A Dilemma with the First Mate

The crew of the ship were lively as usual. The pale moonlight shown brighter without the clouds. There were no promise of storm from a sky as clear as the ocean. Yet the merriment and laughter of the crew were like a storm that endlessly crash as the rum rained on.

The man on the sky had just came up to his duty. He was happy. He sees himself part of the picture as well as have sight of the minute details. To him, everything has a meaning. He sees everything. He was happy.

He smiled as he peered on to his telescope. What might await them on horizon unseen, is what he thought.

But then a hand grabbed the edge of his little nest. Heavy breathing heard as a familiar face appeared. It was the first mate. He seemed to have wanted to climb the mast and to the nest. But failed to realize both his age as well the task to do so.

"Sir?" the man of the sky said.

"Hey!" the first mate said. "Would you be kind to help me? I should've carried those bottles with me instead of show off with the rest of the crew. Sometimes, I just get hooked up with being with everyone."

He laughed heavily. He was tired. But with a little help and an ounce more of his remaining vigor. The first mate successfully boarded the bird's nest. He sat in the middle, near the mast, as the man of the sky went back to his duty.

"You seem," the first mate tried to speak as he catch his breath. "To be doing fine."

"Are you sure you should be here, sir?" the man of the sky asked.

"How's the picture? I assume you can still it as clear as day?"

"Yes, sir. Your teachings as well the captain's guidance helped me a lot."

"That's great."

"Sir, don't tell me you climbed here just to take a rest?" the man of the sky said. "Or you just like the sky as I? If that's the case, you should've asked me in the first place. I could have easily thrown you a rope and helped you up here quicker and with less arduous."

"That's fine. I like the exercise of climbing here. Sort of like having it as a habit is easily for an old dog of the sea like me."

"Old dog? You mean, old man?"

"Hey, hey! That hurts a bit."

"Seems to me, calling yourself an old dog is worse than calling you an old man."

"Please, watch your mouth. I know I'm old but can you just stop reminding me about me being an old man," the first mate pleaded.

The man of the sky, still unable to grasp what the first mate was telling him, nodded.

"So, why are you here, sir?" the man of the sky asked.

"Aside from the picture, I do know you already know it but it seems you just haven't realized it but have you reflected upon it?"

"Reflected on the picture?"

"It seems, I'm right," the first mate chuckled. There are still things his crews are still innocent of. "You see the picture, and you know you're a part of it, right?"

"Yes, sir."

"But can you see yourself in it?"

"Yes, sir."

"What does the picture look like?"

"Everyone below are drinking while I up here doing my duty. Basking on the moonlight. Looking for sign, from the ocean and the sky."

"Is that all?"

"Well, you're there as well as the captain. Both you are giving either lectures or giving a toast to a great voyage or adventures we are having."

"What about the moon? What about the stars? What about the clouds?" the first mate said. "What about the waves? What about the water? What about the anchor?"

"Minute details, I know of them. They have their own value. I understand them but they trivial."

"You don't understand me, little bird," the voice of the first mate suddenly changed. He seemed both more mature and irritated. "What do those trivial things sees us?"

"We're the ship and crew that is in the middle of them, right?"

"You've not yet reflected on it, little bird. You were so engrossed in being with the picture that you've failed to see it only as a picture."

"But that's what you always say to me."

"Yes we are just a picture, but beyond that, what are we?"

"A ship and a crew in the middle of the ocean?"

"We're a family, little bird," the irritated voice of the first mate calmed. "You staying here should have known that more. But it seems you need to go else where than here for you to reflect on it. We're just not a picture, little bird. You should clearly see that."

"I know that."

"But you don't understand."

"I don't understand what you're telling me," the man of the sky was confused of what to reply. The first mate spoke in riddles and his words were unsure.

"I'm going to tell the captain to reassign you a different post. For a few days and nights. Just for you to see it differently," the first mate said.

"What? Why?"

"I want you to see it on a different perspective," the first mate said as he stood up. "Come, let us down. You've been up here for quite a long time and your moments below hasn't changed you. For now you're on patrol duty. I want you to see it differently. From a different point. You only see at the top and the top. And nothing else. Reflect on it.

"Reflect on why this picture isn't just a picture but a family that you're part in."

The two climbed down. The man of the sky still confused and shocked of what happened. The first mate might have drunk his senses.