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Rated: E · Short Story · Adult · #1405588
A man's journey through life.
                   Where the Ocean Comes Through




         As a young world aged and dried, the Ocean's components, taken from the greatest depths, were left for men to work.  And one particular man learned how to work with the stone.  He also learned as strong as stone was, he could shape it into whatever he wanted.  And with these shapes he could build. 
Then he learned he could pulverize the stone taken from the great limestone belly.  This dust could also be used to build.  This Man later learned that by adding elements, he could make the pulverized stone even stronger.  He mixed the dust of limestone, dolomite, gypsum, mica, vinyl acetate polymer, ethylene vinyl acetate polymer, attapulgite, talc, pyrophyllite and water.  He stirred it all together and slathered this mud across a wall.  Then he took a sponge, another item taken from the Ocean by a Greek diver in Tarpon Springs, Florida.  With this sponge, he pulled the mud into thousands of tiny mountain ranges to dry upon the wall.
         Once it dried, the man painted the wall blue and the mountain ranges sunk into the Sea and became waves.  And once again the Ocean covered that which It was made of.  Then a flicker of realization flashed through the man and he began to understand men cannot escape the Sea.  Its vast depths have plunged into every facet of our lives with such profundity that we cannot comprehend how we cannot escape Her.
         The man stood there, staring at his Ocean as thoughts and visions rushed into him carried on heavy currents that waxed and waned, stirring the limestone dust within him.  A short gasp hissed through his teeth as his lungs filled.  The heavy undertow took him in, but he was not afraid.  He opened his eyes as he swam through the Ocean and he was bound to new vision with the clarity of Sea things.  The man explored his world from his new view.  He swam through what he was and fed upon mistakes past made.  Then he swam through where his shortcomings schooled and he fed upon them too.  And as the man with the new vision fed, he grew.  He grew and grew until he became weary of the Ocean and climbed out to crawl on sand beds made by the Ocean.  Air ebbed and flowed through his lungs like the Ocean currents through sponge.  The man looked back upon the Ocean with gratitude for all he had become. 
         He ran his fingers through the sand and he knew he could use it to build.  He learned to put sand to fire to make stars.  And the man recognized this was all from the Ocean, the stars were in the Ocean, he was from the Ocean, and the stars were within him.  It was all the Ocean's doing, we cannot escape the Sea.
         And the man strode along the beach feeling his toes squish through the warm grains and as he went, he searched within himself for stars.  But he was not able to see anymore stars from his vantage point.  So, he began to move the sandy beaches.  Eventually, he sat atop a mounded sand desert resting at the edge of the Ocean.  He put fire to the sand and made stars which illuminated the darkest corners within him.  And as he learned and continued to lighten dark areas he saw the Ocean creeping in to occupy holes where he dug sand from the beach.  But the man was not afraid of the Ocean's tide.  He was from the Ocean.
         After time, the man became dissatisfied with his well lit sand plateau and needed to learn more.  He moved further inland, away from the pristine beaches upon which he was born.  The man moved further and further inland, until he forgot about the Ocean.  But as he went, he carried along his knowledge, so even in the forest he could find stone and limestone and other treasures once left by the Ocean.  He continued to work and build with these things. 
And one day, so far away from the Ocean from where he sprung, the man found himself in a world he built from the Ocean.  And once again he stood before a blue ocean made of limestone, dolomite, gypsum, mica...etc.  And the sponges had strained the water pure and the man's meaning was clear.
         The man tried desperately to get back to the Ocean, but he could not leave.  The things he created from the ocean needed repair, and they were his things to maintain, his gifts from the Ocean.  He understood now he was not perfect as the Ocean.  And as much as he wanted to return to the Ocean he had to stay and maintain the bricks, stone and mortar he built.  So the man stayed for many years, repairing his creations as they needed. 
         And then one day the man stopped and he grew cold.  He was buried in the ground with the limestone and sand, ground that would one day sink until the Ocean covers it.  And the man was not afraid.  He knew it was all the Ocean's doing.  After all, She gave him everything... She has given us everything... and we cannot escape Her.
© Copyright 2008 Bryce Steffen (velvetiguana at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
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