Abandoned

I rendered this image some time ago and re-found it on a hard drive that I had converted into a portable drive, whose laptop home had gone to that great p.c. showroom in the sky.  That was years ago, way back before I moved up to Mac.

I wrote this little story to accompany the image.

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Walking along a strange beach in the late evening, I came across an abandoned seaside house.  It was very weathered and in severe disrepair.  As I went closer to it, I happened to see an old man walking along the side of it.  I asked him about the house and noticed that he looked concerned.

"Your not going into that house are you?" He asked.

"I wasn't thinking about it seeing that it seems very dangerous."  I replied.

The old man looked relieved.

His reaction sparked my interest into investigating the old house.

"Does the house belong to somebody?"  I asked, "Personally, I don't understand why such a neglected building would be allowed to remain standing being in such a poor condition."

"Well, the building belongs to Captain Orlande." He said, "So nobody ever goes in there, much less even think of knocking it down."

I stared at the house.  What a strange place to build it.  It was right on the beach and so close to the sea.

"Captain Orlande?  Do you mean that someone actually lives in that?"  I asked.

"No, Captain Orlande was lost at sea over eighty years ago."  He replied.

Now I was confused.

"He's been gone for over eighty years?  Well, I suppose that he was a highly respected man of the community then," I said.

"Actually, no.  He was despised.  You see, Captain Orlande turned traitor during the war and joined the enemy for a few bags of gold and a commission in their navy.  After that, his ship saw battle at sea.  As far as the townsfolk of that time knew, Captain Orlande's ship didn't survive."  He said.

"Well if that's the case, then I would have thought that a traitor's house would have been burned down long ago."  I replied.

"Are you kidding?"  He said suddenly, "If we did that, Captain Orlande wouldn't be very happy with that.  He comes back to it every night at about this time."

I looked at the old man as if he was out of his mind.

"What do you mean?  He's been gone for so long."  I said.

Just then, we heard a bell in the distance and heard a commotion in the distance.

We turned in the direction of the sea and there we saw a turn of the century naval ship.  I thought that since this was a pretty popular seaside community, the antique ship must have been a restored vessel for a re-enactment of some sort.

Just then, a small lantern-lit boat with a single man came closer to shore.

We watched as the man, dressed in a turn of the century naval uniform, came out of the boat and pulled it onto the shore.  He took the lantern, turned and walked closer to us.

I wanted to say hello, but the man walked right past us and up the stairs of the dilapidated seaside house.  We watched as he went in and closed the door behind him.  We watched the light of the lantern move around through the breaks in the walls of the house, and then slowly went out.

"That was Captain Orlande."  The old man said.

I stood there confused, as the old man excused himself and walked off.

I then turned to face the sea.

"Of course, the ship's gone and the small boat as well."  I said to myself as my expectations came true.

I turned back towards the house and it was gone as well.

"O.k. now, it's time for me to go."

As I walked off, I had a thought...

"This could make for a blog post.  I hope that I don't forget about it before I get back home in a few days."