It was like any other day, but there was something off about "old man John". She, on the other hand, came all the way from Hollywood to visit the beautiful Nassau Ocean of the Bahamas. It wasn't until late that things shifted from good to bad for Roberta Parks. She got home around 9 pm, and poured herself a cup of coffee. "Twenty cups of coffee later, I still can't sleep," she said to her cat, Jones. The wind was blowing in through the windows, and the July weather felt great. "Do you think there will be fireworks tomorrow?" Picking up the kitten and holding it on her lap.
Roberta was a fine, tall, slender woman of 34 years of age. She had been working at a retail store in Hollywood, selling jewelry, for most of her adult life. It was time for her to take a vacation, and her friends Megan and Stellina had even recommended it. Recently divorced, the trip to the Bahamas was just the thing she needed to forget. To forget all those times those creepy customers came into her store, some of the men reaching up the long skirt she wore over a slip, a white one, sometimes a dark gray one. They touched her in a way that made her feel uncomfortable. The men would then just casually walk out of the jewelry store, most of the times not even buying anything. When she told Megan how her body was sacred to her, with Stellina listening, Roberta went on about how she had come from a very religious family. She told Megan and Stellina that her beliefs were very sacred, and that in her family the body was considered a temple of energy. If anyone was not welcome to touch it, energies got sucked from the person's spirit. The Reguyaki occult, she said, taught her this. Her friends were starting to think that something was wrong with her, and insisted she get away from Hollywood's richest men, the ones that were driving her nuts.
Tim's white flower service van pulled up early the next morning. The little kid knocked on the door. She answered. "Yes? How can I help you?" Roberta spoke with a surprised look on her face.
"Better, how can I help you? These came for you today. Compliments of J.C. John."
"J.C. John," she muttered, "I don't know anyone by that name." Then she recalled the old man from the health food store she had been to the day before. "You are from the health food store, aren't you?"
"Yes, ma'am, kind of, we run a business for them too."
"Ok, how much do I owe you?"
"Uh, nothin'"
Tim ran back to the van, hopped in, and drove off.
When she closed the door, she looked out her window and saw the dark figure of a man standing at the end of the fishing pier. He wasn't doing anything but standing there, looking out at the ocean waves. The slowly moving waves, gliding their way onto the shore, where some fishing boats could be seen pulling up on the sand.
She knew it was him who sent the flowers she just received, with a special note that read "Your true admirer." Oh my gosh, she thought, another Hollywood rich man. But John was 84.
Roberta took a quick swig of wine, then went out of the house and walked to the end of the pier to confront the man. "Did you bring me flowers?" she asked, holding a bouquet of red roses.
"Yes, I did. They are for you. You remind me of my daughter. I lost her out at sea. John pointed out at the golden sunlight, hitting the waves moving towards the pier. This sparkled, and made for a very romantic setting. Roberta was flattered by the man's heartfelt gesture. "I, I wish I could tell you the story, but..." Then, John fell to his knees and cried. "Oh, you dear man, can I make you dinner tonight?" Roberta Parks picked John up in her arms, touching his right lower back with her warm hand on his wrinkled flesh. "Come with me, I will cook you some spaghetti."
The two went back to the house she was staying at, a white house with blue shutters and blue painted trim. There was a large ship's wheel posted on a wall, and some fishing nets hung there as decoration pieces.
By nightfall Roberta had heard the whole story, and had became extremely infatuated with John. The way his daughter died in his arms, and all he wanted to do now was to wait for the same storm that took his daughter from him to sweep him out to sea. He was waiting on the pier each night for a storm, to be swept out to sea, caught in a rip current, and then violently smashed up against the rocks of the pier like Caren, his daughter. John explained to Roberta that the sea is the real monster, it has sunken many ships and killed many men. The only way he could feel alive was to be close to her.
Roberta was serving dinner now. Jones, her little kitten, jumped up on the table to smell the hot plate of spaghetti that she had just put there. "No, Jones, this is for our guest," Roberta sighed. Roberta and John looked out the window from the living room; they could see a group of islanders on the pier, blasting off bottle rockets in the ocean. Some kids were at the end of the pier, where the two had been standing earlier.
They spent several weeks together, until, eventually, John disappeared, never to be seen by her again. A storm soon hit Nassau and John's body was discovered wedged between two rocks beside the pier by two fishermen.
Roberta left the Bahamas and went back to Megan and Stellina as a new woman; this time she had brought something back with her, Jones.
She, Megan, and Stellina all roomed together for the next four years. Her friends eventually got married. They still talk, but for them Roberta never married. She settled down in a nunnery to get closer to God, remembering "old man John" and their short time together.
