What the Harbour Remembers

Old Benedek mended nets on the harbour wall every morning and pretended to be deaf whenever it suited him. It suited him for a long time after she asked.

“There were two lights once,” he said at last. “Vell, and the Sorrow Rock light, three miles out. The storm of '61 took the rock and the tower with it. Keeper and all.”

He tied off his knot and would not look at her. “Your father asked me the same question,” he said. “The week before.”