Enjoy A 500-Word Micro Fiction – Environmental Drama – Writing Battle Challenge

The contest is over, awesome feedback received and analyzed. A few spots adjusted based on it. Here you go… I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. 😊

A Noble Wind

Salty, moist air blanketed Libby’s face, teasing out hesitant tears as she stood on deck, clutching a familiar tattered backpack to her chest. A beam of sunlight pierced the fog and shined on the letter trembling in her hand as if encouraging her to read it again.

Dear Ms. Warner. We regret to inform you your father was lost with his party during a confrontation in the North Sea…

An image she carried around like a treasured childhood book bloomed along with her sorrow.

She was a little girl, snuggled under her pop’s arm as he crammed himself onto her tiny bed and read aloud tales of the great behemoths that once ruled the seas. By the time she was eight, her pop had gone through Moby Dick three times.

“Are you okay, Libby?” She blinked and focused on her new shipmate.

“I just need to sit a minute.”

“There’s a bench by the bulkhead,” he said as he gestured to the spot. She stared at it, still gripping the bag to her chest, and managed to get her legs moving. He followed her.

Libby sat and looked up to find the features of his face obscured by dewy sunlight. She tried to remember his name and thought it was Joe. His voice was kind. “This seems like a private moment, but I’ll be around welcoming our crew and can hop right back here if you need me.” Libby nodded her appreciation, and he scooted away.

She eyed the pack, brought it to her face, and breathed in her father’s scent before settling it on her lap. The canvas was embedded with soil from every continent, stained, and smooth from use, its edges frayed.

Libby wondered what it might tell her about her pop, but she was afraid to look inside.

She was on this ship getting ready to embark on her first mission to the Faroe Islands in part to learn about her pop’s life aboard vessels just like this. She’d followed eagerly in his footsteps, becoming an eco-warrior dedicated to Earth’s oceans and the life contained in them, which meant she understood her father’s dedication.

What she didn’t understand was why he stopped coming home two years ago, or if he had any idea what his disappearance had done to her.

Joining this crew had given her a vague hope she might cross his path on a campaign though she’d lost track of him years ago and knew her chances were slim. But the courier rushing to deliver the news and her pop’s effects before they sailed had dashed her dreams and any likelihood of getting answers.

She twisted the fastener and pried open the main compartment. Her breath hitched. Libby stared at a familiar object. Questions flooded her mind. With a trembling hand, she pulled out the plushy white whale she’d gripped to her chest every story, and through every word of Moby Dick.

It crinkled… and she froze. Could it be? She ran her thumb along a seam on its belly. It split to reveal a piece of paper, just like the ones her pop hid for her in those days before a mission. Libby didn’t notice the toy falling off her lap as she read her message through tears she could no longer hold back.

Were I the wind, I’d blow no more on such a wicked and miserable world… Yet tis a noble and heroic thing, the wind!

You, my feisty shadow, are nobler. I’m proud of you for answering the call. But take care or you will find yourself with a target on your back. That’s why I stayed away, though I’ve been watching… and waiting for our time.

I’m sorry it took so long, and that I had to resort to such a cruel trick to sneak back to you.

A big, calloused hand laid the whale in her lap, and a beloved voice spoke above her head. “Hello, little shadow. Only my daughter treasures that line from Melville as much as her wayward father.”

If you would like to support an independent author who loves to share her stories, this story along with an eclectic anthology of more fun tales is available for $1.99 at your favorite bookstore. Thank you!