Skydivers Two

This is the story told to me by an American pilot who was working for the US as a contractor in Southeast Asia. The couple in the story were also Americans. The man was another contractor and his wife was a dependent.

There seems to be some confusion as to how to interpret the story, which I personally thought was very clear.

This contractor and his wife were parachutists (skydivers). They worked and lived in Vientiane, Laos. Vientiane is on the Mekong River (large river which runs from China to Cambodia, by way of Mongolia, Laos and Thailand). The Mekong is about 2 miles wide at Vientiane. Also at Vientiane, and in the Mekong, is a large sandbar about a mile long. The skydivers like to steer their jump so as to land on the sandbar (not into the Mekong). They had done this several (if not many) times before. The day in question was calm. They failed to bring any
floatation gear (life-preservers). She was about 4 months pregnant and would probably not jump again after the day in question. The story starts out in the third person. Immediately, as the story begins, the written word goes to the first person. The man is relating the story about himself and his wife. In reality, both are dead. Just as they neared the jump point, a freak gusty windstorm came up. The man had been watching a smoke trail which was rising vertically, indicating the wind was very calm. Just as it was time to jump, the story teller (now
dead, of course) looked at the smoke trail and realized that a freak wind had come up. This wind would carry a jumper beyond the sandbar and result in inevitable landing in the Mekong's muddy water.

The man turned to warn his wife not to jump. Unfortunately, she had already jumped at the predetermined point. Stunned, the writer tried desperately to choose between not jumping, knowing his wife would drown, and jumping too. He could not bring himself to stay on the aircraft, knowing his wife would surely die. He felt it was better that they both die than for him to live the rest of his life, blaming himself for not warning his wife in time to prevent either of them from jumping to their death.

Both the man and his wife drowned in the Mekong (Communist China's "humanity's tears"). They were found wrapped in their parachute shroud lines.

Any further questions will be gladly answered. My poems are sometimes written in a way that allows some points of the message to be subtle and sometimes implied. The exact details of the setting are not nearly so important as the events and eventualities depicted. In the poem I am referring to, the pertinent details are present, although not embellished. This is one of the main differences between poetry and prose.
D. Edgar Murray

Go here to visit our new Sculpture web site: http://www.sculpturegallery.com