The Ferryman 1

People jeopardise their lives for the sake of making the moment livable. Nothing sways them from habit-not illness, not the sacrifice of love and relationship, not the loss of all earthly goods, not the crushing of their dignity, not the fear of dying.

The drive is relentless.

In the realm of Hungry Ghosts by Dr Gabor Mate

The Ferryman 1 (Short Story)

In Greek Mythology, for the price of a silver coin placed on the lips of the deceased, the Ferryman transported the dead along the river to the otherworld.

Yeah, yeah nah my boat’s as good as…

But the outgoings are killing me.  Could be earning more as an Uber driver…

…yeah well get this, a bloke down the road right, he quit his job in real estate and no-

Nah not shitting you he’s earning over 100k a year!

Yeah. True.

It’s hard and yeah, I reckon she’s gonna outlive me this boat…

But the upkeep-

The teeth you get nowadays, all rootless, bone like baking powder, couldn’t fix the hull. You get more leaks in the boat with teeth like that-

And the livers. Don’t talk to me about the livers.

You can’t get much of a life vest these days from a necrotic liver pickled by grog.

And then there’s the methadone clinics driving me bust with all those punters off the gear and onto the ‘done and bupe, and the young kids now don’t even smoke. Back in my day we had kids with lungs coated in tar. Good waterproofing for the sails, lungs like that.

What? True, true. There’s the poor bastards on the ice but what’ve they got as collateral? I’m taking their fried brains and splintered spirits. How do I sell something like that on? I’m losing money, I tell ya…

You know what it’s like mate. I’m like a cabby in a Covid lockdown, not that I’m complaining the work’s easy and yeah-

A job’s a job.

The whole world’s just about broke, but what’s a man like me gonna do. It’s killing me. The boat’s near falling apart, and it just don’t pay-

What?

Nah. Listen-

Don’t even go there, mate.

Listen.

Listen the way I see it, the world’s fucked, you gonna have your fat cats and then you’re gonna have your sheep, all dead inside chasing their next fucking mortgage, fucking shit hot car and then there’s my customers-

The ones who see how it really is. Them ones, the ones who see this whole mess of a world we’ve all made. And nah, just listen.

They need me. And they need me to take ‘em away for awhile…for a bit of relief, a bit of love…

Nah it’s a bloody community service mate, fuckin’ oath.  I’m tellin ya. No one has a go at the poor bloke at the bottle-o selling goon bags to the deros, you don’t see anyone havin a go at the bird selling eckies at a rave yeah but yeah right, blame yours truly…

I’m not copping it. Not from you.

I just ferry ‘em along the river, give ’em a taste, take them back until they can’t pay me no more and yeah everyone’s gotta be paid. Can’t get something for nothin’. I just take ’em there, give them some relief.

Don’t have a go at me you prick. I just take ‘em for the ride.