Tulip's Last Crossing

13 Days of Sam Hain - Writing Challenge

Day 4 - The Ferryman

Tulip latched the chain across the stern. He stood for a moment looking back at the lights he was leaving behind. Once again he considered his fascination regarding where they had been over where they were going. Behind him was always the Light. In front of him, always the Darkness. Sometimes he puzzled over this.

His purse full of toll coins jingled as he made his way to the bow to be ready when they reached the other side. No matter the size of the cowd on the ferry, the passengers never stopped moving. They wandered aimlessly on the deck with the same panicked look on their faces. Tulip ignored them. 

Tulip had been a Ferryman on this river forever. His ferry's point of departure and destination were always the same.  Yet, he always looked back instead of forward. After all, the ferry was self guided by a cable. All Tulip was responsible for was collecting the tolls, hooking and unhooking the chains so the traffic of souls could step aboard and when the passage had completed, unchain the bow so they could step off. That was it. No more effort on his part was needed. 

Tulip could not remember a time when he was not a ferryman. But then he had no notion of the passing of time. In the Underworld, Time did not exist; only Eternity existed. Tulip was part of a Universal Cycle, a cog in the Existence Machine. While his efforts were important, they were taken for granted. No one ever acknowledged his contributions. He was simply a gate keeper who collected tolls. Or so he thought.

After untold millenniums working the Ferry, Tulip finally strayed from his usual routine. After he had latched the chain on the stern of the ferry, instead of working his way forward to the bow, Tulip stepped off the ferry and disappeared into the crowd of waiting passengers.

Why he did this he was not sure. What he expected the result would be, he had not a clue. All he thought was he was tired of the endless rituals he had been trapped in all those centuries. He wanted to know where the Light led. Where were all these dead people before they lined up for the crossing.

Tulip never looked back as his steps to the Light picked up their pace.

With no one to latch the chain and unlatch the chain on the ferry, the flow of souls ground to a halt. That was the day Humanity discovered Immortality. 

That opened up a whole new can of worms.

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I have not been writing stories as much as I did a decade ago. I do miss writing them. I guess there is no good excuse as to why not. I just stopped. Didn't plan it, didn't think about it. The story telling just faded away with only an occasional effort to fool myself I still was a story teller. 

Anyway, thanks to Sammi for offering this chance to jump back in.

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I discoverd a group of buskers from Great Brtain 7 or 8 years ago. They went by the name "The Big Push". They performed mostly covers on the streets of Liverpool and surrounding towns. The became very popular. Ren was the heart of the group. He is a great musical talent, but he also has suffered for years from physical and mental issues that have often left him in tough shape. 

If I have the story right, The Big Push fell apart when Ren was hospitalized a decade or so ago. When he came back, he was just Ren, a solo artist who often collaborated with his old bandmates. This tune is Ren's story as told by Ren. He pulls no punches. His honesty is compelling. Every time I hear this tune, my respect for him grows. Here is "Hi Ren", by Ren.