Timothy dies protecting you from the hurricane. He sheltered your body with his own, taking on the full punishment of the storm. After he dies, your first thought is, "he should have taken me with him..." Later you cry for a long time, remembering all Timothy has done for you and that you are now alone.
After your rescue from the island, you vow someday to go back and find the cay. Imagine you are now several years older and have returned to the Devil's Mouth on a schooner. You have found Timothy's grave and have brought a new headstone to mark the spot. Write about your thoughts and feelings about this moment and what you have inscribed on his grave marker.
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After Timothy died I was alone on the Cay. I kept thinking to myself that he should’ve taken me with him because I am scared. Is anyone will rescue me? I buried Timothy’s in the sand. I stood there crying. That afternoon I got rescued by these two guys. They took me back to Willemstad and returned me to my mother and father. I was glad to see them and they were glad to. 10 years later…………. I returned to the Devil’s Mouth. There it was Timothy’s grave in the same exact palace. I put a headstone to mark the grave so I will never forget that spot. I wrote on the headstone Timothy from Charlotte Amalie thank you for everything and helping me to survive. If it was not for him I would not be alive right now.
Wow I can’t believe that I am going back to the Cay. I think I was about 10 or 11. Now I am 21 amazing! I have brought a marker to mark where Timothy had died. I remember everything that we did together. Soon I began to cry. I could see the sea grape still and the tree and the coconuts. I even saw the hole that Timothy made to catch the fish and the lagosta. I ran over to Timothy. Tears were running down my cheeks now. I slightly smile and say, “This is Phillip here Timothy and I miss you very much. You have taught me a lot of things most of all courage and friendship. You have taught me that under the skin, everybody is the same and I will keep that in my heart forever. Timothy, I love you. I had been crying and crying for a very long time. I remember that the marker I put on top of Timothy had said, “you vaz a outrageous good man eh, Timothy?”
Nikita Madorsky
Gone but not forgotten
12/6/09
Well, it has been years now since I’ve been on this little cay. It still gives me great memories that I will never forgot. I think this cay taught me a lot about life and survival. Well, now it’s time for me to put in a new headstone in Timothy’s grave. Wow I can remember the hurricane like it was just yesterday. This is what I wrote on Timothy’s headstone: Dear Timothy, I can remember the time you helped me when I was blind, the time I was scared, the time when you help me survive the cay. It was an extraordinary journey of life and death but, the best part about it is was you. You’re the reason I’m still alive today, you were also an “outrageous” friend to me. So now I bow my head and pray to you which symbolizes what is not the present but what happened… in the past.
Love and always,
Phillip
I'm at the cay. I have not been here in ten years. Looking at the long, lost island brought back all the memories. I can't believe me and Timothy ever survived here. Everything was so familiar. I brought him a grave stone. “R.I.P., Timothy was a good friend,” it read. I miss Timothy. I wanted to tell him that I finally got off the island. I wanted to tell him everything that happened since he died. When I got bit by a unknown fish, my rescue, how I'm not blind anymore. I wish I could tell him all of it. He gave away his life for me. He barely knew who I was. I wasn't his relative or something. I was just some random boy who ended up getting stuck with him. I was so rude to him. I wish I could go back in time. I would been a better friend if I had known. Poor Timothy. I wonder of he thinks I never got rescued. I wonder if he felt bad about dying and leaving me. I wish he were here with me now. We could be laughing at all the memories. I miss those days. I remember when I hated Timothy. I can't ever imagine hating such a loyal man. I wish Timothy was still alive and that he got rescued with me. Everything looked the same. This was me and Timothy's private island. After awhile of looking around I went home on my schooner. Sailing through the night made me remember when me and Timothy were on the raft.
I sighed and shook my head, standing over that foolish old man's grave. I smiled,"Ah, good ol' Timothy..." It had been ten years since I had been picked up from that darned island. I bent down and smoothed away the brush and fronds that had fallen over top the grave. I knealed down and reached into my sack that was slung over my shoulder. I pulled a shiny, polished rock from it and read over it one last time,
Here Lies Timothy of Charlotte Amalie
Bless His Soul
For What An Outrageous Good Ol' Mahn He Was
I supressed a sniffle and patted the marble stone, setting it lightly on the edge of his grave. Thought ran through my head, oh what would Timothy say now? Would he be proud? I remember me as a young boy, about 11 or 12.... Now, I was 22, a grown man. I should have been able to stop thinking about it now. I smiled sadly down at the headstone and whispered," I haven't forgotten you, what a brave and generous man you were.... So noble.. So strong.. I blinked away a tear. I could just imagine what would have happened if he had lived, heck, I might have been able to learn what his age was. Now he'd be about 80 something, I knew that much. He taught me so much.
Now, most of my friends were black. He taught me that if you take away the color of our skin, we were all the same.
I heard my good friend call my name from the schooner and was shaken out of my dream land. I looked back and sighed, hating to go. But I lightly kissed my fingers and held them for awhile on the cool headstone. I heaved myself up then and jogged back to the ship, taking one more glance behind me and whispered,"Oh... I did love you... Timothy, of Charlotte Amalie..."
I am eighteen now. I am finally returning to our cay, Stew Cat with me. As we navigate the murky waters of the Devil's Mouth, passing island after island, Stew Cat meows eerily, and I get the weirdest sense of deja-vu. I pull the boat in, and yell to the crew,"This is it!" The crew stayed on the boat, but Stew Cat and I entered the cay. I found Timothy's grave, and pulled out the headstone I had brought to mark it. It read-
Here Lies Timothy of Charlotte Amalie
He Be an Outrageous good mahn.
Cole Dickens
12/6/09
Cay journal
Gone But Not Forgotten
‘’Hey Timothy its Phillip how is the after life’’. I still remember the one-day I was on the palm tree and you were saving me from the force of the wind and water. I still remember the day you died and I berried you and I was so sad about it but now I am happy. I have come back to the Cay to put down a new marker on your grave so here it is. The gravestone I am about to put down reads ‘’Timothy ‘’73’’ years of age of Charlotte Amali. Here lies an outrageous man. Well that is all I need to say for now so I am going to run down this hill towards the old water catchment. I ran down the hill onto the damp sand into the water and on to the boat. As I was looking back to Timothy’s grave and said ‘’ Des an outrageous Cay e Timoty’’.
After I was rescued from devils mouth and returned to Willemstad I was able to see. I am now 18 years old and I am going to find the devils mouth again in a schooner. I will not know where on the island Timothy’s grave is with my eyes open, but only with my eyes closed. I am bringing Timothy a new gravestone that says “Timothy from Charlotte Amolie. You be an outrages friend.” Timothy you have made me a more mature person. You have also made me a better person. You are an outrages person and friend! I wish that you were still alive today. I talk to people that have known you and their voice reminds me of you. You taught me survival and I want to say, “Thanks a lot.” I will always remember you.
It has been ten years since me and Timothy were stranded on that tiny old cay. I am taking a schooner out to find our little cay to find Timothy. I have made him a new headstone it says thank you for saving me from the hurricane. Here lies Timothy Rest in peace. Then I sat there just thinking about how hard surviving was. Dis be ad grave of a very outragous man. Then I got on my schooner. then sailed away.
Timothy, why did you do this to me? Why didn’t you just take me with you, up there? I don’t know if I will ever leave our Cay, and its so lonely without you. Even with Stew Cat with me, I feel totally alone. Like drifting through space with nowhere that I can escape to…. Later that day two men found me and brought me back to my mother and father. I was as happy to see my mom and dad as they were to see me. 10 years later- Timothy… it’s been a long time. I brought you something. A head stone for your grave. On it is inscribed ” Timothy from Charlotle Amalie- beneath d’skin is all d’same” Is that okay? I’ve been searching for you on my schooner, and searching for the little Cay I spent my time with you on. But I never stopped searching. And I’ve finally found you. I hope you forgive me for leaving you behind. But I had to go. I have a mother and a father, just like you do. And they were worrying about me. And I wanted to see them again. But that does not matter any more now. I’m here, with you. And I got my sight back. I can see now. See where the Cay is and were our hut was and… I’m sorry Timothy. I meant Our Cay.
Gone but not forgotten…
It was 10 years later. I loaded a schooner with supplies and set off into Devils Mouth knowing that I would see the grave of the man who saved my life and who taught me how to take of myself even if he was the only person there on the Island. I had a grave stone especially in graved for Timothy. When I was ready to leave I said goodbye to all my friends and family and then in a flash I was gone and so were my friends and family. When I reached the Island I placed the head stone on the top of the grave it said. Timothy of Charlotte To dat be an outrageous man. I remember seeing nothing but touching was the only thing I had left of this Islands memories with me. Of course we must never forget who was the man who saved my life? Who is the man that taught me so many things? And who was the man who never lost
Hope in me even thought I judged him by his color? There is only one person on this earth that those statements are true to and his name was Timothy.
Thoughts swirled in my head. Happy and cheerful thoughts and sad and bitter thoughts. After so many years, I had finally gotten back to our cay. I felt a salty drop of water trickle down my cheek as I remembered the dark day when Timothy had died. I hobbled over the soft, golden sand searching for Timothy’s grave. I soon found it near some clustered rocks and shells. I could fell the fronds of a tattered sea grape leaf as I gently laid down a heavy, gray tombstone. I slowly felt my hand over the engravement as I felt another tear rolled down my other cheek. I felt my hand in the groove of each of the letters and said each word slowly and carefully out loud:
Timothy from Charlotte Amalie
My friend, my hero
‘Tis a outrageous good man
From Philip and all your other friends
I felt the stone again and wept more. I was sad. Very sad. Timothy was gone but defiantly not forgotten.
I’m finally back ten years later at are small, little cay. I walked to timothy’s grave near to tears. I have brought him a headstone, I think he deserves a better one. I wrought on it Timothy from Charlotte Amalie, d’is be an outrageous cay eh Timothy, the last thing I said to him before leaving the cay. I will always remember my friend Timothy, and everything he taught me. I remember everything clearly, everything that happened on that cay. Even when I yelled at him saying I couldn’t weave the mats, that are when we became good friends. The fishing hole and the storm that took him away. He was an outrageous man and I will always remember him.
Timothy has died.....I'm really upset how can I survive with out any body? He should have taken me with him. Now I'm all alone, only me and Stew cat, I'm beyond tears after crying for a long time and don't know what o say. I've just been rescued and taken to a hospital and found out when I hit my head on the Hato I damaged some of my nerves that made me blind. Someday I wish I can go back and visit Timothy and mines little cay. I'm on a schooner right now, I'm excited and sad, I'm excited because we are heading toward the devil's mouth after so many years, I'm happy to be there again. I'm sad because I remember Timothy's death. We've got out of the schooner and were on my cay it doesn't look much different from before so I was able o recognize it pretty quickly, I'm feeling very emotional and happy that I'm back on my cay. I found Timothy's grave, I brought a grave stone, inscribed in the grave stone it says " Timothy of Charlotte Amallie, Tis be an outrageous cay " I will always remember that quote of his, I feel happy that I'm able to be back on Timothy and mines cay. I'm next to Timothy's grave, if it wasn't for Timothy I wouldn't be alive.
This is it right here…stop. I can get on the island from here. It is 10 years later from the day I got off this island. I have dreamed about coming back all my life. I walk around and I see the hut still standing were it was when I left. After going to the hut I walk up to Timothy's grave and put another one up. It reads TIMOTHY FROM CHARLOT AMALI AN AMASING LOVING PERSON AND TIMOTHY'S FAVORITE LINE WAS "OUTRAGAS GOOD. HE MABY DEAD BUT NOT FORGOTEN. I stat there and I cried I didn't think I was going to but he was my best friend and I missed him so much. I started talking to him. I said "Hi Timothy I have so much to tell you but first I am not blind anymore I just got glasses. The board that hit me in the head just bruised a nerve and I got it fix. I wanted him to say something back so badly but there was no reply. I heard the familiar silence I remember on the cay. "By the way before I forget my mom changed a lot and I miss u so much timothy." I say to myself hoping he could here I said "you were a great man Timothy great man."
Gone but not Forgotten
I am on a cay, the cay that I was stranded on about 15-years ago. I vowed that I would come back here to visit Timothy. I’m marching up the hill where he is buried. I have brought a new headstone it reads:
Timothy of Charlotte Amale
He risked his life for mine
I am so happy, yet I am sad as memories of Timothy and the cay come back to me. I cry tears of happiness and of sorrow. I remember the hurricane that killed Timothy and I remember the time I dove to the bottom of the tide pool and then was bitten by a moray eel. Also I remember when I was rescued. Though I thought of all I think of Timothy and all that he taught me. Then I engrave something in Timothy’s headstone "thank you."
After tree days I started to loose hope, we had looked everywhere. Or had we, something shook the boat. It was a coral reef. The coral reef of a cay, our cay. The fire pile was still there, and our hut, it was as if I were a kid again looking at the eighth wonder of the world. But when I closed my eyes, that was the best. It was like I was still blind, I felt around and found the vine. BANG! I had tripped over Timothy’s grave. It had been longer when I was little. Then again, I had grown since then. I picked up the stones hat marked his grave. (I was so happy I started crying.) In their place I put a new head stone, it read:
Timothy
“Taws’ an outrageous good friend”
Gone but not Forgotten…
It has been 10 years since I have been in this island. I walk over to Timothy’s grave and brush off the sea grape and shells. I smile looking at the grave. What a great jib I did, especially since I was blind, I thought. I open the sack containing a stone. I take it out of the sack and blow it clean. Then I stick it into the ground. The stone says: “Here lies Timothy. He was an outrageous man…” I sit next to the grave, remembering the memories, regretting all the mean or rude things I said to Timothy. I say holding back tears, “Thank you for everything.” I stand up and walk back to the boat. My friend says, “What was timothy like?” I smile and say, “He was an outrageous man!”
By Nuzha Zuberi
When I found Timothy’s grave, the grave marker was beat up. Luckily I brought a new grave marker and a sharp knife to carve writing on the marker. I carved,” Timothy, thank you for risking your life for me and letting me survive. Phillip Enright.” Once I finished carving the words, I thought I would talk to Timothy and let him know what happened. I said, ”Timothy, I wish you could have survived the storm. The day before rescuers came, I heard planes go by, and I made black smoke. No one came. When I got rescued, one of rescuers noticed that I was blind! I was rushed to the emergency room because of blindness (I didn’t think it was so bad!) My parents didn’t understand when I first told them. When I got back to Willemstad, I met some of your friends! They were really nice and when I told them that you died they were upset and wished you came back!!”
Someday I wish I could be just like him.
I vowed 10 years ago that I would come back and see Timothy’s grave on our little cay in the devils mouth. I also brought a big rock as a new gravestone and Timothy’s knife to carve it with. I even brought stew cat with me to have one last look at our little cay. It took me a while but I finally carved what I wanted onto Timothy’s new gravestone! It says… R.I.P. hope you had a “tis’ outrageous” life Timothy from Charlotte Amalie. I set the gravestone down on Timothy’s grave and grabbed stew cat. Then I sat down and closed my eyes so I could think about Timothy. Think of the tempis that killed Timothy, and also think of us on the raft when I first saw Timothy and what I thought about him and how wrong I was! I feel sorry for the terrible things that I said about and told Timothy. I hope that he forgave me. I can’t understand how I believed what my mom thought about black people. How wrong she was! It felt like hours that I sat there and thought about Timothy and then I started crying. I cried for a long time then took stew cat and started to ride home before it got dark. I went home to Willemstad and told everyone about Timothy and how good he was especially to me and they listened and oohed and ahed about the story of Timothy and I.
Annie Friedman
Last blog
Wow, now that the war is over and I have my sight back I am really here and I can see what is on this cay. The cay is nothing like I imagined it was 10 years ago. When I was blind I thought that this cay was much smaller. Now I am back and I see Timothy’s grave that I dug out and put him in. I remember the day I dough it out and stood crying for the first time over his grave. I am back because I promised that I would come back some day. This time I brought a proper headstone for Timothy. It states:
HERE LIES OLD TIMOTHY OF CHARLOTTE AMALIE
“TIS’ AN OUTRAGES BIG FISH MAN!”
Now, that I cry it brings back old blessed memories about timothy the great fisherman and friend he was. I do not think this will be the last time I come to this cay. I now know where it is because on my way to the cay in the Devil’s Mouth. Even though he is still dead the love and friendship lives on forever!
THE END OF THE CAY
Gone but not Forgotten
Scott Kubiak
10 years later…. I am returning to the cay or island where I was stranded when I was about 10 or 11 years old. With me on my schooner I have brought a new limestone saying born: 1867 Died: 1942. “Tis an outrageous good man.” Once I arrive on the cay where I was once stranded I bring the grave marker to remark the grave of the good old Timothy. Then I remember why he made me independent and taught me how to catch and prepare my own meals. I could tell that the cay I was on was the exact one where Timothy had died by closing my eyes and feeling my way around just like I was 10 years ago. Then once I was at Timothy’s grave then I put the new grave marker at the head of Timothy’s resting place.
After being rescued from the island, I went to a hospital and had my eyes restored but the doctor told me that I would have to wear glasses. Then I thought about maybe in ten years later returning to our cay on a schooner in the Devil’s Mouth. I would bring a headstone to mark the spot of Timothy.
As I thought about returning to our cay it happened. I brought along with me a headstone which read “Old Timothy of Charlotte Amalie lies here as a brave, strong warrior who sacrificed his life to save me - Phillip”. I stood over Timothy’s grave remembering all the good times we had together. I sat there thanking him for everything he did for me while I was blind. Timothy was a great friend that I will never forget! Tis an outrageous island ay Timothy?
I knew after Timothy died, he should have taken us with him. I was alone and scared and did not know if I will ever survive alone on the cay. Then later two guys had rescued me and took me back home, I was so happy. They had made my blindness go away and I could see, but had to wear glasses. I saw my parent, I was very delighted and I knew they were too. 10 years later and I come back to the cay! I was so excited. When I reached toward the cay and landed on the sand, it felt so soft just like 10 years ago. There it was, Timothy’s grave, I came closer to the grave carrying a headstone that read-
Timothy of Charlotte Amalie, thank you.
“yu vas an outrageous good man eh, Timothy”
I laughed with tears in my eyes remembering the moments we had spent together.
I am now 21. I got on a schooner to come to my little cay island. I brought a headstone to put over Timothy’s grave. The headstone said, “He is now not here but he still is with me…………………………….. in my heart. He was a great man. I would not have lived without him. R.I.P. Timothy from Charlotte Amanie.” I started to cry. I remembered all the things Timothy had taught me and how we lived together, almost like a family. I felt sad. “You taught me many things but I will always remember beneath d’skin is all d’same.” I started to cry and would not stop. I said, “You made me what I am today. I could not have lived without you. Thank you.”
After ten years I’m back at the cay and I brought a gravestone with me. I put the gravestone over Timothy’s body and looked around the cay. Then I looked around the cay and read the gravestone to Timothy. Dear, Timothy you were like a father to me you protected me from danger and even though we went through hard times you always were there for me .Timothy: kind, generous, loving, protective and lastly best to be stranded on a island with.
I looked around the island and remembered the good times and whispered, ’’You are a outrageous person Timothy and left.
Seven years ago I said that I would come back to the Devil’s Mouth and right now that is where I find myself. I now see Timothy’s grave and have brought a new grave marker. Right now, I hear myself saying thank you for protecting my body from the unforgiving hurricane. Those things that you taught me helped me to survive and get rescued. I hope you rest in peace Timothy, because you had a hard life from working all those years to your first hurricane and then our hurricane. I have decided to put on your grave marker, “R.I.P. Timothy, you were a great honest and delightful man”.
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