Week 4: Millie Magner- The King Tide Rolled in

Full Prompt: “She stood at the bluff overlooking the Sound. The king tide rolled in lashing at the eroding clay and sand of the cliff. She reminisced running along the path long gone now as the bluff gave way to the elements. She wondered, “Did the couple peering from the edge like so many who frequent this park, grasp their vulnerability?”

Story:

“She stood at the bluff overlooking the Sound. The king tide rolled in lashing at the eroding clay and sand of the cliff.  She reminisced running along the path long gone now as the bluff gave way to the elements.  She wondered, “Did the couple peering from the edge, like so many who frequent this park, grasp their vulnerability?”

Prompt by Millie Magner

She stood at the bluff overlooking the Sound. The King Tide rolled in lashing at the eroding clay and sand of the cliff. She reminisced running along the path long gone now as the bluff gave way to the elements. She wondered, “Did the couple peering from the edge, like so many who frequent this park, grasp their vulnerability? Did they, as she did, think about such things? They were in the presence of beauty and wonder and her thoughts turned to impermanence. She breathed deep. “It’s gonna to be okay,” she reassured herself. She peered back toward the couple. “Were they married? Dating? If either, for how long?” They looked happy. The deep blue tide swelled and culminated in a considerable crash against the bluff breaking her line of thought. She took another deep breath, synched her coat tighter, and walked on. 

The wind howled through tediously engineered buildings and organic gaps in trees. Teresa’s cheeks were warm against the crisp, late afternoon. After some time her feet led her to one of her favorite spots in the city. Standing outside with her arms at her sides, she looked up at the front-lit sign: “What stage is this?” she mused. “Denial perhaps.” She shoved her hands in her pockets and pressed her shoulder to the ornate wooden door. Teresa saddled up to her favorite stool, not too close to the door nor in the thick of the crowd, and ordered a cranberry juice on the rocks.

Sitting in ‘The Lost and Found,’ hunched over the bar, she held the small, cool, glass with both hands. It wasn’t that she had trouble with booze, she just liked to remind the alcohol who was in charge. She liked to be around people. Sipping the tart beverage she noted the familiar interior. Dimly lit, the bar was sparsely populated. That would soon change. It was decorated in weathered woods, tarnished brass, and well-loved leathers. Browns, carmines, indigos. She liked to be around other people. Not necessarily with them, but exist in their energy. It connected her. It helped drown out some of her thoughts. “Well it isn’t fatal,” she thought. Teresa had always been a deep thinker. She took in a great deal about her surroundings. All of her senses seemed to function on a slightly higher frequency than most. Her heart was big. It wasn’t until a therapist had noted these things in her that she had realized she was different. How was she to know everyone else was not the same?

Teresa swirled the crimson juice in her glass and observed the viscosity of it melt down the glass walls to return to rest. “It’s going to change some things.” A vibrating pocket distracted her. She pulled out her phone. A gif. A blueberry with an arm waving hello drew a scoff and then a smile- her first of the day. The smile was followed by a tear. The gif, this little blueberry, such a silly triviality- but no, this was special. It came unprovoked, from a friend who she loved dearly but hadn’t seen for quite some time. Their schedules simply stopped aligning. She missed them. But the mere idea that someone, a friend, anyone out there, was thinking about her, enough to take a second and let her know… it meant something. 

Teresa spent the next hour doing the same thing for a dozen others. A simple message to let them know she was thinking of them. Some were heart-felt, some silly as the gif, some inside jokes. And as she sat at the bar, cranberry juice and phone in hand, she marveled at what little it had taken to brighten her day. What little time and effort it had taken a friend to completely reverse her heavy-laden thoughts. She promised herself then and there to remember that feeling. To more consciously remind herself we all have such power. A power to help one-another throughout life- and it very often takes minimal extra effort. 

In that moment of reflection her highly attuned ears, above the now increased noise of fellow patrons, noticed the barely audible song on the house speakers. It was one of her favorites. A number by a band whose namesake was shared by the fruit of her drink. Her smile widened. She shook her head that something so simple had brightened her day- blueberries, cranberries, and friends.