Dangerous Travels

An angry wing blew across the vast ocean of the Atlantic. With each new wave the ship buckled and groaned under the pressure, almost breaking in two from each hit. “Keep those decks free of water! If we take too much were done for!” yelled the captain of the small ship.

He was a strong sailor of thirty years, practically growing up on the sea, but in his long years he had never seen a storm this strong. But he never strayed from a good challenge. He wiped away the surf from his eyes to survey the scene down below. His ship, The Raven, had taken on a fair bit of water, but his crewmen were getting most of it off the deck and away from the cabins. He had to make sure that nothing got in there; his cargo could not be damaged in any way for they were too precious.

He was transporting people from Europe to the Americas; among them were two families that were to be married once they arrived on the mainland. One family, the Clark’s, were a stubborn but strong family hailing from London England. Most of the family were business professionals making a good living for their son Rick and daughter Kimberly. Rick was very much into sports and loved hockey with a passion, his large height gave him a great reach with his stick and because of such, helped to make him one of the top defensemen in his freshman year. Kim on the other hand, was a slim girl who preferred going to the gym to organized sports. She had long brown hair, but had dyed it so many times no one was sure to her natural colour anymore.

The other family came from Poland, a country ravaged after the two world wars that took place in most of Europe. The mother of the family, Donna Skoronski, was hidden away by her mother on a farm while her mother searched for her lost husband. A great tension arose between the two, because of the fall from riches that they previous enjoyed in their home country. Donna blamed her mother for all of her hardships, stating that if she never left her on the farm, then they would still be a family. Unfortunately, life is never that easy. Years past and she then married a solider named Andy, one that was lucky enough never to see battle. They together had one daughter named Celina, a beautiful girl with long blonde hair and strong blue eyes. She was well in shape, always preferring the outdoors to staying inside. These two, Rick and Celina were to be married once they got on shore. It was a new start for both families after they had seen so much death and destruction. The captain had seen his fair share, for he was a crew man on a large destroyer station in England. He wished he could forget those times, but no one can forgot that much pain and suffering that easily.

“Captain!” yelled his fellow crewman who was standing only a few feet away, “we need to get out of this storm sir! Were taking on too much water, we can’t bail it out fast enough!”

Damn it, thought the captain to himself, he needed to think of something and quickly the storm showed no signs of slowing down. In fact, it looked like it was getting stronger by the minute. “…we should head back the way we came, then once were out of the storm we make another attempt to the Americas” continued his crewman. It was good advice; he should have headed back over an hour ago. If he did so, they could be out of the storm hopefully under two hours because the wind would be at their back. The problem was they wouldn’t have enough food or fuel to make it to North America and they would be forced to head back to Europe. He would also be forced to send everyone off the boat and could not give them another trip to the Americas unless they paid for another trip, which most of these families don’t have enough money to do that, including the two couples. What was he to do? Try and force his way through and hope that the storm breaks, or take the safe root and get everyone back safely. He bowed his head and thought about both possibilities, hoping that the pounding of the rain would send him the correct answer. No answers assaulted him, only the sound of distant thunder and ice cold pellets of rain. He lifted his head forward and looked out at the sky and guessed that it would take another four hours at the very least to get out of this storm. The smart move was to head back and tell them to fend for themselves, but he could never do it to these people. Odd how he felt a strong connection to these people who he only met a few days ago, but they believed in him to get them to their new home. He would not disappoint.

“Were going to beat this storm” replied the captain to his crewman, “tell our men to bail harder, we won’t let these peoples’ dreams go to waste”.

“But captain!” said the crewman, his shock apparent in his face, “we don’t have enough to bail out the water! Were barely containing as it is now, plus we lost many of our men in the storm in the first night! How many more are you willing to lose?”

“Then tell those down below if they want to live to get on deck and bail for all their life is worth, now go! We need to get out of this storm as soon as possible”

“Then we should have turned around you fool” mumbled the crewman under his breath. Very well, he thought, at least if I’m going to die, then I would rather be doing something good then doing nothing at all. He took the steps down to the deck three at a time, his speed increased as he heard the sound of thunder. He opened the door and surveyed the scene down below in the cabins. It was packed with people, all huddled together hoping that the storm will end and that they will be safe. Out of the eighty people that they accepted on this trip maybe five of them could be of use, ten would be pushing it.

“Listen up people!” shouted the crewman over the pounding of the rain on the deck, “we have a problem as I bet you can all hear, were in a very big storm. With the people we have on deck right now, we don’t have enough to bail out the water that’s coming in, if we don’t do something soon we will capsize and were all dead in the open water. The captain will not turn back so we must get through this storm, anyone who thinks they can help bail water please stand up now and we’ll get you a bucket and a life jacket.”

No one stood up right away, all of them dissecting the information in their minds and seeing if they will be hindrance or help to the rest. 'Well it seems like I won’t even get five, thought the crewman'.

“How many do you need?” asked one of the passengers. “As many as we can” replied the crewman to the darkness. Then he heard movement, hugs were exchanged between families and promises of “I’ll be fine” were muttered to love ones. All at once, twenty people stood up to take on the challenge. A smile reached the face of the crewman, maybe we won’t die today.

“Okay everyone who wants to come, head to the deck and grab a bucket and a life jacket. I don’t want to lose anyone here so make sure you’re careful and don’t do anything stupid!” With that, they left and headed out to the chaos that was upon them.

Four hours was indeed a hopeful assumption. It instead took the captain just under ten hours to get through the storm. He was amazed that he had lost not even one life in that span of time, even more amazing was that no one had stopped. For almost ten hours straight, crewman and passenger alike bailed and bailed with the rain pounding their backs unrelenting. But thanks to them, they had made land in the Americas safely. It was at the end of the captain journey, he was off now to Europe again to rest, but for his passengers their journey had just begun.

Richard Douglas Clark and Celina Elizabeth Skoronski were married September 14, 1986 in Oakville Ontario on the beach of Lake Ontario. Two years later they received their first child, which they named Matthew Ryan Clark. They also received a small plant, a baby maple from their family back in Poland. The instructions read: “Plant this maple in your first house your family lives in. This tree will become as strong and beautiful as your new son”. Thinking nothing much about it, they agreed with it and ended up planting the tree in the backyard of their first house in Burlington. Their son grew up and had many friends. The first of which was a girl named Krista who lived on the same street as him. They grew up together and have known each other for all of their lives. With each new person the young Matthew met, not only did he grow stronger, but so did the maple they planted all those years ago. Every person that Matt kept close to his heart, his family, Krista, Kendal, Alex, Andrew, Shivaun, Luke, Cam and many others, this tree made sure that his roots reached them. To show that they were always connected to Matt and that he deeply cares about them. Also, with each new person that helped Matt grow, the trees’ truck grew bigger and stronger. Sometimes even doubling in size in just one month!

With Matt growing each year, many events changed into fond memories. One of his first ones was his old house where the tree was planted when he was young. This was the first place that he had ever called home and enjoyed having friends over to play with. Another fond memory was all the pets that he has had growing up. From his first pet Midnight, a black cat, to Obie a lazy but loveable black lab, to Woodsy an extremely stubborn black cat which he found in the woods of his cottage. Also, he always has a soft spot for the states because he always went there every Christmas with his swim team and all the fun times that they had there. Finally, he also always held great memories for when he had swim competitions and the pools that he swam in. Each new place he remembered, the tree recognized it and made sure that at least one of his many leaves landed there. Showing himself and Matt that no matter where you go you will always remember where you have been, and also how you got there.

Now this tree had started to get very big, it was almost fully grown in sixteen years. Since it was so large, its roots stretched out for many miles all over Ontario. These roots were special; this is because they would be able to overhear conversations, especially when they were about Matt. In response to this, the tree started to grow flowers up near the top of the tree. On the flower petals were inscribed words that best described Matt in very positive ways. Some of these were kind, considerate, lives for others, shy, caring, dog lover, athletic, swimmer, puts others first, and deeply involved with family. These flowers were always kept close to this special tree and during the winter time, even when the tree’s leaves withered and died, these flowers stayed in perfect shape. Always in perfect shape showing off all of the great qualities that Matt had.

This wasn’t all that the tree had that was special and unique. It also had buds that grew on the trunk of the maple. These buds were different then just normal ones. These buds, instead of just going where the wind sent them, made sure that they landed in places where Matt wished to go when he either had enough money or a place he just wished to visit before he passed on in life. Some of these places that these buds landed in were very unique places. The places they landed in ranged from Poland and England, the places his mother and father came from, to Australia, a place Matt has always wished to visit since he was very young. Some landed up north in cottage country where he wishes to retire one day when he’s much older than he is now, others landed in places such as France, Russia, Italy, New Zealand, and even Mexico. This wasn’t the end to what the buds did though, they also were engraved with things that Matt wished to change about himself. Instead of these going to places he wished to be when he’s older, these were instead sent to places where no one can survive. The bud engraved with laziness was sent to the bottom of the ocean, while the bud with shyness was sent into the depth of a volcano in Hawaii. Another bud, this one engraved with studying skills, was sent to Siberia and was frozen solid within minutes of its arrival. This one has a much of a chance of getting out as Africa having ten feet of snow in one day.

Many would think that this tree would become lonely because he hasn’t seen Matt in over eighteen years. It is true; sometimes he is missed because all the tree hears and does represents Matt in some way or another. This tree though, is always reminded of the people and events that have influenced Matt in a positive way whenever the sun is out. He is reminded of all the fun times being on the Dolphin Swim Team and all their great adventures. Or of his ever loving family that has stuck beside him even though he has made some foolish mistakes. Not only that, he is also reminded of Matt’s great friends and all the fun times that they have had together growing up and learning about life together. Unfortunately, there is a downside to this; whenever it rains the tree is reminded of all the people that have influenced him a negative way. Some of which were his previous ex-girlfriend to the painful teachers and faculty that he had to deal with in Elementary school and High-School growing up in Burlington. Even though they have been negative influences to Matt, he has learned from these mistakes and tries every day to avoid people such as these so that he won’t have another problem such as this. Luckily for this special tree, the rain never lasts that long in Burlington. To Matt, this tree is more to him than just a plant; it’s an extension of himself just like his image in the mirror. Some days he may not like what is staring back at him, but he knows that he can always change it, or get a new mirror.