Sailing the Ocean Blue

The sun was just beginning to set and Ted noted its position. Due East, he reckoned. 

He knew it would go down just to the right of the tall fir tree.
 Ted thought for a moment that the tree looked like the mast of a ship. He sighed and  closed his eyes. He imagined he could hear the sea breeze and feel the tingle of salt spray on his skin.
With his eyes closed, he could see the wide expanse of ocean, the lights of fishing trawlers on the horizon and maybe a dolphin or two. Then, he'd look for the evening star, his lucky star that would guide him home.

Ted sighed  again and opened his eyes. He was sitting in his garden and could see his reflection in the kitchen window. It was juxtaposed with his wife,Olive,and his daughter-in-law Judy . They were preparing a meal together. Judy's long blonde hair shone in the evening light and her turquoise dress shimmered through the glass. She could have been a mermaid.

 Love had come late in life to Ted's son Stephen. He'd travelled the world for a large oil company and then accepted early retirement, coming back to live near his ageing parents.  Ted and Olive had given up hope of becoming grandparents and then Judy had appeared, bouncing into their lives and bringing joy and laughter and exotic cooking.  After just a year Harry had arrived, the most beautiful baby boy that Ted had ever seen. The last sixteen years had been the happiest of his life.

The back door opened and his grandson ,Harry, came out bearing a tray. There were tumblers and a jug of something full of leaves and strawberries. In the middle was a large globe.

Harry filled two of the tumblers added straws and handed one to Ted .
 

'Here you are Grandpa, one of Mum's magic concoctions, don't ask what's in it.'
 

Harry held the tumbler and guided the straw into his grandfather's mouth. The old man sucked hard on the straw then relaxed and smiled at his grandson.
 

'You've found my old globe! My own grandfather gave it to me when I was a boy. I loved that globe. I'd sit for hours turning it around, slowly watching the huge stretches of blue moving away and drawing near.
It was the oceans that fascinated me.
Their beautiful names. Atlantic was my stately queen, dignified,majestic, reserved and independent. She demanded respect. I've watched her paint rosy sunsets off the coast of Iteland and create magnificent golden sunrises in Mexico.'
 

Harry laughed and gazed at his grandfather in awe.
 

'Oh wow grandpa you make the Atlantic sound like a person. Tell me about the others.'
 

Ted was aware of the intense blue of his grandson's eyes, so like his own and matching the blue of the oceans on the globe.
 

'Well,  next one along is the Indian Ocean. Sultry and exotic, full of the promise of the magic of its shores. Once, I went to the very lowest point of Africa, the tip of South Africa to a place where the Atlantic meets the Indian ocean. They reminded me of two beautiful women jealous of each others' looks. It was terrible the way they were going on. Squalls and squabbles all night long. Of course, they were each just as beautiful in their own ways. Funny, you know, you leave Africa with its elephants with big ears and then on the other side in India they've got small ones. '

Ted paused and smiled at his grandson.
 

' But, the most wonderful ocean of all dear Harry, is the Pacific. She can make men go wild. She is full of passion and beauty, exciting, magnificent, mysterious, magical. You can go for weeks without seeing land. When you land on her shores, beautiful young women throw exotic richly perfumed flowers round your neck. They entwine scented petals through your hair. Once you fall under the spell of the magnificent Pacific ocean you will be changed forever. From Japan to California and all the way down to Australia and New Zealand. You feel you could fall off the edge of the world down there.'
 

Ted put his hand out to touch the globe, it span slowly round.
 

'Look at the oceans Harry, aren't they something? Vast blue and unfathomable, home to so many creatures. Their waters lapping onto so many shores, uniting us all. The oceans are precious Harry. From space the Earth looks blue because of all that water.'

Ted stopped talking and his head slumped slightly forward.
 

'All that talking has given me a dry throat, let's have some more of your mum's drink!'
 

Harry held the straw and waited for his grandfather to finish.
He loved listening to the old man's stories. His mum said none of them were true. He just had a wonderful imagination. His grandfather had only ever been across the sea once, to a place called Dunkirk on a boat, when he was seventeen, after that he'd  never wanted to go anywhere else. He'd spent his life working  as a Coast guard in their little Cornish town.  Ted had saved so many lives and had won medals for his bravery. They were all stuffed in a draw somewhere, he never wanted to talk  about his work as a life guard.
 

The back door opened and Judy came across to sit with them, bringing along a delicious aroma of  her special Thai beef stew.

She looked at the scene before her. Her son and her father-in-law looking at each other across the globe. The brilliant blue of their eyes matching the oceans, full of deep unfathomable love reaching down through the years with the promise of something endless, eternal love. She stood up, her heart swelled, she felt as though she'd witnessed a precious moment when two lives linked together like a chain that would never be broken, her son and his grandfather united forever. So far apart in years and yet so very close.

'It's getting chilly out here now the sun's gone down. Push your grandpa in Harry and I'll serve up.'