“Beckett—"
“Bye, Tosh. Love you.”
I hung up before she could reply. She didn’t understand. We may have been kids, but our bond had been unshakeable. I don’t know if he felt the same attraction I had, nor did I really care. I just missed his friendship, the way we innately understood each other. Jake was the closest thing I had to a best friend these days, but even he didn’t come close to what Riley had been to me. I doubted I’d ever find that kind of connection again. I knew Tosh was right, I knew the chances of finding him were next to impossible, but I’d still never give up, no matter what she said.
As I turned down the sidewalk to walk back to our hotel, I spotted a line of metal birds near the stairs leading down to the dock. They reminded me of cranes, except with a more artistic touch. I bent to admire one, and realized they were made of the same type of metal used on the industrial boats, with the punched Xs for grip, only these had been sanded and torched to create varying designs and textures. I noticed each one had tiny fishhooks soldered to the wings to mimic feathers, and there was some kind of netting attached to their legs to give the flesh appearance of a bird’s leg. I counted seven altogether, each with their own bit of character. The details were as unique as they were exquisite, from the fine lines for feathers to the glossy wet skin of the fish in some of the beaks. On each of the birds, imprinted on the wings, were names and dates.
There was a plaque near the end explaining the display and I made my way over to it.
The Cranes of Reedsport – A gift from one “captain” to the real captains of our wonderful community. You’ll be missed. Fly home and Godspeed.
My throat became unexpectedly thick with emotion. Each bird represented the life of a local captain who lost their life to the murky waters of the ocean. Seven lives ended, and families destroyed. It was a beautiful memorial, especially to be donated by a local artist. It made me look around with a little more interest. What kind of community honors their people like that? I’m sure Atlanta had some memorials, but I’d barely noticed them if it did, and I likely wouldn’t know who they were for anyway. What would it be like to live somewhere where everyone not only knew you but cared about you enough to miss you when you were gone? I honestly couldn’t imagine.
