The stranger
The presence of silence
Sitting on the porch watching the ocean, I realize I welcome the gray weather. The thin small drops of rain that barely wet the wooden floor, are fresh and bring a light perfume that calms me and envelops my body in comfort.
The gray skies don’t stop people from going to the beach. Not to sunbathe, but to stroll, play, enjoy each other or just stare at the large mass of water that caresses the sand with small whitish waves. The wind, almost non-existent, blows softly towards the horizon and takes with it the louder sharper noise of the waves crashing, even if small. The sound is gentle but enough to hit the rocks behind me and create a soft echo.
“Excuse me? May I join you?”, a voice asks. It comes from my right, I turn my head and my eyes capture a good looking man, quite young, standing behind the chair next to me.
“Sure”, I reply.
Silence. I survey the horizon not detaining my sight anywhere specific, waiting for the next move. For the next word. But nothing happens. What does this stranger want? Why doesn’t he say anything? I guess he is also surveying the ocean, waiting for a reaction from me. I dare not look at him, so I can only guess where he is looking at or what he is doing.
The surf almost disappears and the stillness of the wind creates a calm ocean, now an immense swimming pool. The way many people like it. I don’t. Waves are a must to make my day at the beach. To watch them and to play with them, in them, in long sessions in the water, sometimes until I start shivering with cold.
The silence, disturbed only by the sound of people playing on the beach or passing by, remains. I feel compelled to say something, but I can’t. My mind wants to, but my body doesn’t respond, particularly my head, which refuses to turn and guide my eyes to the stranger next to me. I can only say that he is good looking. Well, that was my first impression in that short moment I looked at him. It can be that my next eye contact will give me a completely different impression.
In a way, this silence that is becoming thicker and thicker, doesn’t feel unpleasant or embarrassing. It is actually, quite peaceful. It contains tranquility. A kind of presence I enjoy, a presence that doesn’t ask anything of me but is there if I need it, want it. That is probably the reason why my body doesn’t react and my mind doesn’t insist.
Time passes… I don’t know how long. Maybe just a few minutes, maybe more than that. The beach loses its visitors and becomes rather empty. Empty of people, not of life. I feel the visitor’s presence that now confounds with that of the silence’s. He moves, I hear it. It could be an arm or a leg. Or is it something else? The wind? The breeze? I don’t want the silence to finish. I am comfortable and comforted. It is soothing. Even my thoughts left me. My mind is present in quietness. Who was this stranger?
Written in June 2022
Picture: Guincho (Portugal)
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