Jet Boats
Neither poem, nor story, a list, and a life, and a sequel to an earlier piece called “Bumper Boats” — linked at the end.
(aka Bumper Boats 2: Grown Ups)
Splashing around in bumper boats was fun when we were kids. And the way you drove right at the guy when he was telling us to come in, made me know I had to join you. And ram his other side. And oh how we laughed. Nearly as much as the time when we went to the furniture store. I couldn’t get the the footstool back in. I stood by the armchair the whole time the minimum wage worker was talking to mum and dad. You got the giggles and then I did too. We walked away. The chair sprung back out into its lounger status. It was like something from a cartoon. Our folks reckon we’d never laughed so much. I reckon it was even funnier how we all walked out without buying a thing. Shortly after that, I moved away to university. You were just a kid getting into high school. The focus for me became hard work. The bonuses started getting sprung on me like that chair in the shop. I couldn’t stop. It seemed the harder I worked the luckier I go. Traveled the world. Gained lots of money. Experience too. And you with your words and your music and movies! That’s all good fun for kids but is it really ever work? Does it ever really work? Does it really ever mean anything at the end of the day? When all of those things are over, there’s credits, or clues that it’s time to shut the door, to close the book, to take a look at something else. But work is always there. It offers a chance for you to further prove yourself within it. Something interesting though, to me anyway, I recently got my boat license. It’s supposed to take a couple of weekends, but time is money and money saves time. I chucked the guy a fifty for his family and that’s how I got mine a bit quicker. Now I’m a captain of the weekends on the sea. Bought a boat of my own, because that’s what grown-ups do. You should try it for once in your life. When you’re out on the water the world owes you nothing. That’s how I like to think of it because I worked hard for all I have. Working hard is what I’ll always do. Maybe meet me out on the ocean sometime when you’ve got a boat of your own. We’ll see who the real man is now. Of course I’m joking. Having a laugh. I’d drive right towards you and I reckon I’d win. My boat will be bigger. My boat will be stronger. A reflection of how hard I’ve worked. You should really try that sometime too. Because that’s also just what grown ups do. They make it out of the Bumper Boat pond. Out on their own. Working hard. Getting paid. Sure, teamwork splits the costs, but it does the same thing to the profits too. That’s just some big-brother advice. Because obviously I’m always watching you.
