Mark had been out on the boat since early in the morning.

It was about time to start heading back, but he wanted to do one more sweep for oysters.

He still had little time.

And just as he was about to start that last sweep, he saw something.

There was a man standing on the shore, and he was alone.

He appeared to be waving.

Mark had no idea who this could be or why he would be waving at him,

and as his boat got closer,

Mark realized that the man was not waving.

The man was holding his hand out, as if he were telling someone,

Stop, come back, now.

The man was dressed in all gray, and he reminded Mark of a pirate.

So he continued to stare, wondering if he should listen to this stranger in gray.

So he took his hat off, rubbed his head and eyes,

and then he looked out to the shore once again. The man was gone. He had vanished into thin air.

Mark decided to not stay out for more oysters and headed back to Doc. And a few hours later, he looked out the window from his house.

He could see the inlet where he had been fishing for oysters.

The waves were wild, the wind was roaring, and the rain was coming down hard.

That powerful storm that the weather channel had announced arrived two days earlier

than it was supposed to, so he closed a curtain and sat in the dark, thinking,

If the gray man had not waved him down,

he would have been stuck in the storm.

...