De Courcey, Bernadette

A TRIBUTE TO MY FRIEND SAL

Bernadette De Courcey

(Winter, 2018)

Farewell

Farewell to my friend Sal

The day of no tomorrows has come

Forlorn are those who are still here

Your self-built cabin nestled in the woods

Will no longer be the same

The deer, the squirrels, even the black bear

Will continue to visit and perhaps

Even protect your former home

Sensing peace and safety there.

Goodbye to all the times we shared.

They shall now be stored in the

Treasure chest of memories

All the love and laughter and inspiration

That you so generously imparted.

Your eyes always smiled reflecting a

Heart so deeply true.

There are many secrets you did not share

The rest was there within your book.

Travel safe and far dear Sal.

Send us word along the breeze

And in the flapping wings of summer butterflies.

We will listen - because you taught us to hear.

And the Earth Shook

by Bernadette DeCourcey

(November, 2012)

As the bright red sun dipped below the hills, a breeze stirred the last few leaves on the oak in the front garden. Fall had been disappearing for some time now but this year it had only been twelve days from the time the leaves began and ended their journey, to the soft earth.

Thomas stared up at the darkening sky behind the outline of the oak, then closed his eyes. He could feel the earth moving, a tremble. Jumping to his feet, he dropped his iPhone. He hesitated before swiping it up. It was vibrating. His mother was calling.

Shark Bait

Bernadette De Courcey

(Featured Author, August 2012)

There is no good day to get bitten by a shark, Olivia reflected as she read the story about a young surfer's brush with death. The photo on the front page was of the girl being pulled ashore with blood covering her torso. It was lucky she was still alive; even if she was missing part of her anatomy.

Growing up Olivia remembered eating a lot of fish and she smiled at the irony of this fish eating part of this girl. Back then it was believed that fish was good for the brain. However, that was before the mercury warnings. Olivia’s parents had served her overcooked Atlantic cod before each and every exam – even her driver’s license test –like it was the salmon of knowledge. She had gotten mostly“A’s”, but, her parents greedily took the praise for it. “See Olivia the fish dinner your mom cooked worked,” her dad would say winking at her.

Perhaps humans were good as brain food for fish, she thought, smiling. The smile faded as she thought about her appointment earlier in the week. After twenty-three years of eating “brain food”, she had sat opposite her doctor, holding her breath until he announced. “Olivia, you have MS.”

She was still alive but now she was missing a part of her. In one small moment her life had changed forever and she had yet to break the news to her parents. In order to think things over, she had decided to visit her best friend Amy. Amy was a free spirit of sorts. She grew organic vegetables, the “in-thing” with all her vegetarian friends and she smoked a copious amount of cigarettes. Luckily for Olivia the first outing planned was a snorkeling trip off Singer Island just for the two of them. Olivia only had to overcome her new found fear of the “big fish” in order to enjoy the little ones. Why vegetarians loved to watch them swimming around but not eatthem was a mystery to her. Some fish must find it terrifying to have their territory invaded, Olivia thought but she didn’t say it aloud.

“It will be so fun Olivia,” Amy said blowing smoke in her face. Olivia imagined taking the cigarette off her and smoking it herself. However, past experience had taught her that smoking wasn’t her forté. Unless you are supposed to cough non-stop for the rest of the day, that is.

“Where is the boat leaving from, will we make it?” Olivia asked instead, putting the paper in the back seat next to the cooler packed with refreshing alcoholic beverages.

“The boat is leaving in a half hour from the West-End Marina, and we’re almost there.” Amy replied in between puffs. Olivia took out her iPhone and googled “shark rules”. The results left her wishing she was going snorkeling with Vin Diesel and not her five foot two tree-hugging friend.

The first rule was - don’t go in the water at dawn or dusk.

Olivia looked at the clock, it was now almost 8am.

“Amy is it dawn or is it morning?” She asked looking up at the sky.

“Who knows, morning probably.” Amy replied.

“ I bet the sharks know.”

The second rule was just as ambiguous - don’t go in the water if you are bleeding.

“This one is a puzzler, I mean it says on the box that you can go swimming, but it doesn’t mention anything about swimming sharks nearby. What do you think Amy, is it safe for me?” Olivia asked, looking at her friend.

“Seriously Olivia, there won’t be any sharks.” She said shaking her head and smiling.

Olivia scrolled down to the third rule which was quite clear - don’t go in the water wearing jewelry or anything shiny.

“What are you doing now Olivia?,” Amy asked while turning down the radio.

“I’m trying to take out my belly-button ring. The third rule says not to wear any jewelry whatsoever while swimming in shark infested waters.” Olivia explained with a shaky voice.

“Don’t be crazy girl, we are going snorkeling with professionals, and there won’t be any sharks anywhere near us, you worry way too much – chillax,” she chuckled and turned into the marina entry way.

There were lots of cars already in the parking lot. Olivia put her life saving phone away to help unload the cooler. They walked towards the sign for Seven Sea’s Charter. The smell of salt and dead fish invaded their sensitive female nostrils as they neared the forty foot sailboat. Four other snorkelers were already on board chatting amongst themselves. Orlin greeted the girls and transferred their cooler on board. They took off their flip-flops and climbed aboard the shiny white decks.

The captain was wearing a white baseball cap and ray bans over a tanned face.

“Welcome aboard, my name is Jeremy, please take a seat up front or in the cock-pit. We will motor out soon,” he said grinning and nodding. Once everyone was seated he continued with more instructions.

“Do not use spray suntan lotion - unless you apply it to your hands first because it makes the deck slippery. If you need something ask Orlin; my first mate. Please remain seated at all times. We will begin with non-alcohol beverages and after you all snorkel, you may enjoy your own beverages.”

“Darn it, I knew we should have had a bevy on the drive up.” Olivia whispered to Amy.

A few minutes later with the boat underway, Orlin passed around little plastic cups of juice to them all. Amy and Olivia introduced themselves to the other snorkelers, Lisa, Julio, Sam and Ailey.

“Have you guys snorkeled her before?” Amy asked.

“Of course, yeah. We come every year to watch the spinner sharks migrating. They follow the bait fish inland and the trawler fishing boats follow them. It’s not the best time of day right now but we hope to see them later,” said Julio, caressing his dreadlocks and smiling as if he was just referring to a sunset on a midsummer’s eve. Captain Jeremy was smiling too. Olivia was the only one not smiling . Lisa, Ailey and Amy were stripping down to their bikini’s to begin tanning on the front of the boat.

“Is it ok to lay up there on that side of the boat?” Olivia asked Sam, pointing to the port side of the mast. He responded. “I suppose and this is actually a yacht, not a boat.”

“Tomato, to-mat-o,” she replied.

That was the end of the conversation. Olivia was used to having this effect on men. She hoped she could repel sharks as easily. She moved to the port side and began peel off her outer layers. Once down to her swim suit, she sat back to take stock of Sam and Ailey who were obviously brother and sister as they looked so alike. Hopefully Lisa and Julio were not related because his hand was definitely holding her rear-end. Then she lay down on the deck resting her head on her hoodie, which she had purchased before there was a risk of being shot wearing one, and stared up at the blue sky. Her body, oddly comforted by the steady vibrations, relaxed and she closed her eyes.

“We will put down anchor here and you can snorkel all of the reefs nearby,” Captain Jeremy announced some time later. Olivia sat up and looked around. There was just Blue Ocean, and the island in the distance behind them.

“We will be here for an hour and a half. Don’t go too far from the boat,” he explained. Aha, even he called it a boat, Olivia thought as she looked over at Sam but he was already getting fins and a mask from Orlin and didn’t appear to have noticed. One by one they all lined up to receive their fins and masks before jumping overboard.

“What size shoe are you,” Orlin asked Olivia when it was her turn.

“Six and a half.”

“Are there sharks in the water here,” she asked the captain.

“Yes, but that’s ok, they are only attracted to shiny things,” he replied without smiling.

Olivia looked down at her metallic gold two-piece recently purchased on impulse at Victoria Secret, and her belly button ring and then looked back up.

“Just kidding, you don’t have to worry about sharks here, and don’t panic if you do see one - they are attracted to splashing as well.” He turned away and began reading his book.

Orlin put the fins and mask into her arms and reassured her that it was safe. She sat on the edge to put them on, just like the others. I may not get another opportunity to do this, it’s now or never. I really must tell my parents when I get home. Olivia closed her eyes and imagined a warm bathtub filled with rubber ducky’s, and jumped.

The water was cold but after a few minutes of kicking she warmed up. Focusing on her hatha-yoga breathing, she swam towards the reefs. They were mesmerizing, so many formations, so many colors. The fish ranged from sea anemones, to clown fish, to large grouper. A turtle swam away to the right as she neared the middle of the first reef. The black and white fish were very fast darting here and there below her. They reminded Olivia that she should have worn a black and white suit, like Amy’s. Supposedly those colors deter sharks as they see black and white as the color of poisonous predators, or killer whales. I don’t think I could convince a shark I was either of those. Olivia thought as she kicked with her fins.

Amy swam up in front of her at that moment and pointed down to a star fish on the floor. It was about ten feet down.

“I’m going to dive down. Do you want to dive with me?” She asked, the words garbled from the snorkel .

“No, you go.” Olivia garbled back.

She swallowed a mouthful of salt water and came up to the top to breathe. She watched a trawler boat passing between them and their boat. She put her mouthpiece back in and looked down into the water for Amy.

A flash of grey caught her eye. A shark, a very large shark, was swimming between her and her friend. Its fins had black tips and its teeth were showing. She struggled not to splash as she moved towards the boat. Her blood ran cold as the shark disappeared from view. Amy popped up to the top waving a star fish in the air.

“Shark,” Olivia screamed as she turned and kicked as fiercely as Sarah Palin hunting bears, all the way to the boat. Amy overtook her in the last stretch, her splashing out splashing Olivia’s splashing. Orlin stood on the back of the boat to assist them up the ladder. Amy pushed Olivia up the ladder and then pulled herself up after.

Reaching the deck, Olivia melted to the floor just as Orlin handed her a towel. Amy stood next to her dripping on to her legs.

“Are you ok Olivia?” she asked, breathing heavily.

“My heart is going to explode I think, there was a shark - a huge shark.” She rolled over onto her stomach.

“You could have been bitten Amy, he didn’t look vegetarian to me.” She added pushing herself up to seating.

Amy laughed. “Can we open that damn cooler already?”

Orlin laughed, and Captain Jeremy looked up from his Nora Roberts book and joined in.

The

Top Ten

Myths About

the

Irish

(August, 2012)

10. We don't live in thatched cottages anymore. (It's 2012)

9.We don't actually believe in fairies and leprechauns. (Sorry children.)

8. The accents in Far and Away are not even close to how we really sound. (Hollywood mistake.)

7. We don't hate English people. They have a similar sense of humor to us and so we get along great.

6. We typically vote democratic not because it's left wing but because the republicans are just too far right for us.

5. We don't know the Kelly's from Cork -- seriously -- that's the most common name in Ireland.

4. Ireland is not a three syllable word. When we pronounce it -- please don't correct us. (Rude.)

3. Not everyone drinks alcohol! (Slainte ;-) I do.)

2. Talking to strangers is totally accepted butnot talking about them afterwards would be like trying not to breathe. (It's just genetic coding like us talking about the weather. Please don't take offense.)

and,

1. If you were not raised or living in Ireland, then you are NOT Irish (not like us anyway), and this is even more confusing if you say you are Irish but you have never even been to Ireland.