i am a little confused… at times, it seems as though the various paragraphs are intended to mesh together in one cohesive story, or alternately they are completely separate.

also, the " Later, a strong box was discovered under the floorboards from a child who had died a terrible death." sentence didn’t quite make sense… do you mean, the child discovered the strongbox, or the strongbox is tied to the child’s death.

Indeed, what did I mean by the strong box’s discovery? ;)
I did make it vague on purpose. they can be separate or together as a snippets of one person’s life.
Sorry this is too much vague-ness.

6 stories in 1, yet 1 is less than none? You’re cleverly playing with paradox through the representation of your entry as a whole.

stories/ paragraphs 3—5 are my faves. I find it best to take a breath and refocus from story to story. Reading this one too fast is a disservice to what you’re doing. “A shipwreck under a meter of silt” — one of many wonderful descriptions that got me thinking deeper than what’s on the surface.

I think the strongbox under the floorboards really is the most out of place. If you assume that it was the boy, then either the father or another stranger experience all the rest. If you assume that the boy was upset because if the undiscovered box, you border on a ghost story, of which there are few ghosts in the rest of this. Unless you create them.

hmmm… i thought it was a single story of a man, haunted by a curse. the curse causes his child to die, his wife to falsely blame him (and leave), he tries to investigate what he thinks is the cause (a mysterious ship wreck, but fails to find anything), he visits his mother’s grave – resigned to his fate, and lastly he’s set free after something happens at his house.

nice, mark! either way, the vagueness makes it possible.

A strongbox was discovered under the floorboards left by a child who would later die a terrible death.

Is that kind of what you were going for?

There is one defining thread, the repeated use of “later”, though the last two lines are missing it.

I’m all for experimenting!

The last two lines are in the present of this man’s life. The strongbox scenario you described, 32, is what I had meant when writing it, however I have seen the other possibilities. :)

There’s nothing but a winner here.

Humbled. I doubted my vagueness that caused so much confusion was a winner. Thanks, though!