9-29-24 Story elements Story

Story Elements

Random Animal: Vanessa -- Perry the Platypus 

Conflict: Aaron -- Your partner of 30 years Has seceterly been working against you the entire time

Setting Time: Cary --the year 1846

Random Object: Carrie -- Rooftop tent

Setting Place: Colleen -- Bermuda Triangle

Random Character: Mom -- Deep Sea Diver

Antagonist: Dad -- He is a large, hairy, loud mouth bully whose life code is "My way or no way"

Protagonist: Ryanne -- Marcel Thirty something tall slightly awkward guy. Blonde shoulder length curly hair with shockingly green eyes.

Random Weather Event: Hosanna -- Sun dog

Colleen Holmquist

 According to Bernard DeVoto,1846 was “the year of decision”. ‘Course, he hadn’t written his book when Marcel set out on his adventure in 1846. But it was surely a decisive year in Marcel’s life.

For the previous thirty years, Marcel and his partner, Bruno, had been digging a hole to China, figuring it was the most direct route from their hometown of Tampa, Florida—which hadn’t existed when they turned the first shovel of dirt in 1816. By their calculations it should have been a straight shot. They dug only in the night so no one could follow them—or get to China first. Progress was slow and sometimes, Marcel wondered if they would ever get there. “Are we there yet?” was his constant mental mantra.

But in 1846 in the middle of the fourth day of the fifth month, Marcel heard strange sounds coming from the tunnel. He roused himself out of bed and millimetering slowly on his belly he cautiously approached the tunnel opening; ensuring that no one was around, he lifted the tarpaulin and peered inside. Crouched in the tunnel about 6 feet down was Bruno with shovel in hand filling the tunnel with dirt.

At that moment, Marcel realized that for the last thirty years, the slow progress on the tunnel was because of Bruno! Sure they had argued over the years about the whole idea and they had both aged and suffered from arthritis and chronic back pain. Bruno always took the stance that they were wasting their time and energy but Marcel was certain that Bruno was still digging. But now…

Marcel backed slowly away, dejectedly started home. It was on that lonely walk that he began to formulate his plan of action—the decision that changed the trajectory of his life! He remembered having seen a sketch of a new-fangled diving helmet created by the Deane brothers in England. Their success launched the beginning of deep sea diving.

It took awhile to make one but finally Marcel crafted his own version and set off for China on the open ocean. His plan was to sail as far as he could and then approach the China coast from underwater so as not to be detected. He contracted with a pirate ship, the Hemlock, to bring him to the South China Sea. (Of course, Marcel didn’t know he was on a pirate ship, the skull and cross-bones flag was not flying in the harbor when Marcel approached the captain.)

The first mate on the sailing vessel, Rastus the Next-to-Lastus, was a big, burly, grumpy, hairy man. Marcel had never seen so much hair on one person, Sometimes, he couldn’t tell if the guy was frontwards or backwards or upside down! Marcel steered clear of Rastus as much as possible. But there was one time when Marcel let down his guard. It was evening on a cool, cloudy day when Marcel emerged from belowdecks and beheld a sight unlike anything he had ever seen—after all, he had lived most of the last 30 years in the dark.. A loud gasp escaped his mouth before he even knew it was coming. 

“AARGGH—what’s yer problem?!! Bellowed Rastus. Open-mouthed and still in awe. Marcel could only point as he cowered and slowly backed away. It was, of course, too late! Rastus moved to block Marcel’s retreat.

“What do you call that?” Rastus growled. Marcel was only beginning to grasp his situation and his senses. “I dunno, stripey clouds? A renegade rainbow? You tell me!”

Once more, Rastus’ voiced boomed out, “I say it is a sundog. And that is what it is!’ And he lumbered off to the helm.

Marcel wiped his brow and looked up at the clouds again, but the sundog was gone.

A day or so later, the captain informed the crew and passengers—of which Marcel was the only one—that they were passing St. George’s Island of Bermuda. From there they could expect weeks of open water without sight of land. What he failed to mention is that they were near the Inter-tropical Convergence Zone and that they might be there for awhile.

Strange things happen at sea when the wind doesn’t blow, strange sights appear during the doldrums. Marcel’s sea adventure was no different. After a week or so of sitting still, Marcel borrowed the captain’s spyglass and peered out over the glassy water. He spied with his little eye, a brown, furred, flat-footed, flat tailed creature—Perry the Platypus???? impossible—resting on what appeared to be a rooftop tent. Wait—what? A roof-top tent in the middle of the ocean in 1846??? There are no pictures of roof-top tents from 1846— but that’s what he said it looked like, it was during the doldrums… Who knows what he really saw. Maybe he didn’t see anything. On the other hand…his long, curly, blonde locks could have been dangling in front of the glass hampering the view from his shockingly green eyes…

We will likely never know. Something happened that day that has never been explained. The Hemlock disappeared. No wreckage was found, no bodies washed up on any beach. As far as we know, Marcel never made it to China, never got to go deep-sea diving.

Carrie Keiser

Bermuda Adventure

Julie and her friends had come to Bermuda for a quiet kind of Spring Break. They planned to explore the area and investigate the mystery of the famed Bermuda Triangle. They have an adventure scheduled with a deep se diver at Blue Water Divers and Watersports to take them diving on a few wrecks.

In the meantime, they were doing the tourist thing and wandering the shops. She had stopped in an odd antique style store that had caught her eye. An old leather book, tied with a leather strip lay on the shelf, She blew dust off and looked for a price tag. It was only a couple of dollars so she purchased it and big floppy hat. Later when she met up with her friends on the beach she would see what treasures it held. 

As Julie walked back to her rented SUV, a slew of strange random thoughts ran through her head: “Do Sun Dogs occur in the Bermuda Triangle? Will there be any good rain storms? Did she pack enough undies? Where’s Perry the Platypus? Guess I watched way too much Phineas and Ferb as a kid!” She fished the keys out of her bag and jumped in the vehicle with the roof-top tent.

That evening after a dinner on the beach the kids split off to their various sleeping arrangements. Some were camping like her and others had gotten an air b&b. Julie popped open her tent, climbed up and settled in to read the old book. She let it just fall open and began to read the time weathered yellow pages:

“Devils Islands/Bermuda

December 29, 1846

The Charlotte Rose

Ships Log

Captain: Marcel Jones

1st Mate: Jacob Rodrick

It has come to my attention, by way of one of my loyal crewmen known only as Lefty, that my first mate and nearly 30 year friend/business partner, Jacob, has been meeting quietly behind my back with the crew to stir them up to mutiny and take the ship and her cargo for himself! Oh what of our long time partnership. Granted we are an unlikely pairing … I’m the brains and he’s the braun. Lefty also let on that he’s been planning this for years! He’s been skimming the goods before sale and selling them on the side saving his profits for just such a time. 

What timing! Or was it meticulously planned for this run through the often dangerous waters here in the Devils Islands?

As I write this log, I’m not sure what will happen next, but at least I’m leaving this record behind for the future.

I’ve had the crew running drills on what to do in the event of a freak storm, as is said to happen in this stretch of water. We have extra tie off ropes along the deck. I have been rotating the lookout up in the crows nest frequently in order to have fresh eyes always. So far not a cloud in sight. I’ll not have complacent sailors on my ship!n Not in these waters! 

In our hold we have whale oil, salt and turtle shells. We were able to sell the cotton for a decent price and purchase these items, I’m hopeful the market will be good when we return port in Florida. We left the isle of Bermuda six days ago and I estimate we should see land in handful of days, barring any unforeseen weather or hostilities.

Signed Marcel Jones”

Julie set the book on her lap. “Wow”, she thought, “this is crazy!” Her mind settled on this ship’s, captain, Marcel. Closing her eyes she tried to imagine him:

Perhaps he was tall, pushing 40, maybe with wavy long blonde hair (they had long hair in the 1800’s right?) and amazing green eyes? (Julie loved green eyes.) it sounded like he could be pretty smart so he might be awkward, not really knowing how to act, but he’s the captain so he has to have an amount of confidence and leadership skills, right?  Julie shook her head and pick the book back up.

“Atlantic Ocean 

December 30, 1846

The Charlotte Rose

Ships Log

Captain: Marcel Jones

Lefty caught me on the deck, and told me he heard several crew had sided with Jacob and were meeting in private belowdecks. He feels that something will happen soon, maybe the next day or so … before we reach land for sure.

I’m a little worried not knowing how many still stand with us. I hear a ruckus! I’m off to investigate, will return to the logging shortly, I hope.

It was Jacob! He is a large man with wild hair and a loud attitude of my way or no way! He’s very aggressive in his convincing methods, no wonder the crew is so willing to follow him! Fear!

The air feels heavy all of a sudden. Looking out my window I see the seas have become choppy and the ship is rocking more than usual. The wind has picked up. I’ll leave the log once again and go see what needs doing…..”

Julie frantically flips through the rest of the book looking for more entries, but there is no more! What happened to the crew of The Charlotte Rose and what became of captain Jones?  Was Jacob successful in his takeover of the ship?  How did the log end up in that shop in 2023 for her to find?  

She can’t wait to share this with her friends in the morning. She yawned, stretched and clicked the lantern off. Pulling the sleeping bag up she rolled over with those thoughts bouncing around her head.

Story Slingers

Myrna Flynn

September 29, 2024

CAUGHT in a TIME WARP

Two avid deep sea divers, headed for the Bermuda Triangle to solve the mystery of lost ships and airplanes.

John Paul Jones (Yes, that is his name, his dad's hero from the Revolutionary War, stuck him with it.) a 6'3" muscular 21 year old with wavy black hair, hazel eyes, who was plagued with girls chasing him.

His diving partner, Marcel, was a couple of years older, blonde curly hair and awkward guy who was also suffering from unwanted female attention. He had unusual eyes, one hazel and one definitely green.

They arrived at the dock in Florida, anxious to get their gear and their underwater explorer Sea Rover into the ocean. After doing the vehicle pre-check, they entered the water and headed down into the deep. They spent the day running grids looking for and marking places to search for objects that seemed possible victims of the Triangle. It was time to return to the surface. JP and Marcel arrived and got out of the water, they could not believe their eyes, there was a sun dog around the sky and nothing else looked right. They did not see their car or anything. No houses, no restaurants, no hotels. They were sure that they were in the correct area.

They saw a tent covered mule wagon with a load of cotton bales coming with slaves and men who must have been the owner and foremen. 

They and the ones win the wagon stared at each other in disbelief. The one they thought was the owner was carrying a platypus.

He approached them and asked, "Who are you and what are the strange outfits you are wearing? Why are you here? What are you doing here?"

JP responded, " My name is John Paul Jones. My partner's name is Marcel Boucher (pronounced BOO shay). We are deep sea divers and the outfits are for protection. We are exploring the Bermuda Triangle. May I ask who you are?"