What is an amazing weekend without a carefully planned outing, whether it's an official function, a wedding party, a picnic with friends and colleagues, a birthday party, or the unofficial party crashing.
This Thursday is payday, and I'm going to treat myself to a well deserved outing this weekend, it's been a very hectic week and I am convinced that I deserve it.
So, what's it gonna be, let's see... A trip to the zoo, nah, picnic in the park all by myself, that won't be much fun, a trip to the beach perhaps.
I wanted to go somewhere I've never been, and the beach fits perfectly. I mean I've never been to a beach, but I like to think that's not because when we were younger my uncle lost my six year old cousin to some merciless waves.
Not that I've completely gotten over the shock it gave me, and at the same time not that I have a phobia for water, what I actually fear is the big white wall of water, that comes racing to the shore to snatch a six year old child that stared too long and lose his grip on his father's fingers. Hence, it had to be a beach without the scary waves. But a beach without waves wouldn't be a beach, so we'll manage little waves.
Saturday came faster than I expected, not that I'm not happy about that, but.... Well, by 11:30 AM I was packed up and ready to leave. It was about four hours drive to the state beach resort, but with the heavy traffic it took me six hours, I booked in for a night to expire noon the next day.
After settling in, I changed into shorts and a beach shirt then made my way to the beach behind the resort, it wasn't a public beach so there weren't a lot of people at the beach, I picked a nice spot and sat down quietly to watch the sunset.
After about an hour of meditating and watching and the sun set, I noticed something glistening at the foot of some rocks in the distance, it looked like a bottle, I ignored it for some time but curiosity got the better if me and I found myself walking towards those rocks.
As I got closer to the bottle I noticed that it kind of had a letter or sheet of paper in it, I picked it up and on closer inspection, it truly had a letter in it. I tried to pull out the cork, but had little luck pulling it out.
I really wanted to know what the message in the bottle was, so I wrapped the bottle in a towel and carefully smashed it against a rock, after three or four tries It finally broke, I unwrapped the towel and picked out the message admist broken bottles.
Trashing the towel with the broken bottles in the bin, I put the letter in my pocket and headed to my room.
When I got to my room I showered, changed into a tee-shirt and khaki pants, then went to the restaurant to get dinner. I ordered a plate of jollof rice and chicken, with a bottle of Chapman to step it down. I ate eagerly, so I could get back to my room and devour the content of the letter.
I finished my meal, settled the bills and made my way back to my room. I retrieved the letter from the left pocket of my shorts, switched of the lights and settled by the bedside lamp to create the perfect environment to read my 'message in the bottle.'
I opened the letter with utmost expectations, and carefully read the message it contained on both pages.
"15th April, 1912.
Boiler room, RMS titanic.
My name is Edward Jones, I am one of the leading firemen in the boiler room, I am writing this by the light of the furnace, I write this with shaky hands and a heavy heart.
Our ship collided with an iceberg yesterday and it has gotten so bad, we won't survive. The captain has ordered that the women and children be let on the lifeboats, and we will hold this boiler room for as long as we can. There are over a hundred stockers in here, and together we will give our all, and save as many as we can.
Whoever finds this should tell the world that we did not give up, they should send the love of all the firemen and trimmers abroad the RMS Titanic to their loved ones.
And personally, to my love Diane, the mother of my two young boys, the moment I left home to work on the Titanic, we both knew the risk involved, I implore you not to be heartbroken, stay strong for our boys, and remind them that I would forever love them. Be not disheartened, I would always be your guardian angel, find peace and live on.
We live to die, and we die to live. The firemen send their love."
Tears were streaming down my eyes by the time I finished reading the letter, what were the chances that I just found a message in bottle from over a hundred years ago, and to imagine the mental fortitude it took to give your life for others, and write a letter describing your plight knowing fully well you were going to die, i was overwhelmed.
I was glad I made a video while going to pick the bottle, and that I took pictures of the letter in the bottle. I went to the beach, to the bin and rummaged through it till I found the towel containing the pieces of the broken bottle. I was lucky the garbage truck had not come for the garbage.
Tomorrow morning I'll go to the office of the press officer at the police station and report my findings to him, even though none of the people the letter was intended for are still alive, but the world will remember them.
This I recon, is my best outing ever.
