Delima Kasih

The Blog(u) 17: The Beach

Warm wet sand, as white and pure as driven snow, squeaked joyfully underfoot as the lovers walked along the beach. The sunlit shore where land and sea came together was a serene kind of place. The surf did not so much pound as roll quietly, almost respectfully, towards the two figures.
plink stood looking out to sea, ankle-deep in its cool, clear water. As the sea retreated, it pulled the sand from between plink’s toes and tickled her feet familiarly. plink sighed contentedly as Love put his arms around her waist and held her close. ‘I wish we could be like this always,’ she whispered. Then she paused. Something was not right.
Her toes, they were the problem. They were too long. And her feet, they were too large. plink’s legs went on forever. She was too tall. Then there were the curves. plink gasped in shock as she found that she was now an altogether different shape.
Love watched in tolerant amusement as the young woman sprang out of his embrace and started to look at herself. As she looked over one shoulder to see how her bottom was now shaped, plink saw him smiling. ‘Did you have anything to do with this?’ she demanded.
‘Not at all,’ he replied urbanely, kissing her hand. plink did not know which was the greater shock, being kissed or the fact that her fingers were long and delicate.
‘But how…?’
Love placed a gentle finger on her lips. ‘This is all your imagination. What you are here is who you are.’
‘I’m a beautiful young woman?’
‘With hair as dark as ravenswing and eyes of living mystery, if you like clichés.’
‘And you?’
‘I am real, but I’m really two people.’
‘Excuse me?’
‘What’s the last thing you remember?’
plink let her memory wander back over the confusion of the last few days. There were indistinct half-memories, vague impressions of having done some things and met some people. Suddenly, she remembered the badlands just outside the city where she had met the Jedi Master Viewtru. She went suddenly cold as she remembered the confrontation with Fear, Doubt, Verbiage and Bombast. ‘I think I need to sit down,’ she said, struggling to sound calm.
plink walked further up the beach, with Love gently holding her close. They found a little hut with a table and two chairs inside. On the table were two open coconuts with drinking straws poking invitingly up from inside.
‘You set a good table,’ Love complimented her.
plink smiled wanly as she took her seat. The last memory that came clearly to her was the vast swarm of lights coming from the four, the memory of a battle lost.
‘What happened afterward? After they got me, I mean.’
Love took a long drink of coconut juice, his brows knitting together in concentration. ‘This really is quite nice,’ he smiled. ‘In the grip of the four evils, you wrote comments and entries in the blogosphere.’
‘Was that all?’
‘Ah, but you did so in a poorly thought, uncontrolled fashion. Remember the power they turned on you?’
‘Yes.’
‘That power, your power, was let loose on the blogosphere. The devastation was horrific. Intelligent discourse was blocked, debates got sidetracked and it’s a wonder that you didn’t start any flamewars while you were at it.’
‘And how do you fit into all of this?’
‘I am Love.’
plink laughed. ‘I know, but I’ve seen your face somewhere before. I know you.’ She began to look around him from one direction and then another, trying to remember just who Love was.
His brow creased in that delightful way again. ‘Stop that, this is important.’
‘So everyone keeps telling me. It would be easier if you weren’t so strikingly handsome.’
‘Flattery, plink?’
‘I could spend a lifetime looking into your eyes, Love.’ As plink gazed into his eyes, she felt love and a little something else. Before she could make out what it was, he closed them.
‘plink,’ he sighed. ‘To gaze too deeply in the eyes of Love is to invite madness.’
‘So people say, but why?’
‘I am also Hate.’

posted by plink @ 9:11 pm