The Lighthouse Keeper - continued by Adrian

 

The waves were crashing into the pier and traveling twenty feet straight into the air before landing. All those waves, when combined with the wind, had created a coat of ice over everything in sight. The lighthouse, being heated from the inside, had a much lighter coating of ice than its surroundings. Rather than being able to see each Christmas light, the ice covering made the whole lighthouse a gigantic light. Add to that the twirling light on the top, the building sent a shimmering sheen across the water.

The lighthouse keeper didn’t normally spend a lot of time up with the light. It was bright and hard on the eyes in the glass encasement atop the lighthouse. He came up to the top on Christmas Eve because when he looked back over the town, he could clearly see all the lights lit up on the town's streets. It was a glorious picture that warmed his heart.

As he turned towards the stairs, he noticed a flash of light out on the water. He moved closer to the rail and focused his eyes on the spot he saw light. He pulled his binoculars closer as he stood there. He saw the light emerge behind a wave. It would be tough going out there tonight. With skill a boat could make it to the inner harbour where a calmer scene awaited. He watched as the light bobbed before pulling up his binoculars to catch a glimpse of what was going on. Slowly the stricken boat inched its way towards the gap between the two piers.

The Lighthouse keeper raced down the stairs and started putting on his equipment to protect him from the raging storm. He added the crampons to his boots, hoping they would give him a bit more traction on the ice.

He hurled himself out the door and worked his way down the pier as great waves of water covered him time and again. The wind worked to create an ice covering for his body. He worked his way over to where the boat had pulled up to the dock, grabbed a rope, and tied the boat to the dock.

“Hello," he called out.

A man in a bright red suit appeared from below deck. He looked a little green around the gills which may have been suitable for Christmas Eve but not so good otherwise.

“Hello," he called out, cautiously.

 

“Throw me your stern line and I’ll cleat ya down!” I bellowed above the roar of the wind and the waves. For some reason the water, usually much calmer at this point in the harbour, was in great turmoil this night. 'Wind must be coming  in straight off the  ocean,' I thought.

He turned aft and grasped the frozen rope between his raw hands and looked up, exasperation clouding his face.

“Can’t do it!” he shouted. “My hands are too numb, and the rope is like wire.”

I looked about and spotted a boat-hook hitched to a post halfway down the pier.

“Hang on! I’ll be right back!” I called down to him.

“Righty-o!” he replied, “I ain’t goin’ no place.”

Slipping and sliding I made my way down the pier. I was very cold now and I wondered how much more of this I could take without passing out. But somehow, I managed to grab the hook and staggered back to the sloop.

“Pass me the bitter end,” I called down, “Run it through the hawes hole, tie it off to your cleat and then put it on the hook.”

“I’ll try!” he replied.

I reached down with the pole while he managed to grab his line between two hands and somehow fed it through the hole. He tied a bowline knot stiffly into the line, hooked it onto the pole and despite the wild bucking of the boat I pulled the line back to the pier. Waiting for the boat to get as stable as possible, I looped the line around a cleat and made it fast. This brought the sloop to as close to the pier as I dared without crushing the hull.

“Throw some fenders over!” I commanded and in a moment two fenders appeared that were sufficient to ward off the heavy wood beams of the pier. The boat was still about two feet below the top of the pier however and I leaned forward and offered my hand.

“Wait until the boat is as high as possible and then take a jump! I’ll try to pull you up!”

He did as I asked and just as a wave pushed the boat up the pier I shouted “Now!”

He leapt and I grasped his ice-cold hand, and we fell together onto the pier, breathing heavily.

“Let’s get inside,” I shouted when I’d caught my breath, “before we end up frozen together out here until the spring. He gave a thin laugh.

"Merry Christmas," he managed to get out as together we made our way to the entrance of the lighthouse.