Heaven

Sutlry heat vibrates everything in sight. The sea, an eternity away on a pale blue horizon gently whispers in the background.

There's nobody around as I walk from the hot sand onto the even hotter broken concrete toward the white stone building shimmering in the distance.

As I approach I see it is a cafe, shut, locked shut but I can see through the black windows the dark empty seats and unemployed ketchup bottles.

Why is this closed? Surely they would be open in a hot season like this. Along the path, there's an ice-cream shop. Also shut. No sign of life anywhere, only my shadow.

I can see the Kit Kats on the shelf and cheap joke toys hanging on a white plastic frame in faded cardboard packaging. Does anybody ever buy these toys? Not here, there's nobody here but me, the scorching sand and the sea.

The sky gently became a darker shade of blue as I sat on a step outside the little trinket shop and watched a yellow ball fall behind the horizon. As the last sliver of the blood red vanished, the sky darkened in a convulsion of silent violence. For a moment, the sea was all that existed. As distant as ever, the sea was what kept my mind from exploding in a confused bliss.

Then, directly opposite where the red sun set, a yellow sun dawned and the shimmering heat immediately returned to the sand and everything around me.

I decided to run to the sea. I don't know where I got the strength but I ran and ran toward the pale blue line. I ran without losing a breath for what could have been an hour and yet the sea seemed as far away as ever. I feared that I would be taken by this heat so I took heart at the sight of what looked like a little beach shop, on the landward horizon.

That is how I found myself here, where the sultry heat vibrates everything in sight. The sea, an eternity away on the pale blue horizon gently whispers in the background.......