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It's 4:00 AM, I lay asleep under the tarp, the soothing motions and sounds of the waves keeping me asleep, and distracting my tired body from the uncomfortable oars, spread out across the deck to provide a "surface" to sleep on. Suddenly a voice awakened me. "Connor, Nate, wake up." I slowly got up from my mat. "C'mon, get up, it's your watch." It was my friend Eric. After a few seconds I realized that it was my turn for anchor watch. I wriggled out of my sleeping bag and walked to the bow of the thirty ft. boat we were staying on. Nate, still only half awake, followed gingerly behind, making sure not to step on any of our slumbering comrades. You see, I was on a two week camp, or expedition, if you want a better description. It was called Outward Bound. There were eleven kids and three instructors in my group. The specific course I was on included one week on a small sailboat, sailing through different places in the Boston Harbor, and then another week backpacking and camping in the White Mountains. At the present time I was on the sailboat, Frankly Bonnie, and it was my anchor watch. During anchor watch you had three jobs. One, make sure the anchor stays put, two, shine a flash light if a boat coming towards us can't see us, and three, keep your partner awake until your shift is over.
I walked out from our makeshift house boat into the chilly night air, the stars stretched out above me. I sat silently on the (closed) head bucket, wind in my face, images of my home and family etched in my mind. I felt homesick. At my camp, people from across the country came to take the course. They came from Florida, Washington, Nate was from Michigan. Even though they were jealous of me from practically being home, none of them knew how hard it was to be so close to home, yet just out of reach. It was hard. I could see Quincy, but it seemed to bring me more sadness than comfort. I turned around to talk to Nate, but he seemed to be dozing off. I shook him, and he woke up. We talked for a while before he fell asleep again. After a few intervals of talking and waking, talking and waking, I started to get annoyed. Around an hour had passed. disobeying instructions, I let him sleep. He was too tired, and I needed to watch the sea for boats anyway. Patiently I waited, watching the wristwatch on the flashlight to see how much longer I had to stay awake. The time was around 5:15 a.m., 45 minutes left. Then, out of the blue (or black), I heard the seagull's call that broke the silence, and the eastern horizon became pink. Almost instantly it seemed warmer. Finally light! I watched and listened as the whole world awakened in front of my eyes. Birds of all kinds began chirping all around, on islands and in the ocean. Gradually an orange ball of fire rose into the sky. I watched with awe as almost everything came to life. Nate and the others were surely missing out on something incredible. Sure, I may have wanted to go home, but never, ever could I see the dawn at sea from my abode. For a minute I even forgot about home. This, the waking of the world, was a very dawning experience.
To read more student work go to Student Authors or go back to Ms. Smith's English Page