Half way around the world - in a bottle

At the Mediterranean
I imagine myself
with a bottle in hand
thinking of my grandsons
and a sense of wonder
realizing they have just been
at Jervis Bay
on the East coast of Australia
for a couple of days
I imagine they had tossed me
this vial with a little note
saying how they enjoyed
their dolphin watching
or other things they have done.

I visualize their jubilation
when they finally see their scribbles'
mail in the green canister
slowly getting drawn out by the waves
asking their mum ebulliently,
"Do you think Farmor will get it?"
"I am positive" she assures them.
It has a long way to go,
says Alexander, the older of the two
"Bottle reach Farmor," cries Torben,
only two and a half, redhead.

Following the trail of the message
in the green vessel
will take some grand imagination
plus going back to seaward lesson 101
sailings and tips for when
to send your bottle around the globe.

So let me begin the travel of the
bottle with a note from Xander and Torben
I cannot help checking the trade winds
and those can cause a problem
reaching the ultimate goal
of getting a very desired post
from two great guys down-under.

As an Easterly wind of the Pacific
grabs the bottle high on the foaming sea
it bubbles, it wobbles
it twists, it turns, it dabbles
up an down meeting whales
schools of fish of all kinds
on its maiden, but dreamy voyage.

It, however, first lands close by
Jervis Bay - on Austinmer Beach
and Farmor takes a deep breath
not having expected that teeny
speck of an umpteenth piece of ash
from a beloved friend whose dust
was spread there but just before
it hits the sandy lonely beach
the bottle turns around and
out towards the ocean it sails.

An honor bound bottle of a past
vintage red glorious dark and lush
the bottom carries a few drops
mingled now with dead slag
goes fast out being drawn to Fiji.
Somewhere on one of the islands
the bottle smoothly make land fast
on a beautiful beach easily one morning.
A little boy finds it and brings
it home to his family living close by.
They open the bottle - but realize
that it is not destined for them.
To entice the boy his mother,
who is a local seamstress,
tells her son "we are going to put
a small piece of tapa cloth and
send it along". She breaks off a tiny bit,
corks the bottle again, takes her son
by the hand, together they walk.
At the smooth lagune she urges
her son, "Throw it and wish it luck".

The green ship trips and twists
over and under the waves for days
and one night makes land fast on Vava'u
a beach in the Tongan archipelago.
The next morning an old man finds
the bottle and opens it -
He sees the message to Farmor from
her two wonderful boys in Aussie
so he smiles, and looks with farseeing eyes
out on the ocean. He takes the receptacle
home to his little house, adjacent.
He wonders what he can put in to show
where it has landed on its half way
around the world trip - still far off.
Suddenly he smiles. Leaving the house
to find the post office in the little hamlet.
The all-trading store has everything
you could need for beach holiday
such as foods, tins, toilet paper
anything, as well as stamps.
Since the old man does not want to spend
a lot of money, he buys the cheapest stamp
of them all,and some kawa for his siesta.
He hurries home, places the stamp in the vial
and strolls leisurely down to the sea.
The sun is now high and it is fairly breezy
so he tosses the flask - and waving at it.
Two young kids look at him - with contempt
but he just laughs them off -
"haven't you ever dreamt of something?"
he almost dances away, whereas they just
shrug their shoulders continuing doing nothing.

Days later the bottle finds Upolu
and it almost smashed against some rocks
however, it managed to land somewhere
where it could possibly be found.
A little girl surprised at seeing
the receptacle and curiously uncorks it.
Her hands shakes a bit - excited.
Alas, she cannot read it -
She wonders and thinks it over.
The next day she brings the bottle
secretly to school St Mary's
in Apia where she lives.
She shyly approaches her teacher
saying, I have found this -
but I cannot read it - can you help me?
The teacher looks at the message
and starts reading it out loud
translating it into Samoan,
Dear Farmor, We hope this
will reach you in France, somehow.
Your grandsons Xander and T0orben
From Australia and then there
is the address of the person.
How did you find it?
I saw it near the beach.
Well, then I think we should
put it back in the Ocean
after school tomorrow
and we are going to place
one Cocoa bean and your name
and our location on it
just like the others have done.
The next day the whole class goes
on an outing to throw out
the wonder vessel on its grand voyage.
All the kids and their teacher
waves as it wobbly disappears.

The bottle loaded with letters
stamp, tapa and a cocoa bean
continues its seafaring journey
half away around the world
the it decides it wants to hit
the Easter Island or another name
Rapa nui or the end of the world.
At a beach again a kid found
the vial and grabbed it eagerly
too rapidly ... so the items
gathered carefully by its benefactors
flew out on the sand...
the child screamed and yelled
and within minutes his friends
had gathered the tiny specks
placing them eagerly into the bottle.
Holding the bottle the older one
said, we must do the same.
We should draw a picture with
our island's mo'ais.
It has to be small, said another
so who is best at drawing?
Deciding who should depict
the representative was elected
they all knew that O'Kohia
drew the best, so she without
further ado designed a
figure like the ancient ones.
Everybody looked in awe
of her abilities to sketch.
When done, the oldest
took the drawing placed it
in the bottle of renown
and asked the finder
to have the honor and throw
it back on its long journey.
It bobbed and waved at the kids
as it took of from Heyerdahls dream.

It was bobbing, twirling
on it maiden voyage and suddenly
a fair amount of time passed
until it hit a coral reef
and got stuck - oh no
what would happen to
the message from Torben and Xander
to Farmor half around the world?

Luckily there are people who dive
in Floreana, not many but just enough
to have one of them find the bottle.
Where is Floreana or Charles Island
visited once by Charles Darwin
and his illustrious boat The Beagle?
At Post Office Bay the barrel
serves as a mean to send cards
all over the world without postage.
So the diver, a Dutch. with a sense
of history found a small piece of shell
from a tortoise - wrote on it Galapagos
and recorked the bottle, took it
to the barrel and placed it there
so somebody would perhaps take it
with them forwarding it to the addressee.

Half a year went by - slowly.
Xander and Torben were very disappointed
because they knew that Farmor had not
gotten the bottle - where was it?

A passenger on board a fancy vessel
invited by his millionaire friend
visited Galapagos looked through
the post and stopped, because he
once as a little boy had sent
a message in a bottle - it never arrived.
Fulfilling the childhood dream
he took the bottle and decided
to take it along - for his ride.
He knew that his friend was heading.

The gorgeous boat finally sails off
and the passenger kept the bottle
in his luxurious oak lined cabin.
A month went by they had now gone
through the Panama Canal and were
heading to St Thomas one of the Virgin Islands.

St Thomas, old Danish possessions
of slave island and and sugar cane history
not a proud time for anyone
large slave auctions were held here
when the traders came from the African continent.
In the middle of 19th century
the sugar trade went down and
slavery was abolished.
What remains in Charlotte Amalie is
the pirate Blackbeard's Castle
and one of the oldest synagogue
in the American hemisphere.

The kind man who taken care of the green
innocent vessel from Xander and Torben
in Australia was now debating
with himself whether or not
to throw it out in the sea again
or simply send it via mail to Farmor
in the South of France.

As the was visiting Charlotte Amalie
he saw a perfect little tin figurine
of Edward Teach, and he decided to buy it.
Then he thought again. Two kids
two figurines - and another tin figure
went in his shopping basket.
He had a niece in Daytona Beach, Florida
and he brought her a pirate doll.

The unknown benefactor decided
that the odds were too slim for
the bottle to reach its intended goal
without a little generous help
so he brought a box to wrap it in
opening the cork and placing the
two tin figures in the green bottle.

It now contained the note from two
Australian boys from Melbourne
a speck of ash from Jervis Bay,
from Fijii a tapa cloth piece
a tiny stamp from Tonga
a Samoan cocoa bean with an intense smell
Easter Island represented by a drawing
a shell of tortoise from Galapagos
and two West Indian tin figures
probably made in China representing
adventures waiting for anyone to grab.

The man wrapped the bottle carefully
and placed safely in a box explaining
how he had found the receptacle.
Took it to the UPS store in Charlotte Amalie
and mailed it to Farmor in France.

One day about a year after
Xander and Torben send their message in the bottle
to their Farmor - she received
a package from US Virgin Islands.
She was puzzled, knowing nobody in that spot
but her name was on it - so....

big was her surprise when she opened
the package and found a bottle
carefully wrapped and a letter
from an unknown person ...

Dear Farmor,
I found this bottle in Floreana,
Charles Darwin Island
and I sent a bottle once
when I was a little boy.
I could not understand why
my intended recipient did not
answer back, so I am fulfilling
a boy's dream of receiving
the meesage in the bottle.
Hope this will again reach
Xander and Torben in Melbourne.
Signed a boy who hopes other kids
will fulfill their dreams.

Farmor started to cry for joy
and for once she called Aussie
even though it was late at night
in Melbourne and asked to
speak to her two grandson's.
When she saw them on Skype
she waved the vial and said -
The bottle has safely arrived
and when I come to visit you
at Christmas we shall open it.