Share Her with the Ocean
BY Cee Martinez
Ebb—
Stephen first noticed the young woman sitting at a nearby table when
the slippery green silk of her dress flowed between her thighs,
catching his eye and leaving his throat parched.
Maggie held a glass of untouched champagne. She’d never the taste for alcohol in the twenty years they’d been married. If a drink was
attractive enough, however, she was not above holding it.
“I don’t really know a lot of these people, to be honest,” Maggie
said, her blue, careworn eyes scanning the party. “Dear God, could I
be related to this many people? What if we suddenly discover a mutual cousin?”
“I hope not!” He grinned, and when he turned back around, the young
woman was no longer at the table. Disappointment seared his cheeks
Idiot!
Flow—
“Are you afraid of the water?” The girl in the green dress asked
abruptly. Her voice was as whispery as the lapping waves.
“No, of course not,” he replied, letting go of her.
She awkwardly took to her feet. Her spindly slim legs were covered in
sugary sand. A trickle of sticky blood coursed down the inside of her
thigh to her calf and ankle. The green silk dress a wrinkled, sandy
ruin and he did not know how he would explain to Maggie the wreck of his suit.
Ebb—
“Darling, are you okay?” Maggie asked, her soft warm hands on his
cheeks, “You’re flushed!”
“I…” Stephen couldn’t say anything because her touch brought blushing
to his ears and neck; sweat to his armpits and belly. “It might be the
whiskey?”
“Hmph,” Maggie snorted, taking his hand, their palms quickly slick
against each other. “I know how much you hate crowds, dear. Take a
break; I’ll be fine without you for a few minutes.”
“I think I will thanks.” Stephen pulled Maggie’s pale knuckles to his
lips, the kiss bringing her cheeks to pink just like the first day
he’d met her. “I’m heading back to the building; the port-o-toilets
just don’t seem…”
Maggie laughed and shoved him; “I wouldn’t want you after you’ve been in one of those bacteria cubicles.”
Ripple—
A turn intentionally taken around the building to get away from the
party lights, the greetings of people he was not familiar with, the
winded conversations of the people he knew but didn’t like, and he
found himself back where he’d begun, staring at the girl in a shining
green dress. She sat on the sand with her tawny shoulders against the
white washed planks of the beach house and her long, slim legs bent at the knees and open.
Even with Maggie’s face in his mind, and every burning dart of his
conscience telling him to run, Stephen had nearly stumbled over
himself in getting to her.
His tie wrapped around her wrist, they kissed.
Crest—
“When I walk into the ocean, let me go as far as you can stand,” the
girl said, looking towards the rolling water, “Rescue me. No one, not
even your wife, could hate a hero.” She smiled, showing white teeth.
“What if I don’t stop you,” Stephen replied, his pulse raced and his
hands were cold and trembling. Perhaps it was the smears on the
lenses of his glasses but she seemed so luminous and soft, like a
spirit.
She squinted, her forehead creasing gently with her frown. “I can’t swim.”
With no further words, the girl in the rumpled green dress began her
walk into the ocean. The slight breeze lifted her hair and the water
made deep, glugging sounds around her ankles. When she was knee deep, Stephen stood up, hoping she would turn around and return to him. His hope lasted until the water embraced her waist, the soft splashes becoming frantic slaps against the surface. Yet, she pushed forward until the water consumed her shoulders.
Stephen shed his coat and his watch and ran into the ocean, stopping
when it reached his shins and he saw the girl flailing, her green
dress mingling with the white foam.
The relative safety and monotony of modern suburbia has actually been an inspiration for Cee Martinez who cannot stop herself from turning over the rock on any idea and using the worms for inspiration. She has spent her entire life in a suburb of Denver, Colorado where she teaches piano on top of the time she spends writing, and doesn't imagine she'll leave that life anytime soon. Links to her other published works can be found at ceemartinez.blogspot.com or you can tweet her.