Jack

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Yohon =====

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The ship was going down. Water rushed through the halls of the lower decks. I cried out for Joe but there was no answer. I ran up to the poop deck only to it find tilting to one side. Captain Mike was screaming at me to jump, cargo crates were sliding all over the ship. I saw one hit captain mike dead on. His knees buckled and he was knocked out. Before I knew another huge crate came sliding towards me. I had no wish to be in the way of it so went for the jump**.** I hit the lake erie in a perfect dive, like I would if I was jumping off a cliff in Norway. I hit the water and swam for what seemed like miles. I finally washed up on a rock, it was slimy and I had to climb to the very middle of it to find a good place to rest. I still had my watch on, it was 9:13 AM. =====

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 When I woke up it was 3:15. There was a distant sound and it was slowly getting louder and louder. I turned my head in the direction of the noise but all I saw was a blur of white and blue. The noise was still getting louder and louder, I knew I would die on this rock if I just sat there so I stood up and waved with all the last reserves of my strength. Then me knees gave way and I collapsed again. The next time I woke up I was strapped down to something, a stretcher probably, I looked around and saw two doctors standing next to me and whispering something. I look up at one of them and asked if Captain Mike and Joe were alright, but they just looked at me and shook their heads sadly. =====

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I was still running when I turned the corner onto Gibb street more than ten miles from the hospital. I knew now that I was in Cleavland Ohio, it said so on some of the big posters on the side of the run down buildings in this part of the neighborhood. I passed an empty vacant lot on the side walk, it was nearly dawn now, so I could make out the plants and such that were growing in it. I walked in on one of the brick pathways that led to the center of the garden. I knew it was a garden now. There were fences and grills and all different types of plants along the garden. I was observing it when something cold and sharp touched my back. "Don't move" said a voice from behind me. The voice was surprisingly young but it sounded cold and angry at the same time. "Turn Around." said the voice again. I spun quickly around and grabbed the weapon from the young mans hands. It was a pitch fork and now I was the one telling him not to move. =====

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"What a lovely garden you have here." I said in a cold low voice. "Yes" he replied. "Thats why I guard it from theives like you." "What!" I shouted. "Your not a thief? he asked. "Of course not!" I yelled back. "Then,...what are you?" he asked. "I...am....a .... person... who ...was enjoying the look of your garden until you tried to stab me with this pitch fork!" I screamed at the top of my lungs. "Oh sorry." he said. I threw the pitchfork aside and started to walk away. "Wait!" he called. "I, I'm really sorry, but I couldn't help noticing you are in hospital clothes." "Long story." I said. "Great." He said, "You can tell everyone at the cookout tonight." It was an invite, to a cookout, in a beautiful garden in the middle of a stinking city! "My name is Royce by the way." he said. "I'm Yohon." I said. =====

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That was the beginning of a very good friendship. I told all the gardeners that night about how my parents had died when I was a baby and how I had lived In america with my uncle. Told them how I was raised with a american accent, and how my uncle had moved back to Norway when I was 11. When I was twenty I moved to America alone, and got a job aboard the Starlight. And finally, I told them all that had happened since Monday morning. That night we all celebrated as I planted my Norwegian wildflower seeds in a open plot. I realized then that this had had been such a bad situation for me, and how these people, these people of all different colors and races, had made my situation that much better. =====