INTERLUDE

    The ocean waves beat the sides of the feeble vessel. The sharp smell of seawater and dead fish had long since grown wearying rather than invigorating. Theodore laughed to himself, feeling like a character in a grand novel. The old man was right, it was laughable to imagine a man could sail to Glenland on a ratty chunk of fiberglass.
      “Well – I am no man any longer! Well err, gender-wise sure, manly as any. That is to say-- no human!” He'd work on that before writing it down. The cuffs of his blazer had come unsewn and the tattered edges brushed his wrists like a battered flag. That would normally irritate him but in this situation it made him feel like a fierce adventurer, a noble castaway. A shame his skin couldn't tan, it would really add to the image.
    He easily saw what was ahead on the skyline but squinted dramatically nonetheless.