A Guy Called Bloke has started Season 2 of 1000 Words Worth.  The challenge is to write a 1000-word story to the pictures above.  Hope you enjoy the tale!

From the time Vela was in her mother’s womb, she’d been lulled by rhythms of water. Aside from the amniotic sac she floated in, Vela’s parents lived near Lake MI and several small inland lakes and were professional scuba divers. They owned a dive shop, which had its own training pool and offered training for both the private and public sector. They were part of the Search & Rescue team for the area and had also assisted the US Coast Guard on rescues. Water was life for Vela and her family.

Vela had an older brother, Vander, who was 4 years older than she. Vander was part fish by the time Vela was born. Vander was an active and affectionate brother who instinctively kept a close eye on Vela any time she was in or near water. Vander knew that water could be lethal under the right conditions and he didn’t want anything happening to his baby sister.

Their parents, Raju and Raquel Raneesh, didn’t believe in the public or private charter school systems that seemed so bent on inappropriately indoctrinating impressionable minds. Neither Raju nor Raquel had had pleasant educational experiences. Raju had gone to private charter academies and Raquel the public school system. Each was evil in its own way in their minds. Instead they decided to home school their children. Not only that, but they joined a home-schooling network of parents who felt likewise. They devised a system of each household giving their own children instruction in the morning, but in the afternoons, they rotated which household they would meet at for the day. The parent of the home where the children would meet would prepare a focused learning experience and that could very well involve field study. The parent group purchased a 12-passenger van together for the learning excursions.

Of course, because the Raneeshes owned the dive shop and pool, when it was their turn to have the children for lessons, they revolved around swimming and diving. Mr. & Mrs. Jones owned a horse training facility, so when it was the Jones’ turn, the children learned equestrian skills. Mrs. Moneyver was an art teacher at the community college. She obtained permission for the students to come in and use her art classroom. Mr. Moneyver was band teacher at the high school, and he was able to use the band room and auditorium when it was time to have concerts. It was fortunate that Mr. Roman owned a music store as the instruments were on permanent loan to the children and could be deducted as an educational expense on taxes. Needless to say, these home schooled children received a far superior education than anything the private charter academy or public school could offer.

By the time Vander turned 22, he was working in the scuba shop as many hours as his parents did. As Vander was a very good-looking young man that stayed tan in the summer, the number of young women coming in looking for diving lessons rose. Vela, now 18, was more an operations expert, ordering supplies, and keeping the networking relationships viable with vendors and contracting agencies. She enjoyed her work at the shop, but as summer drew to a close, Vela wondered how she would stay busy over the slow winter season in Michigan. For as long as she could remember, she had wanted to see Victoria Falls in Australia and to dive off of the coast near there. As she had learned to sail in school – Mr. & Mrs. Lee owned a marina and a fleet of beginner day sailers but later taught the students how to sail their 50 foot yacht – Vela dreamed of flying to Australia, landing in Melbourne, then sailing out from Port Phillip Bay to Cape Otway. They would travel over land from there to the falls.

Vela had been taught finance in school through Mr. Mattox, who was a certified public accountant and chief financial officer for a fabricating business. Budgeting was something every child knew from age 5 up. Vander and Vela learned the practices from Mr. Mattox but watched the frugal modeling of their parents. Both children had methodically saved up a sizeable amount of savings by this time. Vela began planning her winter adventure with her friends, who were only too happy and excited at the prospect of being elsewhere when Michigan’s lengthy and extremely arctic-like winter raged on.

The plan was they would leave at the end of November and would return at the end of March. They planned on remaining near Melbourne and the falls for the first month, possibly picking up some diving or scuba training jobs if they were available. If that didn’t materialize, they would start to sailing east, to Brisbane and dive The Great Barrier Reef.

Vela and her six friends landed in Melbourne on December 2. Stepping off of the plane, they breathed in that hot sea air and felt blessed to be there. Their diving gear had somehow been put on the wrong plane and would take a few days to reach them. This gave them the time to do sightseeing and to get the yacht they’d be using packed with the rest of the supplies. The took an Uber out to where the 42-foot yacht, The Indian Princess, was docked.

Vela, who was never at a loss for words, found herself at a loss for them as the owner and captain of The Indian Princess walked down the dock to meet them. Captain Jason Momoa was 6′ 4” tall, seasoned tan, shoulder-length wavy brown hair, and the most gorgeous brown eyes Vela had ever looked into. Their eyes reached into each others’ souls and a telepathic communication sparked between them that they would never look at another again.

Captain Jason decided to sail with them to Cape Otway. At the end of the month they sailed back to Melbourne and began to make their wedding arrangements. Vela’s parents and a few of the other parents flew to Melbourne for it. Vela’s life in a new land was just beginning.