The itty-bitty lifeboat set out from its mothership on March the 4th.

Unannounced to its passengers, the ship had begun sinking 21 days prior due to a hole in the main hull, which was unfortunately situated directly in the lettering of its name. Few passerby had attempted to radio into the ship to alert her of the hole that was slowly sinking her. Those that had done so found no luck, as the captain was awaiting radio calls by one name, but the passerby could not recognize that very name on the hull due to the hole.

So the ship pounded on through the stormy waters between Yester and Temor, unaware of its own peril, and unrecognizable in its true identity.

However, there happened to be one passenger aboard the ship that was more aware of ship proceedings than those around him. His name was Oneiro. Oneiro spent most of his days admiring the horizon, wondering what lay beyond it and when they would ever reach their destination. Recently, he had begun noticing the constant discomfort beneath his toes when he took off the mandatory deck shoes, and so he began to investigate what could be causing this annoyance beginning on the 18thday of the leak. 

“First of all, why must I wear these shoes? And secondly, why does no one else seem to notice that there is a problem here?” He asked everyone, but no one seemed to understand what he was asking. It was as if he was speaking a foreign language, really.                                                                                             

Some would answer, “That’s just the way things are!” Then others would just stare in misunderstanding.

But then one day as Oneiro sat contemplating the dilemma, he caught sight of something below. It was a small boat and in it sat a beautiful woman, just his age.

“Hey! How’s the ride down there?”

“It’s tremendous. I can take my shoes off and the wood feels great. You should come try it.”

So he climbed aboard the itty-bitty lifeboat on March 4th.

“Yes you know I’ve been asking everyone why we can’t take our shoes off, but no one seems to care.”

Chuckling, the girl replied, “Yeah, sometimes it’s like people just don’t look around to notice that things are a bit off. I mean after all, look at the hull.”

Now for the first time Oneiro looked at the mothership from outside and noticed just how vulnerable it truly was. “I can hardly recognize it. Its name is completely unreadable.”

Looking at the girl, he noticed that she had the same discontented look on her face that he had seen in the mirror countless times before. Catching her eyes, he quickly darted his out to sea.

Recognizing the slightly awkward exchange, the girl softly let forth, “I’m Evnoia. It’s quite nice to meet you.”

“Oneiro. It’s nice to finally meet someone who thinks my way,” he replied extending his hand briefly before again moving his eyes to the ocean.

“Do you want to go there?” she beckoned him.

“Well not exactly. I don’t think I want to, but I surely don’t want to stay on board that,” he thought aloud pointing at the hull, “The mothership is sinking.”

“Why shouldn’t we take this boat and go out there, then?” she wondered with a soothing and curious tone.

“Look at it!” The answer seemed obvious to Oneiro. “There’s no telling what’s out there. Sharks, rogue waves, hell there could be sea monsters, and even worse yet –

“No navigation,” she interrupted.

“Yes, no navigation. Where would we go? What would we do? How would we find our way home?”

“Where would we go? I don’t know, where the waves take us. What would we do? I guess we would have no choice but to just keep paddling. And home, well, where is home?”

Oneiro contemplated this for a while and realized he had no right idea where they were on the ocean. Yes somewhere between Yester and Temor, but the coordinates? He had no clue. The boat had been moving on so resolutely that even he had not thought to plot its course.

“The way I see it you have no choice, Oneiro. We have to let the boat down into the water and see what comes of it.”

“But I’m afraid of the ocean.”

“I understand, but let’s lower down and check the water out. You may taste the salt and like it,” she said winking and rolling out the coil.

And so in just two minutes, Evnoia had convinced Oneiro to leave behind the nameless ship and try the water. She was bold and fearless, yet he was terrified and completely uncertain. He had never been close to the open ocean, at least not really. Yes, he had been on this ship for a long haul, but he had never actually experienced the waves, the wind, the power that the ocean could have. He had, as Evnoia put it, never tasted the salt.

But here they were setting out upon a vast ocean as the itty-bitty lifeboat and the mothership mutually parted ways. Aboard one was all Oneiro had ever known. Aboard the other was this mysterious woman, two paddles, some fishing line, and a water filter. And that’s the one he found himself on.

I can assure you that when that tiny boat hit that giant ocean Oneiro had never felt such fear, such discomfort, or such uncertainty. But he had also never felt such hope, such freedom, and such excitement. And so for the first time in his life, Oneiro had left behind the comfortable halls of his ship and ventured out to what he originally hoped to see – long ago before this journey ever began – the ocean.

Since they left the mothership that day, the whereabouts of Oneiro and Evnoia are unknown. Certainly even they have no idea where they are going. But if you are out in your own boat sometime between Yester and Temor be on the lookout for them. They will be in an itty-bitty lifeboat paddling wherever the waves take them, searching for their home.