Solomon Polansky attends Blake School and is in the 7th grade. He recently celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Beth El and sang in the All State Boys Middle School Honor Choir. He likes to read, write, sing, and sail.
PROSE - 2009
Grades 7 - 9
First Place - Baila Elkin
Second Place - Lana Rubinstein
Third Place - Solomon Polansky
Grades 10 - 12
First Place - Annie Fishman
Prose, Grades 7 - 9: Third Place
The Captain's Vacation - Solomon Polansky
The fresh sting of salt caught the captain by surprise. Feeling his weathered face, he noticed little cuts from the hail pelting the boat. Stepping back into the cabin, he checked the radar. Double-taking to see if he was right, he observed that the “shower” he thought would completely miss his craft was now a heavy storm bearing down upon him. Glancing outside the pilothouse’s dirty, pockmarked windows, he saw a wave crashing down upon the deck. Another glance at the radar revealed the center of a massive storm system moving toward him at great speed.
“This is a bad start to my long overdue vacation,” he said while pulling his poncho on again. “The trip to Cuba to see my long lost Jewish relatives will have to wait.” Stepping out from his shelter onto the deck he felt the cold wind. This didn’t bother him, because he had spent many summers with his father fishing the great seas in many challenging conditions. Ignoring the driving rain and the hail, he started the tedious job of tying his boat’s parts down. After completing this painful task, he ducked back into the pilothouse. Locking the door, he hunkered down on his small mattress with the battery-powered radar and stared at the radar intently as though his life depended upon it, which it did.
Suddenly, a huge clap of thunder and bolt of lightning blinded him. As his eyes adjusted from the glare of the flash, he noticed the instruments were black. Walking over to the main console, his fears were realized and a chill went down his spine. His radar was dead, but he didn’t need it to know that he was surrounded by the largest storm of his life, and he couldn’t do a single thing to get away. Sheer terror began to paralyze him. He was at the mercy of the sea with no way to navigate or to communicate with shore. Would he ever see his distant Cuban relatives who continued to practice their Jewish faith despite the hardships under Castro’s rule? Would he ever marry and have children whom he could teach all the mysteries of the sea as his father had taught him? Would he live to see another day?
The captain suddenly became aware of a loud buzzing sound. Was it another alarm on his small fishing boat that groaned against the fury of the storm? Was his ship beginning to come apart as it was smashed by the endless destructive waves? He opened his eyes to see a fly squarely on his nose! He was in his bed with the covers all scattered around him. After a moment of confusion, he laughed a deep, grateful belly laugh-it was only a dream of nightmare proportions! He was safe in bed! He thanked Adonai that it was only a dream, and bounded out of bed to start his well deserved and much anticipated vacation!