page 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8 Velebit mountains, the southern wind off the Strait of Otranto when our hearts were sweating with fear, and a couple of nice things too, like that ad for Warsteiner or some other beer. But mostly darkness.       Darkness binds us, that’s for sure.       Last autumn was somehow totally nuts. First the sea bore in shoals of jelly-fish with huge violet wings. Then leeches emerged just off the Kornati islands. At about the same time, storks descended on Murter. And finally, Damir brought Maia sailing. The deal was we were going sailing all out, that’s what we’d said, and that meant there was only going to be the two of us, Damir and I, but no: Damir had to bring his ex-future girlfriend along.       "Oh give me a break," he said, "Maia will be no more trouble than your sleeping bag. She’s an okay girl."       And she was, but that is now beside the point. The wind too was okay, at least the first couple of days. We sailed down to Elafite, then towards Otranto, then for a night and a day we chased the west wind to take us back. At dawn we left Vis behind and sunrise found us with empty sails, on a still sea between Vis and Zirje. This was dead time. We sat there blinking in the sun, listening to the silence, each one lost in his own thoughts. Then Damir blew it.       "See that island over there?" he asked Maia, pointing at a dark stain between the sky and the sea. "On a cape not far from the harbour inlet, there’s a little chapel. In front of it is a jetty nobody uses because the sea is too shallow even for a punt. No one on the island knows exactly when the jetty was built, but everyone knows why."       I knew what was coming. Damir had told the story many times, adding or skipping something each time, so that even I, though a protagonist, wasn’t sure anymore exactly what had happened.       "So," Damir continued, "once upon a time, that was the only settlement on the island, a fishing port where little fishing boats and merchant ships took refuge from the storm. Besides straha, pa onda nekoliko lijepih stvari kao iz one reklame za Warsteiner ili neko slično pivo, ali nadasve mrak.       Mrak nas veže, to bez daljnjega.       Prošla jesen bila je nekako sva odvaljena. Najprije su se u moru pojavila jata meduza golemih ljubičastih klobuka. Onda su se na pučini iza Kornata pojavile pijavice. Nekako u isto vrijeme na Murter su počele slijetati rode. I konačno, Damir je na jedrenje poveo Maju. Dogovor je bio da idemo jedriti do dna, tako je bilo rečeno, a to znači da na brodu ima mjesta samo za dvojicu, Damira i mene, ali ne. Davor je poveo svoju buduću bivšu djevojku. "Daj ne pričaj", rekao mi je, "Maja neće smetati ništa više od tvoje vreće za spavanje, ona je stvarno OK cura".       I bila je OK, ali to više nije važno. Vjetar je također bio OK, barem prvih dana. Spustili smo se dolje do Elafi ta, pa prema Otrantu, onda smo dan i noć lovili vjetar da nas vrati na zapad, u zoru smo po krmi ostavili Vis, a sunce smo dočekali praznih jedara, u bonaci između Visa i Žirja. To je vrijeme čekanja. Sjedili smo tamo, svatko sa svojim mislima, žmirkali na suncu i slušali tišinu, a onda je Damir uprskao stvar.       "Na onom otoku tamo", obratio se Maji i pokazao tamnu mrlju između mora i neba, "na rtu nedaleko od ulaza u luku ima jedna kapelica. Ispred nje je mol uz koji nitko ne pristaje, jer je more isuviše plitko i za običnu pasaru. Nitko ok otočana ne zna pouzdano kad je mol izgrađen, ali svi znaju zašto je izgrađen".       Znao sam što slijedi. Damir je mnogo puta pričao tu priču, svaki put nešto dodajući i oduzimajući, tako da ni ja, iako sam bio sudionik, više nisam posve siguran što se tada dogodilo.       "Dakle", nastavio je Damir, "jednom davno, to je mjesto bilo jedino naselje na otoku, ribarska luka u page 1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8 Copyright © 2004 GobQ LLC. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited, and tra la la... . SITEMAP : HOME BACK ISSUES SUBSCRIBE GOBQ STORE WHO AM US GOB WORDS LINKS COPYRIGHT SHITE FELLOW TRAVELERS EMAIL US MAILING LIST SUBMIT WRITING