The Prisoner

A young man sits alone in a steel cage on board a giant wooden ship sailing to an island. As people pass he waves and greets them good morning, "Hello sir, hello madam, beautiful weather we're having, you both look lovely today." The people walk by and return his greetings placidly and quickly walk away. "Watch your step, the waves have been washing up high and taking away pieces of the ship, yesterday a man was swept away to sea. I heard him screaming as he fell. For hours he screamed for help. If only I wasn't bound to this cage, I would have dove in to save him."

Years prior, he developed a fear of falling into the ocean. His fear was so immense one day that he shut himself away in the most secure space on the ship, the cage bolted to the top deck as a relic of older times. For years the man had been carrying on in this manner, attempting to make himself pleasant and as useful to everyone he saw so that they would not let him out. Eventually, however, he grew to understand life only in this context and could not remember a time when he did not live within the cage.

He had meals brought to him daily as an order from the captain. In the beginning, the captain played along with the prison charade out of playful compassion for the boy. After a while the captain grew tired of playing along, but any attempt to free the boy made such a fuss, he couldn’t bear to keep trying, so he kept bringing the food. After a great many years of trying, he came to the conclusion that the man was so mad he belonged in the cage and left him be.

One day a man walks by and mutters under his breath "Poor sap, look at him wasting away in that cage. Does he even know there are no locks on it; that it’s only a relic of the past for education?”

“What an awful thing to say. Of course this cage is locked. And why would I or anyone else hole oneself up in a cage? What a moron. Maybe he belongs in here too.”

That night he had a dream that revealed to him his past life, before the cage. The ship was in shallower and calmer waters back then and the boys were all jumping into the ocean of and back onto the ship for fun, which was normal behavior for ship boys of that age. The boy was very hesitant to engage in this type of play. He knew his limits and was not comfortable pushing them, but the rest of the boys pressed him harder every time he said no and eventually they convinced him that he would be fine and that they would swim out to him and bring him back if he couldn’t do it himself. When he jumped out into the ocean, he found that he enjoyed the water quite a bit and was also a natural swimmer. However, a snake swam up next to him, scaring him so bad he could hardly move. He started sinking, frozen solid, and the boys swam out to get him. He became full of life again, kicking and flailing to try to start swimming, but his fear made him weak. After a long, laborious process and several other boys almost drowned, they got him back to the boat. He immediately ran to the cage.

The next day a snake came slithering out of the sea and made his way onboard the ship. Upon finding the man closed off in his cage, he slithered to the front of it. The man was frightened, but felt safe clutching the bars knowing he could climb up and hang from the top to escape the snake.

He was mystified when the snake slithered to him to say, "Man! I have watched you for years aboard this ship. Are you a fool? Can you not see that there is nothing binding you to this cage? I watched a man tell this to you yesterday and I hoped you would take his truth and walk out so I would not have to see you rotting away on this cage every day. But more than this, I have come to warn you. The ship itself is but a cage without bars. The ship will never get you to the island and they have no intention to make it there. The only way to get to the island is to escape into the sea. Find your way to shore on your own. These people you seek to help have not the ears for your words. Your words only please yourself. Even so, only so far as their reception is welcoming."

“Are you kidding me? Go out in that water? There’s no way I’d make it to shore. I don’t even know if I can swim.”

“I assure you that you can. As I remember, you were an excellent swimmer. Too fast for me in my younger days even, back when I tried to warn you before.”

“So it’s true. My dream was a memory! I remember you, snake. You are the reason for me entering this cage. Now you’re beckoning me to leave it?”

“Ah, man. How foolish you are. None but thee could chase you to this cage, nor keep you here. You’re in a prison of your own making. Worse even, is that you’re in a prison within another. Please, man, you are running out of time and I am now bereft of patience. This shall be my last attempt to save you. Be free, man. Swim.”

With this, the snake slithered off the boat and into the ocean.

The man contemplated his life… or what he knew of it. Here on the boat, he had everything. He was delivered meals, had plenty of people to talk to within the confines of his limited space, and safety. Above all, he had safety. He was sure he could not be hurt. Of course, he couldn’t feel the wind whipping against his face from the bow of the ship. He couldn’t join the diners in the dining hall. He couldn’t learn to pilot the ship. He was trapped within the small walls of his cage. He decided he would venture out of the cage for just a night to poke around and see if it was something he could handle. When he pushed the door, nothing happened. He looked to the hinges and saw them completely covered in rust. He put his feet to the door and his back to the adjacent bars and pushed as hard as he could until finally the cage creaked open enough for him to slip through. He left the cage. As he wandered the ship, he found every other spot difficult to stand on. The boat just didn’t rock the same way anywhere else. It was very difficult for him to navigate and eventually he grew nauseous. He looked for a place to vomit, but couldn’t remember where the bathrooms were located. He rushed to the side of the ship to hang his head over and vomit.

When he peered over the edge, he gasped with fear and darted back away to the middle of the ship. His nausea subsided and fear took over. He ran, looking for his cage, but could not remember where it had been. He could not retrace his steps because he had forgotten every other place on the ship. Finally, he turned a corner and saw his cage being pushed toward the edge by some of the crew. He shouted out and began to run, he finally made it to the cage and threw himself between the cage and the edge of the ship. He pushed against the cage with all his might and it stopped for a time.

“Son, I’m glad you finally made it out of that cage. We’re here to rid you of any memory of it. We’ll toss it over and there will never be a thought of it after. Join us on the ship, son. It’s time.”

The man could not speak. He knew this was it. The captain wouldn’t budge. He now faced the pivotal moment of his lifetime and he found himself too scared to make the decision for himself. He climbed to the top of the railing and stood, staring down at the water, hoping for a sign or a push from some higher being, but nothing came. He trembled for a moment. Just then, one foot slipped and the other bent and then straightened out against the rail, launching him into the ocean. He could not decide whether it was an accident or his unconscious will in the seconds it took to hit the water, but when he made it in, the ocean enveloped him. He felt both a chill down his spine and a warmth in his heart. He almost started breathing underwater, he was so comfortable beneath the surface. He remembered he could kick his legs against the resistance of the water and move forward. He remembered the vast openness. He remembered freedom. He was home.

“Floating in the ocean of freedom with ropes and life vests being thrown at me from all angles, I am left with nothing to grasp, for every time I look at the other end of the rope, I see the cage that awaits me on the ship. I know there are no locks on the cages, but I find myself drawn to cages, physical or imaginary, pulling them closed from the inside, fearing being thrown overboard again into the waters. Now I swim, happily, ropes beckoning, looking for land to plant my feet and stand, to finally be able to say I made it to shore. I do not know what the beach has waiting for me; what the forest hides; how steep the slopes of the mountain are, should I make it that far, but I know that I can’t return to the cage. For when the ship touches land, I will have been so comfortable within my steel cocoon, I should scarcely know the difference between sand and water and I will fear them both the same.”