THE BRAVEST BOAT
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whose branches that shielded them from the wind could be made out,
from time to time, suggesting a fragment of music manuscript, a bit
of the suspension bridge itself:
"It was a day
just
like this that I set the boat adrift. It was
twenty-nine years ago in June."
"It was twenty-nine years ago in June, darling. And it was
June twenty-seventh."
"It was five years before you were born, Astrid, and I was ten
years old and I came down to the bay with my father."
"It was five years before I was born, you were ten years old,
and you came down to the wharf with your father. Your father and
grandfather had made you the boat between them and it was a fine
one, ten inches long, smoothly varnished and made of wood from
your model airplane box, with a new strong white sail."
"Yes, it was balsa wood from my model airplane box and my
father sat beside me, telling me what to write for a note to put in it."
"Your father sat beside you, telling you what to write," Astrid
laughed, "and you wrote:
"Hello.
"My name is Sigurd Storlesen. I am ten years old. Right now
I am sitting on the wharf at Feamought Bay, Clallam County, State
of Washington, U.S.A., 5 miles south of Cape Flattery on the Pacific
side, and my Dad is beside me telling me what to write. Today is
June 27, 1922. My Dad is a forest warden in the Olympic National
Forest but my Grandad is the lighthouse keeper at Cape Flattery.
Beside me is a small shiny canoe which you now hold in your hand.
It is a windy day and my Dad said to put the canoe in the water
when I have put this in and glued down the lid which is a piece of
balsa wood from my model airplane box.
"Well must close this note now, but first I will ask you to tell
the Seattle Star that you have found it, because I am going to start
reading the paper from today and looking for a piece that says, who
when and where it was found.
"Thanks. Sigurd Storlesen."
"Yes, then my father and I put the note inside, and we glued
down the lid and sealed it and put the boat on the water."
"You put the boat on the water and the tide was going out
