The long, long call.(Fictional Work)

Publication: Kindred Spirits

Publication Date: 22-DEC-02

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COPYRIGHT 2002 Anne of Green Gables Society

One long high note and one long low note

Candace West

The waves rushed toward the shore in one mighty surge, carrying along with them a cold, wet breeze that sent a chill right through the marrow of even the hardiest men. Rolling onto the shore, they glided up the beach, reaching and stretching until they had weakened and began sliding backwards. The sound, with its cadence and thunderings, was a sound familiar to the ears of Iris Stanton as day in and day out she would come to the shore to look and listen. But no answer ever came. She stood sharp and firm against the wind that whipped the strands of her graying black hair. Try as it might, it never freed those locks completely from the hard knot that bound them in place.

As she stared out into the horizon, her features didn't soften. They only became firmer. She wasn't soft or delicate like the flower for which she was named. Rather, she was the opposite. Yet, standing there--alone-on the beach, with her shoulders straight and her head held high, her strength did things for her that beauty never could.

She waited. She listened. Her heart, her very soul, was attuned to one thing--the one thing that everyone in Cavendish said she would never hear. The sound of the long, long call. Obstinate, downright obstinate: Abe Bartlett shook his bushy white head, did ye ever see such a stubborn woman in all your days?

If I did, I don't recall it, Lester McNiel looked down from where they stood in the lighthouse, She comes everyday and still no answers. The sea ain't too generous with her secrets.

Abe yanked his pipe out of his mouth and pointed it at the lone figure on the beach. She's the most stubborn woman in all of Cavendish--or the Island for that matter. For fifteen years come rain or shine, breeze or gale, she comes to see if her boy is comin 'home. And for fifteen...

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