https://flashfictionmagazine.com/blog/2020/02/11/the-mesabi-miner/
I've also posted it below. Enjoy!
The Mesabi
Miner
The huge iron
ore freighter was thirty miles out when Jerry Jorgenson saw it appear on the
horizon, barely visible, a tiny spec. He pulled down his seed company cap to
shade his eyes, and used his binoculars to watch as the ship slowly made its
way toward where he was standing, close to the shipping canal between Lake
Superior and the Port of Duluth. They say that death and taxes were what you
could always count on. Well, to that you could add the Mesabi Miner, thought
Jerry, as he watched the huge vessel's slow but steady progress. The freighter
had been carrying iron ore back and forth across all of five of the great lakes
for seventy-three years, Jerry's entire life. It was as dependable as the day
was long, was how he looked at it.
It took nearly two hours for the
ship to make the journey, and as it approached the entrance to the canal it began
slowing down, making ready to leave the lake. By now Jerry was surrounded by a
boisterous crowd of men, women and children from all walks of life. Everyone
was excited and the festive atmosphere blended in perfectly with the bright sun
and warm sand and raucous seagulls. The huge vessel was so close he could
almost reach out and touch it's riveted steel immensity: one-thousand feet
long, one-hundred feet wide and over fifty feet deep. It was fully laden with
nearly eighty-thousand tons of iron ore, and it gave him a thrill beyond words
to be standing so close to it.
The wheel house was seventy-five
feet above the water. Unexpectedly, a figure appeared at the small window, leaned
out and saluted good naturedly to those gathered below. It was the captain. The
crowd called out and waved back excitedly. Not Jerry. He wasn't what you'd call
a demonstrative person by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, he watched closely
as the captain doffed his cap, expecting to see a grizzled and weathered
seaman. But that's not what he got. He did a double take, and then had to raise
his binoculars to make sure his eyes weren't deceiving him. They weren't. It
wasn't a man who was doffing a cap and commanding his beloved freighter. It was
a woman. And, even more remarkable, she wasn't even very old. He was stunned
beyond belief. What was going on? Was this a sick joke of some kind? What had happened
to manly tradition and the stoically competent seafarers who were supposed to be
safely guiding the huge iron ore freighters across the always treacherous Great
Lakes? More to the point, what was this woman doing on what he always thought
of as his ship?
Jerry could not accept what he was
seeing. It made him almost physically ill. Then as if to add insult to injury,
the captain (That woman!) shook her head and set free long tresses of blond
Scandinavian hair that shown in the sun like the finest imported silk. Her
tanned face broke into a big smile as she gave the jovial crowd an impish wink
and waved enthusiastically to them.
Jerry was aghast. She's going to
smash that ship, that's what she's going to do, he thought to himself. I'll bet
my pension check from the steel workers union that she's going to sink the
Mesabi Miner to the bottom of the canal. Then they'll be sorry. Everybody knows
that only men have the knowledge and skill necessary to make it through that
narrow passageway and into the port beyond. He folded his arms tightly across
his chest in a huff, as if challenging her to fail. Then he watched and waited,
expecting the worst.
If the young captain could sense
Jerry's skepticism, she didn't let on. Undaunted, she turned seriously to the
task at hand and, like thread through a needle's eye, she cool-handedly guided Jerry's
beloved iron ore freighter through the narrow canal into the safe harbor
beyond, completing the Mesabi Miner's journey by tooting it's horn three times.
The crowd erupted as one and began wildly cheering. Not Jerry. He turned away
in disgust, the roar in his ears almost too much to bear.
He took two fast steps, and in his
haste to get away almost knocked over a young girl about ten years old wearing
a Minnesota Twins baseball hat. As he sidestepped her it occurred to him that his
own granddaughter was about the same age. She was a delight to be around and was
already an accomplished hockey player. It dawned on him that her mom, Jerry's
daughter, was about the same as the ship's captain. She not only was a
wonderful mother, but also a highly respected veterinarian. Damn. It was a pain
in the ass to do so, but he had to admit that the world he used to know was
changing. Sometimes too fast for him, but it was.
He quickly apologized to the young girl who smiled
and said cheerfully, "That's okay, mister."
He took a few steps and then stopped
and thought to himself, Hell, that lady captain actually did do a good job steering
the freighter through the shipping canal, way better than I could have anyway. His
shoulders slumped ever so slightly as the realization hit him. Yeah, she really
was pretty good.
He straightened up tall, having made
what was for him a momentous decision. He turned and gave the departing vessel
as snappy salute. Then he begrudgingly joined in with the crowd and began
applauding.
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