Whale Watching

Photo by Bart van meele on Unsplash

Take these. Warm, thick gloves are pushed over the counter. And this, you’ll need this. Under your coat. A heavy knit sweater, too big for me.

The room is tiny and cramped but it’s a warm refuge from the whipping wind of the coast outside. I stand in front of a cash register, watching dust floating in the sunlight. The shop owner, a stranger, has taken it upon himself to give me everything I didn’t know I needed before I get on a boat…