Time is a flat circle." The man said, who looked rougher than his years. "It repeats eternally."
The man often sat on the beach late at night, when all the tourists were gone and the shops were closed and all the lights were out, especially when the sky was full of stars and there was no moon.
I had brought a bottle of red wine to ply him with, to get him to tell me some wild story people that had lived in this ocean, or worked along the boardwalk had told me had. Some strange story from when he was young, like us.
The man had opened the bottle, and had taken a draught from it, before again gazing again at the dark and crashing waters of the sea. Even in the starlight, I saw sadness and melancholia in his dark eyes.
"Once." The man said. "When I was young, I had left a party that had gone deep into the morning. Laughter and loud music had spilled out into the darkness from the island of light that was the house. I had left, having a head swimming with fine drink, to sleep off on the beach that hot night."
"I had lain down upon the sands, full of elation and passion, staring up at the sky, full of stars, feeling as if I could reach out and grasp them, pull them down one by one."
"I was happy with drink, vibrating, and radiating with passion, feeling connected to all things."
"And then, I heard the singing."
The man took another draught of wine from the bottle, sighing, his shoulders slumping and a resignation filled him. What he was remembering was joyous and sacred, but it filled him with sorrow to think of it now as an old man, when he knew nothing that came after matched its magic.
"And then, I heard the singing."
"It was a female voice, clear and high, from somewhere out in the darkness, out there beyond the crashing waves."
"I shot up, enraptured by it, this singing out there in the night, from out there in the water. I stood up and walked towards the crashing waves. That drew me to it, filled me with an unbearable warmth and pleasure. I walked out into the ocean."
"Then, I saw her."
"I saw what I thought at first was a woman, with pale skin, aquamarine eyes, and fine, golden hair. There was a slight and sly smile on her lips, as if she were measuring me up, deciding if I was what she wanted."
"She grabbed my hand and pulled me to her, and she tightly embraced me."
"I then realized that she had tail from the waist down: She was a mermaid!"
The man now had a sweet smile on his face, and a twinkle in his eye; this was his most wonderous memory.
She held me tightly, and I could feel my heart trying to explode from my chest! Her skin was warm and soft, and I felt weightless in her arms. I could have gazed into her eyes forever!"
"Holding me to her, she swam with speed out into the ocean, into the night, and distant from the shore she held me, stroked my hair, caressed my face."
"If was just, the night, and the stars. We floated beneath stars. She reached up, plucked one from the sky, and gave it to me."
The waves crash and crash, and no wind blows, and the man's gaze is distant, as he is completely lost in his reverie. He gazes for long moments at the stars above.
"We were all that was in the world, all that had ever been. She ran her fingers through my hair, drew me close, and kissed me."
"I never knew such sweetness. I never would again."
The wine bottle was empty, and the man was back in the mundane world with me. He was tearing up, and I looked away.
"Time is a flat circle, and it repeats eternally. That was my most wondrous thing, that for one night I won the heart of a mermaid. There has been many sorrows and much loss since. But all things repeat, and will win a mermaid's heart again one night, and that I will get to live that again, that is heaven enough for me."
The waves crash, and the man gazed out into the dark sea. I sat with him for a long time.
Katie
No comments:
Post a Comment