Life Cycles

The tide comes in with a rush, dancing amongst the pebbles and debris scattered across the beach. It’s a powerful thing, full of life as it races from one obstacle to the next, both curious and playful. Eventually the rush slows to a trickle and then for a moment, at the very limit of its reach, it pauses, almost as if it was taking a quick look around to see what it had accomplished. Then, with little more than a whisper, it slides slowly back into the ocean that birthed it.

And so it is with man … dust to dust.

Ed looked out over the still lake to where the sun had just set. The cycle of life had recaptured the giant ball of flame in the sky. If it was mighty enough to do that, what chance did Ed have to step outside of the inevitable path to his own sunset?

He had lived quite the life. He was a circus clown as a young man when WWII came along. He quickly found that storming beaches was not nearly as fun as making balloon animals. After the war, he had met Marge. She was the main player in his life’s highlight reel. Unfortunately, her sunset had come all too soon. He woke up every morning missing her, continuing to do so until he went to bed that night.

She was still with him though. Not only in thought, but in the children they had raised together. He could see her smile in their son’s face, her sense of humor in their daughter’s. He missed her alright, but she was not gone.

This morning was different. When he woke up, there was Marge, lying next to him. She smiled at his surprise and then said, “Ed honey, why don’t you take the grand kids fishing one last time down by the lake. “

So here he stood. His own sun was setting but he somehow didn’t seem to mind. Marge was the pot of gold at the end of this cycle and that was all he needed to know.

Written in the 15 minutes time frame permitted by the contest