22. on the boat

The boat is packed with people.   This is undoubtedly due to the rain.   Many of the people are leaving because of there not being anything to do on the island in the rain.   It's actually the covered portion of the boat that's packed with people.   This is also due to the rain. People don't want to get wet.   George couldn't get a seat.   He's standing.   He's in the center of the boat.   The suitcase is between his legs.   There are bars overhead.   There are life vests stacked on top of the bars.   George is holding on to one of the bars.   The sea is choppy.   George therefore has to hold onto the bar pretty strongly.   This is especially so when the boat lurches vertically or horizontally.   George looks at his hand.   It's white.   George's writs is broad.   It's also wide.   Because of the pressure the hand is distorted.   The hand at times doesn't look to George like a hand.   I looks then to him like the base of a tree.   The tree seems big.   It seems strong.   George seems to be growing into the bar through his hand.   He's pleased by this.   He's pleased at his hand looking so organic and strong.   Five of the people next to him are friends of each other.   They're middle-aged.   They seem Jewish.   Three of them are men.   Two are women.   Two of the men seem married to the women.   The people talk.   The man seeming unmarried talks the most.   He seems to have gotten divorced not very long ago.   The time could be between a year and three years.   The man seems not to have seen the people since his divorce.   He seems to have just come across them.   He tells them how well he's doing since getting divorced.   He speaks of his professional success.   He does this without mentioning the nature of his profession.   He also says he's playing tennis.   He says he's better now than ever.   He says he's jogging. He says he jogs about two miles a day.   He says he couldn't run a quarter of a mile at the beginning. He says he stuck with it.   He says he'd jog a quarter mile.   He says he'd then walk a quarter mile.   He says he'd then jog again.   He says he was thus able to progress to running the full two miles. The other four people express admiration for the man.   They do this usually through asking questions.   The questions imply admiration.   George is listening to the people for a while.   With time he gets bored with the conversation.   His attention wanders off. The man has a booming voice.   The engine makes a deep sound.   The sound   is similar to the man's voice.   With time the two sounds merge in George's mind. They begin to sound to George like his own heart beat.   He's sanding close to the window.   At this point he's looking outside.   He's doing this absentmindedly.   The spray is hitting the window.   The spray is flowing down the window.   The spray is almost completely covering the window.   The spray is refracting the light coming in from the outside.   The world looks white.

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