Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: BEACH (09/01/22)
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TITLE: The Watch | Previous Challenge Entry
By Dennis Gallemore
09/06/22 -
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At 37, she had given up on men. Her last three boyfriends had, she thought, been underwhelming. “No,” she said aloud to the still-present audience of gulls, “they were complete and utter losers.”
Said pronouncement finished, she clambered to her feet and stood gazing out at the waves rolling in upon the Hawaiian shore. Trouble had invaded her life in a similar fashion: wave upon wave. Relationship trouble. Financial trouble. Health trouble. Men trouble. Round and round until she felt compelled to take time off work, fly over 3,000 miles to Hawaii, and sit on the beach and mope.
Her seatmates on the flight over from the mainland had been irritated by her chatter about failed relationships, not to mention her sometimes out loud prayers to a God who seemed to be ignoring her, at least as far as the men in her life went. “Can’t say that I blame them,” she said to a lobster that had just been washed up on the shore. The lobster showed just as much interest in her personal life as her fellow passengers had.
She turned and walked down the shore, her sarong undulating in the soft coastal breeze. The air, damp and heavy, smelled of salt and fish. Walking, she prayed aloud. “Lord, why can’t I find the right man for me?”
Sunlight glinted off an object nestled in the sand ahead. Curious, she stepped closer. Leaning over, she picked it up. It was, of all things, a silver pocket watch. She opened it to find a picture of a young man, his face brightened by a wide smile.
She turned the watch over. “No inscription. Odd. I wonder who he is. Odder still, the watch appears to be older, but the picture appears to have been taken yesterday. Handsome man.”
Drawn to the man’s image, she sighed, closed the watch, and slipped it into a pocket. “I’ll just keep this for future reference.”
She walked for a time that could have been hours or just a few minutes. She lost all sense of time. “I,” she said aloud, “am staying in the moment.”
“Hello.”
Startled, she turned around at the sudden voice behind her. A tall, broad-shouldered man, not unlike the man in the watch picture, she mused, stood a short distance behind her. “Where did you come from?”
Gesturing behind himself, he laughed. “I was strolling along behind that dune. I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“You may not mean to, but you did.” She smiled back at him. “I’m Janice, Janice Owens.”
“Brad Tarkington. Pleased to meet you. Mind if I walk along with you?”
“I don’t mind at all.” In fact, she mused to herself, she was intrigued. “Am I safe with you?”
The smile appeared on his rugged face once more as he pulled a wallet out of his back pocket and flipped it open revealing a badge. “I’m a detective with the Honolulu PD.”
“I’ll take that as a yes.” She flashed a smile. “Strange. I just found a pocket watch that reminds me of you.” She took it out and showed him the cameo within.
“Could be me. I’m better looking though.” He closed it and handed it back to her and she slipped it back into a pocket.
Walking along side by side, she glanced at him. “Do you believe that God answers prayers?”
He nodded. “I do.”
“Interesting.” She glanced ahead. A man was approaching, his eyes on the incoming waves. For some strange reason, she thought of the watch secreted in a pocket.
Pulling the watch back out and slowly opened it. A middle-aged woman with shoulder-length auburn hair stared back at her. She gasped.
“What?” Brad glanced askance at her. “Something wrong?”
She raised her eyes to the approaching man, a slight smile on her face. “No, quite the contrary. I think everything is just right.”
She halted, Brad glancing quizzically at her.
The man was within a few feet of the pair. He swiveled his head and his eyes rested upon them. “Good afternoon.”
Janice smiled and held out the watch to him. “Something tells me that this watch is for you.”
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Interesting and creative. Thank you.