Sometimes you need a Holiday, and Sometimes the World gives you one.

Out on his boat, in the middle of the river, away from it all, Chris stewed in the sun.  It was a hot day, just a few clouds, and it happened to be spring.  Chris was under the boats roof though, lying down, and trying to forget why he needed a day out on the river in his boat by himself.  This part of the river didn't get much traffic even though it was in sight of the city on such a nice day.  All the boaters were out downriver where just a few miles away the mouth of the river opened up into the ocean.  Just a little wind for sound, along with the waves, the birds, a splash or two from fish and the faint drone of the highway off to his right hand on the shore.  The anchor was down and this was where he would be lying for the next few hours, half napping with a cooler of soda and few bags of chips.  He didn't drink, not on his boat.

He was a cautious guy, unlike most of his relatives, in spite of most of his relatives, or more likely because of most of his relatives.  His cousin had almost drowned when Chris was six.  They had been visiting out at the house, and Chris and Micah had gone swimming in the ocean and Micah wanted to get to the island that was a mile and a half out.  Thirty years later Micah actually did drown out there.  The funeral was last Friday. Chris hadn't gone.  Chris had been dealing with his boss, who may or may not have bankrupted the company.  At this point it was a toss up of if they could move the stock.  Who really buy's fuzzy cup snuggies?  His boss it seemed.

Chris's answering machine had been mostly filled with the past two problems.  Darcy from accounting letting him know that as the VP he really ought to come into the office and look over what had happened on Wednesday when he had taken time off to go to the hospital.  The family telling him to be at the hospital because Micah had broken his head open, torn a giant gash through his stomach, and ingested a jellyfish.  The president of the company calling back to complain about Chris trying to sell back the fuzzy cup cozies.  The family calling back to tell him that Micah had died in the night.  The Japanese retailer calling back to inform him that on no accounts could they cancel the order because, as it happened, the order had already shipped.  The family lawyer calling to say that his cousin had listed him as the recipient of his mostly poisonous sea creature aquarium, and that his cousin's brother wanted it out of the house that he had gotten as soon as possible since it scarred his wife.  The boss calling back to say that Darcy had talked to him along with marketing, and he wanted Chris to come in on Friday to help brainstorm how they were going to sell what he had now been informed was a "bad purchase."  The Ex calling to tell him that Will, his son, was going to be in a play on Thursday evening, and that he wanted his father to come.  That one was Thursday morning, and she lived two cities over.  He figured she wanted to show off her new boyfriend or something equally petty and realized that the play was moderately good bait.  Finally, the last call was from the marina informing him that his sail boat had finally gotten the hole in it's hull repaired.

It had an outboard motor on it to go upstream, and he just put down the anchor when he was far enough away from everything.  A little off to the side in case of any traffic coming downstream, but that didn't happen much.  Chris sadly didn't have anything besides his troubles to occupy his mind.  The weather was gorgeous, but it was also soothingly bland.  The river itself was too quiet.  So he stewed in the shade in the cabin.

About quarter to three, after a good three or so hours of this, the river decided to do something about the rather annoyed man that was sitting in a boat on top of it, so it gave him a shove.  The way that Chris experienced it was a sudden lifting sensation accompanied by a rather unexpected change from stationary to moving.  What observers from the highway just off the river saw was a large wave from upstream wash up to the boat, pick it up, and carry it downstream.  What the boats downriver noticed about thirty seconds later was a much larger wave with various sticks, hats, and a few swimmers rocketing towards them, topped with a very surprised Chris Levens in his sailboat with a can of root beer in one hand and the other wrapped around the mast.  Three minutes later, the people and boats in the ocean saw roughly the same thing, plus more boats and floaties, minus the root beer.  What the people on the beach saw as the wave cleared the river proper and headed out to sea was a large number of boats, people, and various flotsam all left around the harbor with a single, slightly smaller wave carrying Chris and his sailboat farther out with a can of mountain dew in hand and a very confused look on his face.