Industry

The skiff is tied up to the dock
A sailor’s knot keeps it from drifting
The boat gently bumps against the wood
The sea is calm inside the marina.

A man walks past the little boat
The planks creak beneath his feet
His back is away from his own float-plane
The plane is also tied up to the dock.

The man wears a dark knit-hat
The days are starting to get chilly
He looks up toward the high-land
The snow has returned to the tops of the mountains.

The man stops before ascending the ramp
He looks out across the water
The sea is calm between this island and the next
The sun is just beginning to set.

The days are becoming shorter
Winter will soon be here
For now the weather is calm
The storms will arrive within a week.

The man hears a float-plane overhead
He is used to the deafening sound
The plane turns and descends upon the water
It turns again and slowly approaches the marina.

He looks toward the rocky shore again
The wake from the float plane has reached the land
It gently splashes up against the mussels and barnacles
Then heads back out to sea again.

The man resumes his ascent up the ramp
Right up to the parking lot on the shore
He walks over to where his truck is parked
The gravel crunches under his boots.

He looks at the buildings before climbing into his truck
Lined up side by side along the main street
He glances up the steep hill all covered in spruce
The houses on top send up smoke from their chimneys.

He stares at the mountain beyond his small town
The sunset changes the snow into gold
He takes it all in and then lets out a sigh
He wishes that he were up there on the ski slopes.

He gets in his truck and pulls out of the lot
Before he goes home he stops over at Burger King
Then he remembers that they’ve gone out of business
They couldn’t compete with old Ronald McDonald.

The same thing will surely soon happen to this man
His business sits on prime property
He’ll have to relocate all of his float-planes
And get out of the way of a much bigger industry.