Last Chance Harvey-Part 6

The sun was over the trees behind him, leaving pieces of the dream...
The dream.
Was it a judgement on him? How could he be judged if he wasn't there and knew nothing of the events. Painfully, he shook his head to the side and caught sight of the coffee cup. It said “Don’t worry. Be Happy.” Sure. I’ll do that. Grumbling, Jim sat up and slammed down the steaming liquid.
Blinking and rubbing his eyes improved the focus. Jerry was in the chair eating, unwashed face still sporting bits of sour cheese. The 50lb weight on his shoulders kept him pinned to the bed. It was hard to keep his head from sinking to his chest. Jerry smiled.
"Good Morning, Sunshine!"
The sound was like a cartoon pot had been put over his head and struck. His hands involuntairly covered his ears.
"Fuck you." He moaned. "...and the horse you came in on."
That brought a laugh.
"My aren't we grumpy today." Taking a gulp from his cup, Jerry pointed to the table where bacon, eggs and steaming grits waited.
"Grub is on, if your stomach can take it."
That was questionable. Jim struggled over to the table, footsteps echoing in his head. The boat's charts were laid out and the Weather Channel up on the screen over the bulkhead.
"Uggghh" He rubbed his head. "What's the weather look like?
"Clear this morning." Jerry said betwen mouthfuls of egg. "Storms later. If we want to dive, we'd need to go now.
His head spun as eggs and grits appeared on his plate. At least everything was soft and it didn't feel like his stomach was going to rebel too bad.
"Jesus." He saw the first line of clouds forming over the far shore. "No dive today. My head won't take the pressure. When's the next good window?"
"Wednesday, maybe Thursday depending on how much crap gets kicked up. " He tossed the remains of his plate overboard and wiped the table down. "No sense dying for something that may not be there. But that doesn't mean we can't plot the dive."
Jim’s mind fog lifted as the food settled. It was going to stay down. Good. He got up and went to the sink to clean up. The water felt good on his hands as he washed off the egg remains. God, he could use a shower, It would need to wait until he got home. The head on this boat was broken. It had been all the time he had known Jerry.
As he put the dish in the drainer, Jerry took the NAUI dive chart and began to work. It was just as well they weren't going out. This dive was going to take more time, and with it more equipment. One thing SCUBA had in common with flying, mistakes were deadly and proper planning minimized mistakes.
But even this task was hard to do.
Broken shards of the dreams alternated with each other. Men with raised sticks followed by naked flesh torn to pieces. The coffee only made them sharper.
Scout Camp floated in the confusion. Somewhere in the mountains they were working on Map and Compass skills. Orienteering was what they called it. Scoutmaster said a compass would never let you down and would get you home. But he lied. The one from the supply closet had been demagnetized. No one saw the needle was 105 degrees off. The bearing went to the wrong side of the ridge. He was alone when the storm blew up. Taking cover behind a clump of rhododendron, he knew he had been utterly abandoned by the troop.
He was crying when the old Indian found him the next day. Jim hadn't heard him come up behind him. Squatting on his haunches about ten feet away, he sat quietly looking at his forlorn face. Without speaking, he asked to see the compass. It was handed over without question. Somehow, this man could be trusted. The spinning device lifted to the sky. With a quiet voice, he spoke to the wind.
"Oh, Great Trahlyta, assist this fellow traveler. He is innocent and means no harm."
When the compass was returned, the needle pointed toward true north. Turning around to thank the Shaman, Jim found himself staring at an empty space. Maybe Corrine was like that. Blessing the traveler and declaring him innocent when he lost his way. Or cursing him because he failed to act in her time of need.
Or it could have just been the weed. Shaking his head, he tried to focus on the present.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Topic-Dia Jade
Pic-Stephen Lee Jackson
Pic guesses: Compass (in blog), Map (in blog), Orienteering (in blog), true north (in blog), find my way, 105 degrees (in blog), direction, making my way.

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