As the Tide Slowly Turns

They came along a shaded road between some old boarding houses that led them toward the shore. The worn concrete gave way gradually to smooth drifts of fine sand. A small bank sloped gently as the two new companions impressed the accommodating sand with their eager footsteps. As they entered the beach area, Stoke suddenly stopped walking and, with an audible breath, he beheld the scene. This made Sloop halt as well.

     “Wha’…,” started Sloop as he looked next to him. He silenced himself as he noticed the entranced look on his friend’s face. The sun seemed to shine from Stoke’s eyes, which made Sloop turn around and attempt to discover what captured him so.

     The sky was clear blue without a hint of clouds; there was hardly a drop of humidity in the air – it was soft, at a perfect temperature and it felt cleansing to the skin. The sun’s rays reached benevolently, illuminating the playfully rolling waves as they massaged the smooth wet shore. Streams of carefully aimed sunlight caused the crystals in the sand to sparkle more sharply than store-showcased diamonds. A finely tuned breeze swept through from the ocean and seemed to be kindly wrapping itself around the two onlookers, as if to be inviting them.

     Feeling fulfilled, Stoke began walking again in an assured manner. Sloop still had a questioning look on his face but he remained silent, appearing somewhat calmer himself. They stepped steadily along the back part of the beach for about a hundred yards before they came within seeing distance of the adventitious commune where Stoke lived. Once visible, he pointed his finger and said “that’s it” so Sloop would take notice.

     Just before reaching them, Sloop took notice of how well the commune members blended together. It was, at first, obvious when he could hear how intelligently the drums complemented each other in a sort of “call and response” manner, and the way in which the flute and guitars provided sweet overtones to the constant rippling undercurrent of the didgeridoo base. But as he moved closer, Sloop could feel something he hadn’t felt before; it was pleasant and warm to him, despite the strangeness of the people and their immediate surroundings.

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     Michael went on, “Look, what I mean to say is that you, as a group – as a special ‘counter-culture,’ they say at the university – are a very interesting subject of study, in case you didn’t know it. However, I find you to be more important than just that.”

     Annie broke the momentum slightly by leaning on the edge of her seat, demanding, “What on earth do you mean, Mikey?”

     Rhonda let out a bit of a giggle and felt it necessary to chime in – “I think he’s sayin’ that we might have some sort of vital message for people, or something like that – am I correct, ‘Professor Proletaire’?” 

     The struggling visitor backed up and tried a new approach. “Let me tell you what I learned… It is more that, in Rhonda’s words, you ‘reconcile’ a couple important things – in the way that you live – and that this reconciliation has much to do with your message to others.”

     “It does?” said