26 June 20XX +1
My Dear Lucilius:
A note before I go to sleep.
We kept the watch last night, Ox and Blazer Man and I. We crept down the stream bed and touched out Team Two, who crawled their back towards camp for whatever peace can be found right now.
The moon that watched us last night watched us again as we settled into our positions.
This being far after my “normal” bedtime, I did not know what to expect from myself: Would I fall asleep? Would I be wired from anxiety and fear? Would anything actually happen?
All of those things – and none of those things – happened.
Being out on night watch is not far removed from fishing in the sense that one is there observing the world and waiting for something – a particular thing – to happen. Occasionally the grass whispered around us – likely deer out at night. The sound of the river starting to run from the lake was more audible, as if the darkness had somehow magnified the sound. The moon gave just enough light as it sank to outline the town of McAdams, dark shapes from which no light escaped at all.
We were silent, we three. Every period or so – maybe an hour? I did not look at a watch – we would shift down the line, both to change our perspective and to get us to move. This general shift downstream eventually brought me to the closest position to road.
It was nerve-wracking, Lucilius – this was the closest I had ever been to any sort of potential violence and here I was, as close I could be to an actual battle site. And not a “this happened in the past” place, but one potentially of the future. One in which I might be a participant.
I write that – for all of my keyed up, nothing happened. Literally. Nothing moved down the road at night. No night troop stormed our position. I moved back to my position at the top of the line without incident.
Twice more over the time I took my position there, starting with the same amount of alertness and ending with the same sense of almost let down. Even in the moon absent the darkness, there was nothing.
One good note about being older, Lucilius: those hours of randomly waking up at night and not being able to go back to sleep finally paid off.
As the suggestion of dawn hinted around the base of the hills, Team One came down and touched us our in turn. We made our way back upstream for a quick meal and for Ox and Blazer Man, to bed. I will follow in just a moment.
The silence and anticipation remain unnerving.
Your Obedient Servant, Seneca
Yah, the older I get the more elusive an uninterrupted night's sleep becomes. Good to read that no one talked and that the night passed quietly TB.
ReplyDeleteNylon12 - Hopefully everyone there is old enough to follow instructions about no talking. My sense is that it is an older crowd that, no matter their other failings, can follow directions.
DeleteThe failure of a complete night' sleep is something I hear and read a lot about. And experience. Last night I woke up at 0400 and made myself lay there until I drift off again because I know I needed the rest.
On stand in the dark does perk up our senses. Especially hearing. Daytime noise, birds can signal intruders with alarm song. At night, when insect noise quiets down,, something nearby is afoot. Maybe its vibration felt, maybe sound or movement which causes this.
ReplyDeleteI have had the same experience Anon. One of the reasons I enjoy the night more than the day.
DeleteSorry, I'm a compulsive editor: Should that be "One good NOTE about being older, Lucilius: those hours of randomly waking up AT night ..."?
ReplyDeleteEh, right you are Warren! Fixed.
DeleteThank you and compulsive editing is always welcome. My error in writing always seems to be I write words in my head while not writing them out.
Another well written chapter. And why, I think, written stories have a certain edge over movies. Movie makers seem to think there must be constant action (possible an influence from video games?) to keep peoples' attention. (Except that it often results in something formulaic and boring). Reading your chapter, on the other hand, gives a lovely realism to the situation and helps build suspense. I like that.
ReplyDeleteLeigh, it is an interesting question. There are far more book to movie adaptations than there are movie to book adaptations. I suspect that is due to the fact that one has far more "freedom of action" (as it were) in a book: one can get into motivations and thoughts and levels of detail that one simply cannot approach in a movie. A movie, once done, exists as it is and any book adaptation is at best a retelling of the visual with some level of character development but not much: the characters are already set as is the outcome and those boundaries limit the author. That is why, I suppose, adaptations of movies to books always feel flat to me.
DeleteThe movie industry changed a great deal in the mid-90's, I suspect fueled by things like The Matrix which redefined how action is portrayed - and to your point, the modern audience is often one soaked in video games and thus may expect it.
I am fortunate that I have the time and ability to write as I need to for this. I am not even sure an editor would accept was is becoming six to ten entries on the period of a week.