Down there, where the waves meet the sand, they say you can sometimes see her footprints from the night when the bride went to marry the sea god. They say she went naked, but that's the way these stories go. And, if you can believe them, she was beautiful, but after all aren't they all beautiful, the brides in stories?
Perhaps there is a mote of truth to it, a tale buried inside the stories that isn't pure fancy. Perhaps a girl did go to the water like a lover, walking out to be kissed by the spray, deeper and deeper. Perhaps there is a sea god, and they met in the crash of waves, and she was splashed with pure heat as he spent himself on her.
But what do they know? The sea is cold, and what the waves take is lost.
Once again, though I've managed to have a bit of sexual tension, this is rather more wistful than sexy. I would like to have gone with my first impulse, which was to make a joke based on the fact that obviously this girl is a record-breaking squirter, but the preceding phrase was about as far as that idea got me.
I'd like to think that there are two sides to the story: the narrator is obviously jaded and cynical, but the picture is more magical, willing to believe that the tales are true (it really is a beautiful picture this week). Which side you fall on is entirely up to you. I think our narrator would like to believe, but she's seen too much of the terrible side of the sea to think that it might love as well as destroy. She's damaged. Perhaps she once harbored (God, no pun intended, really, really) the idea of going down to the sea herself.
Like all metaphors, it loses something when it's explained, and so I'll let it speak for itself.
Speaking of speaking for oneself, you can speak for yourself by joining us next Friday for another exciting episode of Flash Fiction Friday. Or at least read everyone else's stories from this week. I can't link to them because I'm writing this before the links are up, but you can go to PB's site and find them easily enough. And if you are one of those people who've participated this week, isn't it great? Flash Fiction Friday, I mean, not my particular fictional accretion. Isn't Flash Fiction Friday great? There's a question worth answering.
12 comments:
"The sea is cold, and what the waves take is lost."
OMGOSH that's the best closing line EVER!!! I am going to steal it and use it to start a novel that will make me rich and you famous. How about that?
I love this post (i'm gushing, sorry, I should be cool and detached, eh?) I like the thought that even if the fantasy is true, even if the Sea God is waiting, what he/she takes is gone. Gone forever.
A wonderful post, again.
Yes, I do like to think FFF is great, particularly when it brings us so many different imaginative takes. This photo (which I agree is utterly gorgeous -- you really ought to check out Vitaly's other work, either via his main website or his darkly amusing webcomic at http://rom.ca ) seems to have really inspired a lot of people.
I really liked the fairytale/legend aspect to this one. I'm a big fan of legends and myths, and so I love seeing new and different ways of interpreting the old tales. This take is excellent. At first I thought it was sad, but then realized it's perfect as is...for after all, the sea IS cold and dark, with untold depths.
Happy FFF.
-- PB
I love the fairy tale way you introduced this! It was soothing and at once intriguing. I could hear the author. All we need now is Morgan Freeman narrating! Brilliant.
I like and believe in the story of the bride and the sea god.
~CP (not yet jaded) ;-)
@Advizor: Thanks hun. I worked on the closing a bit, so I'm glad it went well. If you steal it, make sure you dedicate the book to me ;)
@PB: I haven't read all of them yet, but it seems like you and I were two sides of the same coin this week. Always nice to be in good company. I love legend myself, and I particularly love the idea that there's belief and truth and all of that wrapped up in it to the point where it's hard to say where one ends and the other begins.
@slowburn: Morgan Freeman would definitely put a different spin on it, I'll give you that ;)
@CP: Then you'll be the first to be eaten by the sharks ;) Kidding. I hope you find yourself a nice sea god and settle down and have dozens of tiny mermaids, each sexier than the last ;)
Really lovely post! Thanks for the welcome. ;)
@Drenchxoxo: Thanks for the compliment, and anyone who hasn't read yours should go check it out now because it's good too. I don't know when I became such a welcome wagon community booster, but apparently I am, and it's always good to see new faces at FFF, if only to keep me from getting complacent.
As usual, I love both the FFF and the explanation! And I'm with Advizor, that closing line is great. "What the waves take is lost"... it's dramatic and powerful. Love it!
Lexi, I loved your post, but I am loving these comments too! How fun!
Also, although I'm sure you could have made a go of it with the world champion squirter thing, I'm really glad you went with the mystical sea god and his beautiful bride instead.
@Spring Flower: Thanks hun, I'm glad the last line was appreciated given the polishing I had to do on it. Originally it had to do with the waves not returning anything, but the evolved into the phrasing I chose and I went with that because it scanned better.
@elisabeth: It really is becoming a regular literary salon around here. I love the conversations I get to have about FFF, and honestly I encourage anyone else to add their own interpretations to mine, or to give their own artist's statement after theirs. As far as the epic squirter, I really just couldn't get that one to work; the current incarnation came much more easily to me. Call it laziness ;)
Wow this is amazing! I adore it! Truly such a heart wrenching piece and yet utterly beautiful in its own way...
Bravo!
Sorry I'm so late I was away for the weekend.
always,
Bilinda
@Bilinda: That's okay; I was late making the rounds last weekend. And if you're going to call it beautiful, I can wait as long as you want ;)
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