SHORT STORIES SPECIAL

Lindsay feels adrift after a final farewell to her husband, but life’s current takes her somewhere new in this story by Josie Lloyd

PHOTOS: CATHERINE LLOYD. GETTY IMAGES

It’s that business end of the afternoon when the Mediterranean sun is at its most ferocious. The sensible locals are fast asleep in darkened apartments; only the tourists are burning on the beachesIn the distance, a plane drags an unreadable message above the bay of Alcúdia as Lindsay moves swiftly around the deck of Splashing Around, one of the smaller sailing boats at the end of the pontoon where the sun makes rainbows in the oily water.

“Right,” she says matter-of-factly, but her heart is pounding. Sailing used to be a practised ballet – each of her family with their own tasks, but like everything else, it’s much harder alone. She holds her breath as she reverses out, terrified that she’ll have a bump.

But she can’t put it off any longer. José, one of the deck hands she’s hired for a few hours, will be here to wash down the boat ready for the agent to do the handover. And then Splashing Around will no longer be hers.The new owners will probably rename it.

This moment has loomed so large in her thoughts, but now she glimpses the other side of it. The prospect of returning to her empty life where she drifts around like a ghost in a darkened theatre set makes her chest tighten with dread.

She takes a deep breath, but the tear s arrive so violently, they threaten to drown her. ‘I don’t want this,’ she shouts at the sea