second impression

today i met a young man on the pier
he was peering over the railing down at the water.

i suspected that he had spotted a sun flower fish and asked him on it

he said he thought he could see a dogfish hiding under the dock
and tried to point it out to me.

"see his head there, he is hiding in the middle, stand were I am and you can see it"

I moved to the spot and looked down into the water.

i saw reflections dancing on the waters surface and deeper, rocks, sand and sunflower fish.

the boy changed his mind and decided that what he saw was only a rock.



Earlier, I saw a family walking somberly towards the pier. They looked like they might have just left church, the young ones dressed in ill-fitting suits covered up with coats for skiing and rain.

I followed them down the pier.
I wanted to know where they were headed.
I guessed a funeral, when I saw the bunch of white roses the mother was holding.

I found out that the white box they were carrying contained the ashes of their aunt that recently passed and that they were being taken out to spread them on the deep lonely ocean.

it was when i was talking with the young man on the pier that they passed by me post- memorial.

this time they were all smiling.



thank you, audra