Man-In-Sea

Scene 2

CLAY
Bill was fine. The old Boy Scout was always fine. You want to know what he told me in the plane on the way home? He said it was like a vacation. He was out in the wind and rain with nothing to eat but a raw pheasant for three days and he said it was a vacation. If Bill was down here, this probably wouldn’t have happened. He would have swam out of the submarine, cut all those cables and swam that god damned thing all the way to the surface. By now, we’d all be sitting around the table laughing about it. Instead, it's me, sitting here in the back of the sub, hoping against hope that Dad finds another sub that can go as deep as the one he built.

LINK
Nothing went deeper than the Johnson Sea-Link.

CLAY
Dad and I got up early this morning to do some Father’s Day fishing off the back of Sea Diver. He was late. It was almost dawn when he snuck out of the state room, but he didn’t think he’d woken up my Mom. There was nobody else awake on board that ship except for us and John the Greek, who was in the kitchen waiting to make Sea Bass Omelettes from whatever we managed to hook. He’d been cooking on Sea Diver since I was 18. Dad threw down a couple’a lawn chairs and cracked a beer. I asked him if he’d remembered the fishing poles. He looked around, shrugged his shoulders, and handed me a can.

ED
I guess I never really liked fishing all that much.

CLAY
 He took a seat.

ED
Nothing left to do but watch the sunrise!

CLAY
I was kinda pissed, because John the Greek could make an old tire taste like Sea Bass. Dad laughed.

ED
If you think you can sneak back in my room without bringing back your mother, feel free. Otherwise, sit down. Now watch! You’re gonna miss it!

CLAY
He pointed into the fading blackness. First a glow playing across the waves wiped out the lowest stars. It got stronger and stronger until a tiny white blade sheared through the horizon. Dad turns to me and says,

ED
That’s what they were watching when they dreamed up religion!

CLAY
We sat there, drinking beers until we noticed Mom standing over us with her arms crossed, tapping her foot and giving that look that could only mean our breakfast was on the table getting cold.

LINK
It wasn’t supposed to be a long dive.


CLAY
It wasn’t supposed to be a long dive today. We were anchored over a couple warships that had been scuttled for an artificial reef. A guy named Meeks was studying the animals that had taken up residence. He was in the acrylic sphere with our pilot, Jock Menzies. Al Stover and I were in the lockout chamber. We’d gone along for the ride. Al would give you the shirt off his back and not complain a word about it, no matter how cold he got.

LINK
Up and back.

CLAY
Up and back, that's all. Just before they shut us in, Mom reminded me how long it took to get back to shore. We were taking Dad to see “Death of a Salesman” in Sarasota that night, and there was quite a bit of road, and even more ocean between us. There was no time for sightseeing. Dad nudged her off and offered the rest of that six pack to Al. “Against Regulations,” I said and pushed it back. “Captain wouldn’t approve.” We laughed and I pulled the door shut.

Man-In-Sea

Cast of Characters:

LINK
An inventor. Also, Ed’s father.

ED
As Link remembers himself himself.

MARION
Ed’s wife.

CLAY
Ed and Marion’s second son.


Scene 3