The Power of the Sea
The twinkling chatter between the pier lights and the fading stars accompanies her steady crunch on the pebbles. Up ahead Harry’s paws tap out a jazz beat and then abruptly stop. She peers through the mist as if trying to locate a girlfriend in a smoky Oscar’s Nightclub, back in the day.
Then she sees it and the eerily still world freezes briefly before a panicking heart kick starts blood into feeding her anxious mind. The chill air in her lungs invades her bones and possesses her soul. “Oh God, not again”, she murmurs as she arrives at the neatly folded pile of clothes being nasally inspected by Harry.
Before dawn was always going to be the best time he figured as the black icy water begins to seep through the outer layer of his skin. As the sensation begins to envelope his chest he feels the shelf of the seabed dramatically give way, and suddenly his feet no longer support his body. A swirl of excitement and fear laps around his head as he exhales and slides slowly down into the chilly deep. And in that darkness he sees her. His beloved sister. He feels the agony of her decay during those final months. She knew long before of course and had made peace with the downward trajectory of her short life. But in his waking moments, surrounded by the memories promising such a bright future, all he felt was an injustice and pain. It should have been him.
On the beach Joy fumbles for her phone. Maybe there’s still time. Harry senses her fear and begins his own dance of distress. The search of her small bag becomes frantic and Harry starts to expect the appearance of a treat. She sifts through dog bags, tissues and other loose items before seeing her phone still in the charger on the sideboard. Harry waits expectantly. Guilt and despair pin Joy to the beach and she looks wildly out across the water. She will never forgive herself.
The depth of sensation is unmatched by any other experience. Letting himself go, infusing his body with water, so intense and cold that his negative thoughts don’t survive long. A deep equanimity arises within his mind as the barriers between his consciousness and the water around him dissolve. After minutes of deep absorption his feet find the shelf and he begins to stand and slowly walk ashore.
Joy clasps her hand across her mouth as a vision of Daniel Craig emerges from the water. Harry matches her trembling relief hoping that this will finally result in the pre breakfast nibble he deserves. Daniel lifts his clothes and wraps the microfibre towel around his shoulders, placing a thick woollen hat over his head. His radiant smile creates a golden glow that matches the growing promise of dawn light as he nods to Joy and walks towards the promenade. Harry feels his stomach growl and looks up despondently at a stunned Joy.
