Face to Face with a Typhoon

Growing up as a kid in Brooklyn, I found it hard at times understanding why doing certain things gave kids such a thrill. At least I couldn't figure why kids got a rush by climbing on the back of the bus or leaning into the cut out as a roaring subway train went by. For me, it was enough just jumping over the wall everytime I went to Prospect Park. But then something happened and all of a sudden there was a thrill temptation that I could just not resist.

I was on a ship in the South Pacific, that got caught in a terrible typhoon. I watched with excitement as the ship climbed the mighty waves, and then plummetted into the water like a diver jumping off a high diving board. Before this the most dangerous moment I had faced, was perhaps getting a paper cut in the ships office. Yes, it was dangerous, but yet suddenly, I felt so alive.

I started thinking to myself "this is my last cruise, and I'll never have a chance like this again."

"Don't go outside the skin of the ship because it is far to dangerous" the Captain kept announcing on the intercom.

But everytime I heard the word dangerous, I just keep feeling a dare devil rush of excitement. I would soon be back in Brooklyn, a place where there never is a typhoon. I wanted to reach out and touch this typhoon while I could. I just had an incredible compulision to come face to face with this typhoon. I wanted to feel all it's fury, yet conquer it. Now, for the first time in my life, I was starting to understand why those kids in Brooklyn got a rush from taking chances. I had always laughed when my friend had asked me to go sky diving with him. But now suddenly, I was feeling regret for all the times I said no to sky diving.

I knew it was insane, and I could easly perish in the grip of the typhoon. But I felt an overwhelming compulsion to come face to face with this typhoon. So I opened the door hatch to the front of the ship and looked out. I noticed that there was a ladder secured to the deck of the ship. And I figured I could grip this with both my arms and feet. So I closed the hatch door and made a mad dash out to the ladder. Now secured to the ladder, the ship started to climb the giant wave of the typhoon. There was no turning back now. The front of the ship was starting to point up toward the sky, and I would surely fall off now if I let go of my grip of the ladder and tried to run back.

The ship kept climbing the monster wave, as if it were a roller coaster ride at an amusement park. At last we got to the top of the wave, and then the ship dived head on into the water taking me under the water with it. I hung on to the ladder with all my might and hoped that I could hold my breath long enough till we came up again. I guess it was only for a minute or so, but it seemed like an eternity. The power and fury of the typhoon wave was just awesome. But what I didn't expect was the heavy pounding I got from the impact of the ship diving into the water. I could have easly broke my back with all that pounding, but I was very lucky I didn't.

No, I never figured that I could have got hurt from the pounding, and might not have the ability to run back after the ship surfaced again. If anything gave me a scare, I guess it was that. Yes, I was very sore, and my clothes were full of fish. But as soon as the ship surfaced again, I took a deep breath and ran like hell, back inside the skin of the ship. And I would expect that I should not be needing any more thrills for the rest of my lifetime. Anyway, I wrote this true story, so that everyone will know what it's like being inside the grip of a typhoon, without having to take the chance of experiencing it first hand. And I kid you not, by saying that trying something like this could really kill you.