It happened again
he said it to no oneno one was around to hear him except his cats but they were fast asleep had breakfast groomed were acting like big cats on the savannah
happened again
bludgeoned throughout the nightparcel atop of odd parcel with scarcely time to draw a breath in between though these revealeddespite wildly separate locations geographies these revealed a continuity a symmetry which captured his dreaming attention because his dreams hardly ever aligned
he held something that kept him afloat something he caught a frantic glimpse ofsomething angular the black water everywhere around him was anything but angular
he caught glimpses of it as he swam in its direction
he tried to remain calmtried wishing and not wishing it to be everything he hoped and everything he hoped was something that would save him from drowning something that would give him a chance to survive another day another day and another
he wasat last greedy
the years he lived before didnt matter he wanted to live more years
he didnt want his life to end here unknown fishfood scavenged bits
Him Yeah him I remember him Whatever happened to him
he sought solace with the thought Him Hes dead
death a solace
hed see what something under him was in the dawn
he unbuckled his belt and cinched his arm to the raft so it wouldnt lose him now that he found it
the white noise the lapping waveshow long had he been in the waterthe sea rocking himhe had no idea he just kept swimmingkept his head above waterquickly took him into a dreamless sleep
when he woke it darkstill darkhis back was dryhad he slept through the daywas this the same nighthis throat was parched he kept trying to clear it
he unlashed himself
he rolled over onto his back and treaded his belt through his pants
he croaked again
again
he listened for birds he listened for anything other than waves
he croaked
whathe heard something
a whistle
he listenedlistened as he might stare
he clutched his eyes shut
Was it again
a whistle
No
Not a whistlea breath
an inhale
an exhale
Mygod Inhales and exhales Nasal
he rolled onto his bellygripped the rafts woodslats
whistles
he kept his eyes closed he moved his head like an antenna roving towards where the breaths were emitted
opening his eyes he found himself looking into an curious eye quiet in a long head and beyond it other curious eyes and long heads
whales
a pod of whales
their breaths silver in the night
he crawled forward he reached over the rafts edge and touched the whale behind its eye touched an alien humanity
who exhaled
whistled
who breathed with lungs as he breathed with lungs
other whales crowded
he touched them it seemed if they had hands they would also have wanted to touch him
the pod turned in mass it churned the sea and whale by whale by whale took turns taking himhis raft on their backs and swimming in a direction they determined
he croaked happily
he gazed in all the different eyes gazed into their humanity he passed out
a red rising sun woke him he was laying on his belly
he woke believing he dreamed the breathsthe whistlesthe eyes the whales
he hadnt
they were taking him into the sun into the east in the once of wakingrealising he hadnt dreamedhe was washed in the scent of land
stiffly he made it his knees
before he raised his eyes he looked into the eyes at either side of him he luxuriated in their whispersin their splashin the mist of their breaths
then he looked
before him in the distance were brown and green curls of land land that smelled like a woman did waking from her sleep
then he didnt lookhe couldnt he wept
the pod rotated around him
he recognised particular eyes
all the whales did not participate
those who didnt remained at the periphery perhaps unconvinced he was worthwhile yet they did acknowledge him they raised their pectorals waved their flukes several leapt bodily into the air and crashed back into the sea throwing up exuberant sparkling gouts
that night near enough land that he could see individual lights hear individual voices curious eye rose beside him
he could feel their pectoral fin rub the bottom of the raft
then he or she rolled and bankeddove to their right they emerged directly behind him and nosing the raft they churned the sea with several mighty beats of their fluke pushing him towards the land ahead
surging forward he saw the pod peel offheard their breaths and whistles and then gliding on the arch of a swellof he or she diving beneath him he heard rollers crashing on the beachhead rhythmic methodical
he was never more alone
* * *
squat irregular bottlestheir glass melted by cold fires leaned oddly some rockedwere troubled to keep their feet while sitting on a long curved table covered by an aquacoloured linen
he grabbed one by its stout neck lifted it to his mouth yanked its cork with his teeth and took a long pull at its sweet viscous liquor
it burned his parched throat teared his eyes
beyond the table nearer the edge of the deep flatstone veranda was an elaborate tiered fountain of marble sea beasts and monsters endowed mermaids happy maidens and boys
fresh coldsmelling water pulsed and splashed and slipped across breasts and ample buttocks chests accordion ribcages twisted backs and gentlyslyly over quims and cocks and thighs muscled in exertion in erotic desire
a queer bottle in hand he roved to the fountain
he dropped to his kneesplunged his arms into its cool depth and slaked his thirst quaffing from the palmsthe bowls of his hands
he had never been so thirst
the sea air the sea waterthough he denied himself worked his tongue the insides of his mouth harshly causing raw belligerent sores and they separate of him sought to revive themselves bathed in the healing water he let stand in his mouth between swallows
satiated gut distended he pushed up with his arms and legs at once and stood upright he took in a tall white stone building which he must have exited to have found the table the veranda and the fountain
it leered at him
it was solitary
backed by an impenetrable black night
the whales brought him to shore
he couldnt imagine they meant to spirit him here or had they
obviously they were not without reasonthey were not without humanity they saved him and he was alien to them
as alien as this place was to him
he crossed the flatstone mounted three steps to a shallow terrace he entered the building unchallenged
he went up wide staircases crossed intimate balconies that overlooked the banquet the freshwater fountain on the stone veranda
ascending to the top reclining storey revealing the steps of the storeys beneath it he entered a broad room that was separated from the night air by quivering sections of curtains
the room was sparse several couches several clutches of gathered chairs and small tables a reception chamber
he crossed the chamber to a door recessed at the back of the room
he wanted to penetrate this overt mystery
disregarding the broad passages at either end of the chamber he entered a voluptuous antechamber his smelling scrubbed by sea air he distinctly smelled raw blood
he crossed to a stone balustrade that overlooked the space suspended over a marbletiled floor beneath on the floor from the height he looked down from he could see a poor attempt was made to wash away what must have been pools of blood he could see pinkedges their hue still glistening interrupted swatches peered faintly bodieshe assumed dragged off
haste
haste to conceal
from high dark oily smears obsequious taint
then stepping backward and asidesuddenly dazed his vision blurring he hears a tremendous scufflerough voices thuds and then horrible screams a womans scream shes choked shes muffled
and through the door entering from the receptionchamber it kicked open a mans back appears a woman struggles he holds her legs at her knees another man is rough at her shoulders onearmed his free arm pummels her head her head is swathed in wraps of fabric he beats her somehow she retains consciousness her body twists her scream is muffled at the balustrade the trailing man catches up and across from each other the men throw her over into space they dont bother to watch her fall they cross the balcony heading back to go through the doorTHUMP from below
they emerge with an unconscious man between them a grievous wound to his head they throw him over the balustrade and also dont watch
THUMP
his legs dont move
he floats to the stoneworks
their bodies have broken like water balloons
spatters rivulets of blood flow
the two men emerge
they throw buckets of water on the flooron the bodies depart return with more bucketsmore water the blood thins at once each roughly drags a broken bodytwisted unnaturally to an egress he couldnt see from where he stood to an egress that would take them to the sea
it wasnt the liquor he imbibed
he slipped time
he had only the audacity to smell to watch time unwind itself and the transgression revealed
he was an unwitting witness
he could recognise both men
recognise the murderers
he also recognised as an uninvited stranger no one would listen to him
he sees he murders the murderers
* * *
he sees
he sees he is no longer in the white stone building
he descended the stairshe descends past the storey where the bodies would have fallenhe descends hoping that he can find where the two men have exitedwhere they may have taken the dead woman and man
he emerges onto the flatstone veranda and runs to his righthe runs between odd guestshe knows the murderers wouldnt come this waywould be at some secret exit probably below the veranda discrete
the earth is soft
in the dark he can make out ruts cut by cart wheels the footprints of an unshod donkey or horse one man rodemaybe both he didnt stop to feel the compacted earththe ruts he knew them
hed recognise the murderers whether separate or together
separate or together didnt play into his consideration
he chased into the night after the unwinding trail already the earth was mixing with marl and sand the pulling animal plodded its feet bit harder at the toe clawed the sifting ground
he slowed to a walkand slowing ahead he could hear the wheels turn and groan he heard the animal urged by a voice occasionally a lash
he walked easily in the animals footprints reserving his strength
the path ran in a switchback working its way to the sea
atop one crest from behind seagrass he saw that both men rode on the cart the bodies were secreted under a bulky tarp that didnt betray what lay under it
it was unlikely that anyone in the middle of the night would be curious to stop the men or ask what they transported
he ran to the end of a switchbackopposite the mens backs and worked his way noisilyutterly obscured to the beach below
he arrived amply ahead of them and surveyed where the path emerged where the men might dispose of the bodies
the tide was high but it did not eclipse the crooked finger of a seawall that deflected the sea wavesthe beachs erosion
he assumed theyd take the bodies out onto the stout wall and hurl them into the deep water
the receding tide would steal their remains and provide feast aplenty for the waters denizens
theyd have to manhandle the bodies to out near the point where the finger crooked there wasnt room enough on top of it to turn the beast and the cart around
he slipped his clothing and save his shoes he swam naked across the protected still water he sprawled on the inclined rocks shy of the crook and waited
he should have been a murderer
he read their minds
they carried the mans body first
they were struggling fatigued
they didnt see him rise behind them as they labouredas they swung the body into the seaone lost his footing and began to fallthe second rushed to grab and arrest him and akimbo off balance precarious he leapt and shoved them at once and they plunged into the water then rising separately below him dazedgasping for air he cracked their skulls with large seawall rocks the cracks either killing them or disabling their wits that they drowned
they bobbed in the surf face down
when they bumped into the seawall before the sea took them he struck them in the head with other rocks that he wield above his head like Atlas
they did not protest
like black turtles they finally floated out to sea with the tide
the beast untethered turned on the beach and began up the path to return whence it came it ambled and began ascending almost gratefullythe cart lighter for the missing men
it would be curious when the beast and cart were finally discovered
he thought to himself as he swam across the quiet inlet to his clothing had he said he should have been a murderer
compleat: 1533, Thursday, 9 8. 18
