Beguiling Waters (May 2020)
The Depth
It shimmers, opalescent in the blue-black. Its pure spherical form pulled apart, reconstituted, to the tide's rhythm. It could almost be the moon's reflection, if this night weren’t moonless.
You both gaze from your basalt outcrop, on a coast learned through a lifetime of lungs strained to bursting, and rock-drawn blood in the water. It has teeth, this shore. Taking this knowledge, you assess depth and the thing's size. As large as your fist, your skull?
He leans forward in his eagerness and you close your eyes, knowing his desire is not for the pearl, but for the darkness beyond.
Hands up if you read The Pearl by John Steinbeck at school...