Drabble: Of the Sea

Of the Sea

Mama was a wrecker’s daughter. She grew up atop a treacherous cliff, just down the coast from the lighthouse, and on dark, stormy nights, they’d light a great fire atop the cliff. If they were lucky, some lost captain or other would run up on the rocks over night, and the next morning the men of the little town would cut the throats of the surviving crew, as the older children ran among the timbers, searching for cargo and fittings that could be sold down-coast.

My father? He was a sailor. The rest of the story rather tells itself.