Something Wonderful of You

She sat upon that green levee, staring out over the bay, washed gray in the fading twilight. She came here as often as she could…here where she would sit and gaze out to sea, listen to the beloved CD and dream weave. Weaving her beautiful dreams of love and remembrance.

The horizon was empty of the silhouettes of ships waiting to be allowed entrance into the bay. She had so often found them odd because their distant forms sitting far out in the Gulf were on a higher plane than she was on land. The bordering, high grass covered walls of the old military fort, now a state landmark, made a perfect place to perch and watch the mouth of Galveston Bay.

Glancing to her right, she could make out the dim forms of the high rise buildings of the island fifteen miles away, ten on land and five across water. Galveston was a bustling busy place compared to this deserted fort on Bolivar Peninsula that had become her haven in life.

The settling darkness had begun to deepen and she knew it was time to go. Reluctantly, she rose to her feet, gathered her things, and turned away from the empty sea. She crossed through the opening in the fort’s broken wall and down the three flights of stone stairs to the center of the parade ground. She had long since stopped marveling at the age of the old fort but reached the point of accepting it as normal to its surroundings.

It had turned completely dark by the time that she reached her car, the only one in the visitor parking lot except for the one police cruiser sitting close to the entrance. One officer occupied the vehicle and when she waved to him, he raised his hand in answer. The Silver Springs deputy knew the woman well and he knew her routine well as he had watched her come to this place at least twice a month for the last two years. He would sit quietly waiting to make sure she reached her car in safety and started for home wherever she lived. He didn’t know why she came to the fort but she did and since she was in his jurisdiction, it was his job to see to her safety.

Highway 87 wandered as a two lane road all the way to the ferry landing at Bolivar, a small spot on the edge of the Peninsula. The town actually laid farther to the north from the highway so only a gas station and small store lay on the right hand side. She drove a little farther down the road and came upon the light house. It was no longer used and its once red and white stripes had gone to a rusted state that resembled black primer. A landmark now, she often studied the tall building in the darkness, so black that only its silhouette could be made out.

When she reached the dual ferry landing, she swung into the right lane as it seemed to be the next ferry due. There were three cars already ahead of her in line so she pulled up behind the last one and then shut off her engine to wait the arrival time of the ferry. She rolled down the window in the car and let in the salty evening breeze. Closing her eyes, she began to once again to reminisce. The thought crossed her mind that the doctor had told her to focus more on the present and not dwell in the past so much but she knew she was failing to heed his advice because it was so much easier to remember.

It was not long before her reverie was disturbed by the sound of the incoming ferry’s horn as the boat slipped easily into the dock. She waited patiently as the ferry was secured and the numerous vehicles on board began to exit before she cranked her car and waited to move onto the boat. The oncoming traffic was not long in finishing and the deckhand began to direct traffic onto the right side of the ferry. She was placed third in line on the first row and as soon as she was parked, she shut off the engine and gathered her purse. She opened the driver’s store and stepped outside of her car. She turned to her left and went to the rear door of the ferry’s narrow pilot house and climbed the stairs to the second deck to where the restrooms were.

She relieved herself and then once she left the restroom, she headed for the front parapet to watch the ferry’s progress across the bay to the island. The warmer breeze of the afternoon had turned a bit chilly once now over open water. She rubbed her arms in her short sleeved blouse as her skin pebbled from the drop in temperature and once she had stimulated the circulation, she wrapped her arms around herself. She found herself to be the only person on the parapet as the ferry backed out of the dock and began its side ways journey across the bay. The trip would take approximately fifteen minutes.


That short time gave her a chance to think about her changing cir*****stances. She did not want to deal with the thought of money but she knew that it was inevitable as the insurance money would eventually run out and she was going to be forced to look at the future more than just today or tomorrow. The mortgage had been paid off on the small house in Seabrook but there would always be utilities, home insurance and property taxes to pay.

It was during these times that she felt the familiar anger rise up against the turn of events that had taken John from her at such an early age. Who would have expected a young man of thirty-five to die of cancer? Certainly, not she!

They had been in love for so long, actually since junior high school, and all through high school. John had proposed to her at the old fort. They had married right after graduation and John had taken his place beside his father in the small mechanic shop John Sr. owned. For the first ten years, she had worked as a receptionist at Dr. Merdee’s office and they had waited with hope for the children they had wanted. Finally, concerned that perhaps one of them was sterile, they had gone in for fertility tests. She had come out just fine but John hadn’t when he had been diagnosed with prostrate cancer. He had put up a magnificent fight that lasted for five years but now she was alone without him or ever any chance of having his child while he was alive. She knew that at his specialist’s suggestion he had withdrawn some still fertile semen and it lay waiting for the day she had might decide to choose to bear his child through artificial insemination.

She knew that the time for that decision was near while she still had the time and money to afford a pregnancy. The procedure was not that costly but the child would be and she had to not only be stable money wise but emotionally as well to take on the tremendous responsibility of becoming a parent. If she was going to be a mother, she not only had to increase her earning capacity but also invest some of the insurance money for the child’s future.

It became suddenly clear to the young woman that not only were they just about to dock at the island’s ferry landing but the most shocking of all was that for the first time since her husband’s death, she was making plans for a long term future. As she headed back to her car, she found her once almost sedentary mind actively churning with plans. She knew she needed to enroll in a school to improve her career choices and it would blend perfectly with the time it would take to conceive the baby and carry the child. If she were truly frugal with her money, she could accomplish her plan within the next year and still have enough to put aside for the baby’s education.

As she climbed behind the steering wheel of her car, she quickly had a mental picture of herself in full blown pregnancy. It was a startling vision but a pleasant one. She smiled happily to herself.

Then in the softest of whispers, like the melodic refrains of the beautiful song she so loved, she spoke.

“Well, John, my love, not only will I always have my love for you but this baby will something wonderful of you that will be part of me forever.”