that up so there is enough distance to where I can’t hear people’s dogs barking at night. I want that real pristine nature feel; I want to find some real adventure. It’s not back in the city, so it has to be out here. Sleeping conditions got better, grass is a lot better than pebbles.

Day 4
I feel I am growing more closely one with nature. I bathed in the river that connects with the stream that I’ve been following (I didn’t take my underwear off, but that doesn’t make me less one with nature, does it?) Anyway, I caught a fish and ate it, no butter or seasonings, like a true woodsman. The sunset was beautiful today; I can’t wait for that sunrise in the morning.

Day 5
It has rained all day and into the night. This is depressing, I haven’t seen any clear sky all day and now I’m hungry because I couldn’t catch any dumb fish. I guess its one of those things you’ve just got to endure for the hope of an adventure; I just can’t get past the idea that there is something else out here. The city has nothing to offer, and everyone is okay with that? I can’t fit into their mold of waking up at 7:30 every morning, clocking in, lunch, clocking out, watching television, dinner, go to bed, and then wake up and do it all again. It’s like that everywhere and it sickens me. Since that is all the cities have to offer, I’ll take the rain.

Day 6
Today was a good day. I’m a little over a three day walk from the city but I still get the feeling that someone is near. Maybe someone has a cabin out here or something. Or paranoia, I hear that sets in sometimes. The food situation is alright, I never can know what I’m going to dig up next. I refuse, however, to eat the bugs. I just can’t do it, I want a woodsy adventure, but I’m still civilized. That works, right? The rain cleared out so today’s weather was nice. I’m starting to see the stars now that I’m far enough away from the city lights. I just look at them and know that there is more out here, because they are out here. Since I don’t know their names I decided to make my own names for them. One of the big ones is named Statia, after my cat that I had when I was little. Another one I named Bob. They sure are bright. Maybe if I get further out tomorrow I’ll be able to see more, but for now: sleep.

Day 7
Today has to have been the weirdest day of my life. I went out to the woods seeking adventure and I definitely found it. I was fishing in the river late this evening and then there was a sound like thunder clap and above the river was all the sudden floating a boat. Yes, floating over the river, not in it! Somebody yelled out asking me what my name was so I told him my first name. After a pause he asked me my last name so I told him that, too. He said that that was great and that I should get on the boat immediately. Since I was still in a state of shock and since this was somewhat of what I was looking for though not entirely how I expected it to be, I got up and walked over to the boat. Someone tossed me down a ladder and I climbed up. On board there was a man with little glasses and little stature who greeted me. From his voice I could tell that he was the one who had done the yelling and I was amazed that so loud a sound could come from so little a man. He introduced himself as Fenwick and that he was very pleased to have me on board. I said thanks and then he introduced me to a man that was walking over from the helm. He told me his name is Captain Dude. Yep, Dude. He had a kind of one sided smile, not an eerie sort of thing, but a rather welcoming one like a person whose worries are relieved but isn’t prone to smile unnecessarily. He spoke like a man who was very confident that everything was normal (even though to me being on an airborne boat is anything but normal, but maybe I just don’t get out enough) and he told me that he was pleased to have me on board and that he was sorry to have kept me waiting. I don’t quite understand how he kept me waiting, but before I could say anything he told Fenwick to show me my quarters. My room is rather cozy if you want to politely say it is small. Fenwick brought me dinner which consisted of oatmeal and water; it was the best meal I had eaten in the past week. Fish cooked over a poor excuse for a fire with random berries that are found hasn’t been the most palatable of meals. I then went up stairs and talked with the Captain. Apparently I was the first of many to be picked up and that we were running behind. I asked how I could help and he told me to hold on. That is when he took the helm and the boat began to move. By move, I mean to fly, and by fly I mean soar into the sky. It was so fast, I quickly grabbed hold of the railing and tried to catch my stomach before it ended up being left behind. There was the thunder clap again and a bright flash and then we were sailing through the stars. Darkness all around, I couldn’t see any planets around us, just stars. Fenwick told me how the rest of the crew we were going to pick up didn’t live on my world, in fact, this was the first time Captain Dude and his boat had been to my planet. It was late and all this craziness has made me very tired, so now I’m going to sleep. I’m just rolling with the flow of things; I’m still not 100 percent sure if maybe I’ve eaten a wild berry that has made me go crazy.