“I could hardly stand it,” said Mrs. Robin. “I woke up with butterflies in my stomach.” She placed her hand on her stomach, her gaze far off on the sea’s horizon.
“What did you do?” said Diana.
“The only sensible thing to do,” replied her mother. “I took a cold shower.”
Diana laughed. She admired women of her mother’s generation- strong, tough, determined, and full of grit. Grin and bear it types.
There was a nice breeze blowing from the sea. Much nicer than the gale-force winds of the previous night. Even the sailboats had ventured out today and looked wonderful on the water.
“I just don’t know if I’m ready for it,” said Diana.
“Oh poof! Who is ever ready?" Mrs. Robin inquired hypothetically. "You’ll now be living with a man, a brute with the emotional intelligence of a fiver year old child. Not only do you become a wife, you also become a mother, even before you give birth. Then life goes on, dear.”
“But that’s not what I mean,” protested Diana.
“Then, what-”
They had arrived at the end of the sandy beach, where rocks and boulders blocked the way.
“Would you look at that?” said Mrs. Robin, peering over the rocky hill- a broken mast could be seen jutting up at an angle. “It must be from last night's storm.”
To Diana's surprise, she saw her mother clamber up the rocks.
“Mom! You’re going to break your neck,” she said.
Mrs. Robin looked back with a smile, and hitching up her dress, she hopped across a couple of boulders. She stopped suddenly, placing her hand on her heart.
“Mom? What is it?” Diana called out.
Mrs. Robin did not answer, instead she quickly jumped across the rocks and disappeared.
Diana sighed. She looked at the boulders and shook her head. Grabbing a hold of a branch wedged on the hillside, she managed to prop herself up on a slab of bedrock.
There, on a small strip of beach, she saw her mother standing next to the boat wreck, and beside her, stood the figure of a man.
Diana knew her mother. She was conservative in social norms. Aside from business, she would never fraternized with any males who were not relatives. So, who was this strange man?
They looked at the wreckage and at each other but did not say a word. Then the man raised one hand, and there was a flash of purple light.
Diana shielded her eyes.
The world around her had suddenly transformed. She could see planets, moons, entire galaxies in the sky.
Down on the beach, her mother and the man were gone. In their stead were two elf-like creatures with pointy ears. The female creature, who wore a torn green dress, wagged her finger at the impish fellow who grinned foolishly at her.
Diana felt light headed. She lay down on a bed of driftwood, deposited by the tide on the rock, and looked at the impossible planets and stars swirling above her. Glowing dust floated through the air like tiny prisms scattering light, blanketing her body in a soft cocoon. She wasn’t herself. At least, she didn’t feel like it. She was somebody else, a mischievous and exuberant creature from another realm, her being full of longing and yearning for a distant heart.
“Diana! Are you taking a nap?”
Diana opened her eyes. For a moment, she thought she saw a small lean face with almond-shaped eyes, but when she blinked, it was her mother standing over her.
“I must’ve fallen asleep,” said Diana looking around. “Mom, you were talking to a man down on the beach.”
“I thought it was Mr. Stewart, and I wanted to ask him about some accounting matters” said Mrs. Robin. “Turns out I was wrong; it was just a stranger.”
What about the flash of purple and the creatures on the beach? Diana must’ve dreamed it. But why would her mother lie about the stranger? Surely, she could see that the man was not Mr. Stewart, who was round and squat, while the stranger had been just the opposite.
“Come,” said Mrs. Robin, taking Diana's hand. “We should head back.”
She helped her daughter to her feet, and together, they made their way down the beach.
The afternoon sun splashed the sky with bright hues. The water shimmered in a mesmerizing way. Gently, the waves lapped on the shore and retreated with a soft rustle on the sand.
Mother and daughter walked in silence. Each lost in a haze of emotions and distant thoughts.
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