(Author’s note: After a wonderful birthday weekend, I am recharged and ready to go for 2023. Hopefully able to get back to doing these once a week. Enjoy today’s fictioneers!)
He was more of a day person, and loved his music. But with the salaryman lifestyle not to his liking, he needed a way to make ends meet without living at home.
He passed through the urban Takasaki area, carrying Canadian beef on his way from Ota to Nagano. As the sun went down, he flipped on the radio.
“A trip from the past in America. This is the band Hiroshima, with Shinto…”
Sadao smiled, settling in for the last leg of his first run.
(Author’s Note: To say the world has changed is a vast understatement. The new normals are staying inside, fear, and so much more. Working from home is a newer normal. There’s a lot going on. Hence why I haven’t posted in a month. But, I have the time and the patience, so here’s this week’s offering. Keep your eyes peeled in the upcoming weeks for more content. I have a feeling that these stay-at-home rules will become the seeds that bear out creativity.)
For the last 3 days, their small yacht was tossed and turned on some of the fiercest waves they had ever seen. Waves double the magnitude of the ones they saw on the Cook Strait during the Australian Regatta.
They both slowly slithered from under their covers, and made their way toward the deck.
Cresting the stairs, they saw the black sky of the storm to their east, a rainbow cutting across. A long expanse of other boats filled the near shore.
The storm led them to shore, the rainbow indicating so.
The sun was setting in the skies off the coast. The bright yellow of the sun sunk below the horizon, the sky starting to turn a firy orange with twinges of red. There were no clouds in the sky, the winds were calm, and the surf was very mild. It was exactly like a picture, frozen in a moment in time.
Paul Bernal sat top a set of rocks close to the ocean’s edge, looking out at the seas. He had come there for solitude, to calm the raging beast within himself. He looked out at the ocean, and felt the soothing splashing of the waves on rocks farther out. This was his place of refuge from the rest of the world. This is where he was able to do all of the things he needed to do. He was along the waterfront, right where he needed to be.
The rocks he stood on had a roughness that was pronounced. However, one spot seemed to be perfectly cut into the rock pile where it was smooth. The rocks formed two cylinders, which allowed for ease of kneeling when praying. And it was in those grooves that Paul put his legs, and knelt in prayer.
As he prayed, he thought about all that had happened in the day and even days as he prayed, the situations recounted in his mind as he brought all those cares up for prayer. The images from the computer screen that triggered his inner beast were being addressed in prayer, and how much he struggled with images that were more erotic and stimulating. While it had been a few days since the last time, he knew that he had to continue being in prayer and putting forth all the things that he could not keep inside.
He lifted up his troubles at work, dealing with all of the stresses of being a financial aid counselor. Hearing the hard luck stories and not being able to do much didn’t help his psyche at all, and lifting those cares up helped ease the pain that he felt.
For nearly 20 minutes, as the sun continued to descend beyond the horizon and twilight started to show it’s beauty, he continued praying. As he finished his prayers, he stood up on the rocks, and climbed down from them. Landing on the soft sand, he looked down and smiled.
“I’ll be back again, tomorrow. Be ready for me, Lord,” he said, staring out into the darkening skies and ocean. He turned and walked back towards his car, ready to head home and face another night alone.
Music and Fiction 