The Raft

Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean there was a man on a life raft—a sole survivor of a ship wreck.  Many days have passed since he lost sight of the wreckage.  The drift carried him more or less south, or so he thought, judging by the sun.  Out of food and out of water; he was on the edge—on the brink of expiration.  His vision became fuzzier as time went on.  He made peace with God.  He knew what was going to happen; the inevitable kept on creeping closer like a snake, about to deliver its bite of death.  He waited to fade away.  No strength left—not even to put his hand over the side to sweep some water up in order to cool his body down a little.  How long since the ship sunk?  Two weeks?—No, must have been more.  Days fused into one another and track of time was long lost.  “Life is like a candle,” he thought.  The thought of a candle took him back in time—back to his wedding…  The church was full of candles and his life was full of happiness.  His beautiful wife to be—all smiles and charm.  The family, the guests, the overall atmosphere…  The sound of the words “I do” said by his bride became imprinted in his memory forever.  “I do,” he whispered to himself.  Tiny tears rolled down his sun-scorched cheeks, “Oh, Angelique.”  Crying cleared his vision a little.  Out of the corner of his right eye he saw movement in the skies.  A dot—no mistake—a dot.  He zoomed in on it.  “An airplane,” he whispered.  He tried to scream, but the attempt only caused excruciating pain in his dried throat.  He focused his vision again.  No mistake, yes—it was an airplane, flying straight.  He gathered his strength together, fuelled by hope, fuelled by the fact that he would be rescued.  He got up.  The airplane kept on going straight, passing right above him, right under the clouds.  He took his shirt off, waved it, and caught the pilot’s attention.  The airplane circled back.  He finally managed to scream, “Hey!  Right here!  Heeey!”  Then he started to laugh.  He got down on his knees, raised his arms and thanked the heavens above.  Tears of joy rolled down his cheeks.  The airplane kept on circling above.  Then a second plane appeared.  Then a third.  Then one more.  The planes kept on circling, coming closer, and getting bigger.  There were ten—no, twenty airplanes in the sky!  A whole squadron came to rescue him.  Then, suddenly, the engine noises faded into squawking noises.  The airplane wings changed into wings full of feathers.  They were sea gulls!  They attacked!  Claws on his skull.  Blood streamed down his face.  The gulls went mad.  They went for his eyes.  The man was shrieking and screaming.  He fought with the gulls and punched them the best he could.  Within seconds, his cheeks were in shreds.  Blood on his hands.  Blood everywhere.  Blood gushed out of his throat.  They pecked him to death…