[NetBehaviour] Barry’s Galleon Ship Disaster

[Edward Picot]

That took the wind out of his sails!

Sorry. I'll get my coat.

On 31/12/2024 12:23, marc.garrett via NetBehaviour wrote:
> *Barry’s Galleon Ship Disaster*
>
> Barry, my father, was a man of varied interests and very much into his 
> hobbies. Some of them were illegal. For instance, a few times, he was 
> caught exposing himself in the streets to women he fancied. He sold 
> rugs and was also a pyromaniac. He would often vanish for days and 
> weeks, either because he was in prison or away at a secretive and 
> menacing awayday with his black magic group. There are stories my mum 
> told me about him, where they’d kidnap individuals in a black transit 
> van. But I’m not sure if that’s true. There is so much about him that 
> is so outlandishly unbelievable. But, the bits of evidence I know are 
> the events that have materially changed my life. He was a local 
> legend, and his reputation overshadowed the rest of the family.
>
> Whenever we walked around town, it was a strange experience for me, my 
> younger brother, and my mum. Some people who knew about us and Barry’s 
> unprincipled activities would keep their distance as if we were about 
> to infect them with a dark, evil curse. Sometimes, it was isolating, 
> like we were pariahs, but at other times, there was an essence of 
> empowerment due to the feeling that people were afraid of us. The 
> problem with being marked as different, scary or dangerous is that it 
> attracts the types of individuals who find the notion of it exciting 
> for them, and when you're a young child, that’s the last thing you need.
>
> It was emotionally reassuring when Barry engaged his talents with less 
> insidious ventures. A hobby of his that also involved me now and then 
> was his plane-spotting exploits. He would take me to the airport to 
> watch planes landing and flying off. He watched it all through his 
> binoculars while noting the observed aircraft in his notepad. I was 
> bored, and he was always very excited. His fascination with planes 
> extended to model making. He was incredibly proud that he made his 
> model planes from scratch, not assembly kits. He would buy balsa wood 
> and cut it with a craft knife to make model aircraft. He made many 
> different types. Some would be painfully intricate biplanes 
> replicating the Wright brothers’ first successful aeroplane launched 
> in 1903 to WW11 aircraft, which seemed less detailed but still 
> displayed high quality and artful technique. These were the moments I 
> remember as notable when he was calm and lost in his craft. He was 
> good at it, and you could feel how enchanted he was by the whole 
> experience.
>
> Another recreation Barry enjoyed was painting. Just like he was 
> obsessed with aircraft in the singular sense, he spent much of his 
> creative time on oil painting. His primary focus was Galleon ships, 
> huge, multi-decked sailing ships and armed cargo carriers from the 
> 16th to 18th centuries. Again, he was mesmerised by his chosen subject 
> and spent many hours painting different galleon scenes in sea-based 
> settings, with large waves crashing at the side of the vessels. It was 
> all very dramatic. One day, I entered the room as he painted his 
> latest masterpiece with a slow, intense dedication to detail. I 
> suddenly noticed something with all the paintings. I nervously 
> twitched, knowing how proud he was of them.
>
> I wasn’t sure whether to tell him what I had spotted. But I had to. I 
> couldn’t help myself. I told him nervously that the ships had no wind 
> in their sails; they were straight, not as breezy as they should be in 
> turbulent winds. He stopped painting, slowly gazed at all his works, 
> and dropped his arm holding the paintbrush. Barry released a big sigh, 
> and then the room fell silent. He turned round and looked at me with a 
> deep hatred, and it felt like his eyes were burrowing into my skull. 
> Then, he flipped and smashed up all his canvases amongst other objects 
> in the room. Thankfully, he didn’t hit me. He may have been talented 
> at many things, but painting wasn’t one of them.
>
> A section from the book Feral Class by Marc Garrett. To be published 
> by Minor Compositions in 2025.
>
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