Reboot

A man swam in. That’s right, swam. François noticed him lying on the beach while he was crab hunting and ran to help. When I got there fifteen minutes later, he was still passed out, completely exhausted. Apparently, as soon as he’d made it to the beach he had promptly fainted. He was wearing typical navy clothing; pretty torn up though. A soldier without a ship. He was sunburnt and rubbed raw from the seawater. When people swim long distances in the sea, they cover their bodies in grease to avoid the sandpaper effect of the salt. He didn’t have that obviously so his skin was almost gone in many places. We carried him to our makeshift hospital. It took four of us. And even then, it wasn’t easy. This was a massive man.

When he awoke, cleaned up and bandaged from head to toe, I happened to be sitting next to him. We were in Bob’s boat. Bob’s wife, Mable, took care of him and I checked in regularly. He seemed a bit lost at first because his room was so clean and proper like a real hospital room. Then he saw me sitting next to him.

“William Hawksworth,” he said with much effort.

“Robert Morgan,” I smiled as I stood up and grabbed his hand. I didn’t think he’d have the strength to lift it by himself. He shook my hand softly, gave me a small smile in lieu of thanks, and then fell back asleep.

When he woke up again, William stayed quiet. Someone came to get me.

“Hello William,” I said.

“Hello…Robert, is it?” he answered.

“Yes. I’m surprised you remember. You were exhausted.”

“Thank you for caring for me. I’m indebted to you.” He had an accent I couldn’t quite place at first.

“It wasn’t just me. And you got lucky I think. You, William, are a man with quite a story to tell. That was a first you know? Swimming in. I can only guess that you ran into some trouble?” I asked while leaning forward, elbows on my knees.

“Yes.”

I did my bartender eyebrow thing and waited.

He sighed. “I’d rather not address it just now if you don’t mind. I have some things I have to resolve first, ok?”

“Of course. No worries. How long did you swim? Must’ve been some distance.”

“Oh… fifteen kilometers. Maybe more I suppose.”

“Wow. That’s impressive.”

“Didn’t have much of a choice.”

“No. Guess not. How long did it take?”

“I don’t know. I think I sort of passed out part of the way. It becomes sort of mechanical you know?”

“Frankly, I can’t imagine. I’ll look forward to hearing all about it when you’re ready. Do you have everything you need?”

“Pen and paper please. Helps me to think if I can write things down. And thanks again Robert. Oh, and any chance of acquiring a cup of tea?” He looked up pleadingly. I finally decided that his accent said “British, but living in America for many years.”

“Ok.” And I got up to leave, but then I remembered: “How did you get that big bruise?”

“What big bruise?”

“On your left side, ribs..” I pointed to my own ribs.

He looked uncertain for a few seconds and then understood.

“Ah, um, yes, the shark.” Then he closed his eyes.

“A shark did that to you?”

“Yes.” He closed his eyes again, but reopened them after a couple of seconds, as if he remembered an important point. “A touch of milk if at all possible please.”

“Of course… but, your ribs? Come on… what happened?”

“Tiger shark, I think. Requiem species. First one I’ve ever.. seen.. quite pretty, actually.” He closed his eyes again and fell asleep without finishing his sentence. He made me smile. I watched him sleep for a minute. He breathed deeply. He didn’t snore, but his breathing sounded like it came from a deep cave. I wanted to ask more, but I’d get it out of him later. Like how he ended up in the water. There weren’t too many choices; either he was thrown overboard, his ship sank or he jumped. Each case was delicate, so no matter what, I was in for a regaling tale. Was he joking about the shark?

William was a big guy, and very robust two meters tall and all muscle, tight, lean. He had unusually big hands, a square jaw, a scar across the left side of his face. From the way he was dressed, he was obviously an officer in the navy. Which navy though was unclear. But that’s all we would get for now.

When he could stand, he initially stayed by himself, went off for walks at first, and then runs in the forest. After a week, he was at 80%, or so he said. He was cordial and polite, but stayed aloof. It looked as if he needed to be alone, so we let him be. He helped out, liked to build for example, but didn’t talk much. The kids took to him right away though. They followed him around and he let them. Something about big guys with deep friendly voices I suppose.