A couple days ago I was reading Fatal Forecast, by Michael J. Tougias (2007, Scribner) and a passage made me laugh out loud. Fatal Forecast is not a funny book. It's an account of lives lost and saved in a violent storm off the coast of Cape Cod, November 1980.
Following is the passage that got me. Speaking is a fishing boat captain:
"We were off the tip of Cape Cod when we were slammed by a rogue wave. We went up over the wave and were then in a free fall. When we landed, water poured in the pilothouse door and down into the fo'castle. The boat went over on its side. More water poured in the starboard-side windows. The next thing I know, there's a fire in the light fixture. Without thinking, I reached up and the electricity blew me across the pilothouse. We were able to get the fire out, and somehow get into Provincetown without issuing a Mayday. All the electronics were gone on the boat. That's when I knew for sure that I had to get a bigger boat..."
I added the italics.
As someone who edits, as someone who suffers seasickness, and as a cowardly, skulking wuss, I would like to offer three options to that last sentence.
"That's when I knew for sure that I had to go get a job in a hardware store."
"That's when I knew for sure that I had to go back to college and get my MBA."
"That's when I knew for sure that I had to take up pig farming in Iowa."
1 comment:
Hehe. I can see how that'd make ya laugh out loud : )
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