The Turtle

One day I was walking on the beach. It was so lovely; the sand was warm and so was the air, but not too warm. The breeze from the ocean kept the temperature at a cool level.

As my hands and feet glided over the sand I craned my neck a bit to see my surroundings. Being the nice summer day it was, there were plenty of people at the beach. But I kept an eye out for a special pair.

See, it was a few years ago that I stumbled upon these creatures, at a time that was very odd to be stumbling upon... well, anything, really. It was springtime, but very early on, and it was certainly not a time to visit the beach.

But there they were, two tall young men, one running feet ahead of the other, both laughing. I could tell from that very moment that there was something special about them. And not just because they seemed to have no care for what the weather was like.

When the lankier one stopped running and turned around to wait for the other one, there was a tiny flash in his eyes of something like I'd never seen before. It was some sort of light, some sort of brilliance inside him that ached to break free of its human prison. Whoever this man was, he was going to go far, that was for sure.

The next week they showed up again, acting like they had before. If I could have, I would have asked why they came at such an odd time of the year. Alas, it was impossible, so I just watched them again to amuse myself.

Rain fell down on the sandy grounds for the following weeks, and it was safe to assume that they would not appear for a while. I was only half right; one day the lanky one came and sat down very close to where I was. I think he saw me, and stared for a little bit, but then he looked back out to the ocean. He seemed sad.

Summer arrived then, and I saw more of the two men, though oftentimes they were accompanied by a young lady as well. The lanky man ran around, as it seemed to be quite a characteristic of his, while the other man stayed behind with the lady. He and she always seemed to walk very close, heads together, always talking about something.

During fall and winter I was gone, and so I do not know if they ever came in those seasons. Once spring returned, so did the men. The lady was no longer around, and the lanky man looked as though he had even more energy than before. I think once he attempted to do a cartwheel even, though if I recall correctly he did not succeed.

Then another lady was with them, but only once, and she looked very similar to the lanky man. She might have been a sister.

Fall and winter arrived and left, and the very first day I revisited the beach I was blessed with their company. Right then it felt almost as though I was watching them grow a little, and I wondered if they knew that I was there the whole time, watching them, sensing the truth they were both hiding.

It was a cloudy day. Not storm clouds, though, just beautiful puffs of white dashing across the deep blue sky. I loved days like this, and there was something in the air that made it even better. There was just this sense that something was going to happen.

The lanky man may have felt it, too. While he and the other man were sitting near to where I rested, he turned and smiled, the same passion I had first seen in him longing once more to be set free.

He leaned over and whispered something in the other man's ear, then the other man looked at him. Slowly the two leaned towards each other and the moment came that everyone had been waiting for. Well, the three of us had been waiting for it, certainly. I don't know that anyone else would have been interested.

In my many years of watching over a beach where people loved to make out, I'd never seen such a sweet couple as those two. Even when they were not together, they were, in a very strange, very spiritual way.

I did not see them all on this nice summer day, cooled by the ocean breeze. It made me worry a little.

But then the day began to fade as the sun began to set, and somewhere among the pink and orange streaks I caught a glimpse of two men walking together. Their hands were intertwined, their souls finally connected, and as they walked and passed by, they stopped.

"Hey, Jonny, look at this cute little guy," the lanky man said.

The man called Jonny stared down at me and smiled. "Aww."

I tried to interact with them, but I'm not sure it worked so well. It was strange; I felt as though I was one of their close friends, yet that was clearly far from reality. They had never known me before in their lives.

"That's so weird, the way he's moving his mouth looks like he's trying to talk to us or something."

I was trying to talk to them, and this is what I had said: I am so glad I have met you two, for I feel as much a part of you as you yourselves. You may not know it, but I have watched as you have progressed through your relationship, and I can tell that there are only good things left to come in the future for you both.

"Yeah, it kinda does," Jonny agreed, and the two men left again.

Ah, but they were so happy, and that's all that mattered.