Into the Deep Blue
MASON SAT ON the soft white sand with his bare feet buried deep within the silicone crystals and his arms wrapped tightly around his knees, which were folded tightly against his thumping chest. He was sitting and watching and pondering. The wind blew harshly, causing the tops of the waves to spray into millions of tiny pieces and in no particular direction at all. The sun was setting and the sky was turning eerie shades of orange and purple and blue.
The waves looked big and dangerous and hollow. Each time one of them would crash onto shore, Mason could hear the most hollow of growls deep within the liquid barrels. The surface of the water was Pacific Ocean blue, but the insides of the barrels were white and foamy and empty — as if the world’s most menacing sea monster had just finished shampooing its hair.
Mason stood up and dusted the sand from his backside and straightened his creaking knees. The shoreline was coming closer and closer to him with each step that he made, and the hollow growls of the liquid barrels were becoming more pronounced. When Mason arrived at the shoreline he just stood there and watched the sea splash into his ankles and shins and make him feel at home. Mason took a few more steps into the water and enjoyed the cold feeling of the spring water around his legs, waist and trunk.
A large wave was forming before Mason, and he stood as still as a statue so that he could admire the wave in all its mighty glory. The wave was building in ferocity now, and within a few fleeting and eternal moments the crest of the wave had thrown a dark and empty shadow over Mason’s universe. The growling was even more hollow and profound than Mason could have ever imagined. The wave stopped forming and stood as still as a frightened rabbit sitting alone in an open field while a pack of coyotes trot on by.
Standing in the frozen and hollow and growling water barrel, Mason slowly and purposefully looked up and turned around to fully take in the magnificent sight. The top of the barrel was transparent, and Mason felt as if he were looking through a tinted sunroof into the soul of the universe. Mason turned all the way around until he was staring straight into the crest of the wave. Four feet in front of him was a gleaming white door with a bright blue knob. Mason took his first step and felt his heart racing and his skin tingling. He took a second step and placed his hand upon the bright blue knob on the gleaming white door. Mason then took a deep breath and twisted the knob and gently opened the door.
Mason then removed each item of clothing with a surgeon’s precision. He then closed his eyes, threw his hands upward to feel the vibrant water above and all around him, and dove straight through the door and into the mysterious dark blue of the wonderous ocean.
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Copyright © J.S. Lender / Reef Point Press 2021
