At Sea

Blain Sanders never imagined he'd be the first one on the scene pulling a needle out of his daughters arm. Now she follows him everywhere. He sees her in the clouds, in the the sea, in oil-slicked puddles on the street and today at the Breezeway diner. "The beat goes on," his buddies say. Anibelle was his only daughter. She was the light in his heart. They became close when his wife left him. Blain kept Belle's picture on the dashboard of his cruiser, inside his locker and tucked in his wallet. Blain dreamed that he was on a lobster boat during a vicious storm. "Throw down anchor! Throw down anchor!" his Captain shouted through a blur of rain. Blain grabbed it. Shiny brass in the shape of his daughter's arm, fingernails painted red.