Foghorn

There was an eerie silence as the fog cloaked around us. The foghorn bellowed like some prehistoric monster’s roar. In the distance, another foghorn wailed as if echoing the first monster’s call. On deck eyes peered into the white cloak looking for some dark looming shape. The foghorns blew almost simultaneously. The thick blanket prevented anyone from seeing anything. The throb of the engines like a mighty heartbeats echoed in everyone’s ears. Again, a foghorn bellowed like some distant monster’s roar. Then as a dark shape loomed from the mist and its mighty heartbeats rang out in everyone’s ears. As it approached, there was panic in their eyes. A collision at sea would cost many lives. It was bad enough in fine weather, but in a fog where no one could see the disaster would be catastrophic. Everyone braced themselves for the collision to be. Except for the mighty heartbeats of the giant behemoths of the waves, silence covered all. Slowly the dark shapes passed one another and were once again swallowed up within the fog. 29 May 2008