Destiny's Song

My name is Destiny, and I have the best friends ever. They sing to me.

They used to take me out every day and they would sing while we caught fish. Every morning they would come to visit me before the sun was even up, and if you were lucky and the sky was clear, you could still see the moon. They would wander up onto my deck one by one or sometimes even three by three. Some of them would already be laughing, though some were always grumpy in the mornings. It was okay though, because the laughing ones would always laugh at the grumpy ones until they started laughing too.

There was always lots of laughter when we were together. There still is, if you listen hard enough. We don’t go out fishing anymore, though.

It was Big Jamie, the one I knew the longest, who named me Destiny. I remember when he was coming up with it. It was very soon after I first met him. He spent hours just sitting alone with me, mumbling to himself. But eventually he decided on Elusive Destiny, which I think sounds way cool. But all of our friends just call me Destiny. I think it’s a good name. An appropriate name. Our friends say that I was their destiny.

“You’re my destiny, Destiny!” They say. They used to laugh at themselves when they said it as a joke, but not anymore. Now they just say it because it’s true. It still makes me feel special, though.

Mostly, though, they’ve just always sung. They were always singing me songs and telling me stories about the great adventures other ships got to go on. Fighting monsters and monsoons. Traveling across the seas to distant lands. Songs about unsinkable ships who sank and some tiny ships who fought in battles and won. They were always so exciting. They made the adventures of the other ships and their crews sound like such fun, I wished I could go on an adventure too.

Now they only sing me one song. But I don’t mind. They are still the best friends ever. They will never leave me, now.

Before our adventure, that wasn’t necessarily the case. It was actually the day one of them first said he was going to leave us and move inland that we went on our adventure of a lifetime. Little Jamie was so excited about leaving us. His wife, Lucy, was going to have a baby boy! So he thought he needed another job and they needed to find a better place to live. But I didn’t want him to ever leave! So I got an idea! If I showed him and everyone else just how much fun we could have together, just like the adventures they would sing about, maybe he would change his mind and stay! I had been thinking of going off on an adventure with my friends for a long time, anyway. The songs had made adventures sound like such fun! But when Little Jamie said he was going to leave after that day, I knew this was my last chance to have the adventure with everyone. So I put my plan into action!

Some of my friends had been talking about a big storm that was brewing a little ways offshore that morning. This had everyone all excited because it was days like that when the fishing was best! The storms would send even more fish than usual in our direction, and my friends always liked it when we caught lots of fish!

I saw it as the perfect opportunity. We could fight the storm and win! That sounded just like the songs! I had to be careful, though. I wanted it to be a surprise. So once we set out, I carefully slipped just a little further and further out than they were expecting. I knew that if Big Jamie noticed what I was doing, he would steer me back in toward land. He was always so careful and precise. But I saw the storm clouds drawing nearer and nearer, and I knew that if I could just keep us in this direction for long enough, we would catch up to the storm. Thankfully, I was able to keep my instruments in line with where Big Jamie thought we should be, so even once he saw the storm clouds, and checked the weather radio, he didn’t know what I was doing.

My friends were so excited about all the fish they were catching, they didn’t mind too much when the water began getting choppy and the spray from the waves began to sting when hit their faces. Big Jamie was concerned, and Little Jamie seemed nervous too, but they were also excited! So we kept going!

I had never realized just how big the waves could get this far out. It was such fun to ride them up and down and up again. It was hard to tell which way was which after a little while. The lightning came from all directions, and the way it reflected in the water made it look like it came from beneath the waves too! And the wind was so strong, I felt it bow my beams! Sometimes it felt like we were spinning and flying all at once!

Everyone crammed into my cabin to stay dry, but that didn’t work very well. There was one wave, so extra big and swirly that I spun around completely like a somersault! The rush of the water was so strong, it opened the door and swept all of my friends away! At first I thought I was going to be stuck upside down forever as I watched all of my friends dance in the water, going in every which way but up. But then another wave came and it turned me back upright again, pouring out all the water that had filled my insides. It was great fun, really.

After that, the storm calmed down and the fun was over. But my friends wouldn’t get back onboard! I waited all night but they just wouldn’t show up. I decided that maybe they had somehow gotten back to shore without me so I started heading back. It was really hard to navigate back home without Big Jamie to steer me, and it took a couple days, but I did it!

It was when I finally made it to the dock that my friends came back! They must have snuck on in the night because I didn’t notice them until they were already on. They were a little bit different, though. They didn’t laugh as much, and we didn’t go out fishing that day, or any day after that. In fact, it has been a long time since that day. A decade, maybe. Little Jamie’s baby boy is a big kid now. He never comes to visit, though. No one ever comes to visit us. But it’s okay because my friends never leave me. They will hang out with me forever, always singing our new favorite song. I will never get tired of hearing it, because it’s a song about me.

They sing:

Destiny, my destiny

Forever out to sea

Never to see hearth and home again

Never to truly be

Never to kiss my loving wife

Never to live a happy life

Destiny, my destiny

Forever out to sea.