City Lights

It was a magical night. Dark grey sky, shining black-silver ocean (that one might mistake for a mirage), soft white wavy clouds (like drapes)... And playing peek-a-boo behind them, a big beautiful yellow moon.

A dream setting.

It was the night the moon grew wings. And eyes. And a nose. And ears. Most importantly, a mouth! She had a little crown and she looked like a fairy.

Moon fairy spoke...

My dearest cutest tiniest babiest lidly tidly turtles... Do you know? Tonight is a special night for you... Yes, tonight you’ll break open your shells and walk out into your world... YOUR world – the great Indian Ocean!

As moon fairy said the words “Indian Ocean”, a little star intently listening from the sides pulled out one corner of hers and shaped it like a hand, folded it and knocked on moon fairy’s head!

Clonk!

“What?”

“Let’s keep the Indian away, can we? For them, it is just one great big ocean!”

“I didn’t think of that.”

“They are all connected, you see. You move from one to the other – just like that. No passport, no visa. One world, one ocean.”

“That’s right. One world, one ocean.”

Ahem! I beg your pardon for that interruption, my dears. [brief pause] It was much needed. Where did I leave you? Yes, tonight is the night when you will wake up and walk into the Ocean!

One world, one ocean!

(Rubbing her wings) So then, are you all ready? (a pause... she keeps wings on ears and listens... and as there was no one to answer) I know you are ready! Except, I figured you might need some help. And so here I am, just this one time, helping you take your maiden walk from the cradle of the beach to your home called Ocean!

So, children...

Get rid of all your fright

For I am all you need tonight This job of mine is such delight Oh, to be your guiding light! Yes, that’s right...

Follow the guiding light

Just follow the guiding light...

You just follow the guiding light...

(Giggling) I know, a beautiful rhyme, wasn’t it? And do you know something? (Hush hush tone) The song has the clue to guide you home.

Yes, it’s a riddle too! Oh, how fun riddles can be! So all you have to do is to solve the riddle and get home.

Here’s wishing you a wonderful life filled with adventure and fun and happiness and riddles and puzzles and ... [unable to find more words]

Ba bye!

And with that, moon fairy vanished. It was pitch dark.

Knock... Knock knock... Knock knock knock... Unable to move, little Olivia knocked harder. On all fours!

Knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock knock Crack!

Something cracked and sand seeped in. And as sand seeped in, it loosened the ground above. Olivia climbed up and she was out of the shell. There was sand all around her. She swam and climbed, swam and climbed, pushing the sand down. A few pushes later, she put her forelimbs up and there was air. Crisp cold air.

One more push down, and Olivia was out on the beach.

She was covered with sand. As much sand that she weighed twice her weight! So much sand, that even as she opened her eyes, she offloaded a few grams from the top of her eyelids.

She opened her eyes and saw the big round moon right in front of her. No wings, no eyes, no mouth, no crown. Just the moon. Big, round, bright and yellow.

She looked all around her. A few boats. Bundles of fishing nets. Almost still palm trees. And a feeble flickering of light.

Flicker. Flicker. Where was that from?

From the top of a tall pole behind her, she found, as she strained her neck a bit more. A man was climbing to the top of the pole with the help of a great big ladder.

The flickering continued.

She turned back around and looked straight ahead and there was the moon again. Follow the guiding light, she heard a voice inside of her.

‘Was it a dream?’ She asked herself.

She looked towards the moon and took a few steps towards the ocean... Follow the guiding light...

A few more steps towards the moon... Towards the ocean...

Follow the guiding light...

Just then, the man on top of the pole fixed something. The feeble flickering of the lights on top of the pole stopped. And half a dozen 1000 watt lights shone bright and lit up the entire beach! That’s 6000 watts of bright white light – it would have captured anyone’s attention.

It captured Olivia’s attention too. She turned around and looked at the light.

6000 watts. Brightness. Whiteness. And there were thousands and thousands of watts of city lights behind them. Along with the well-lit beach, she got a glimpse of the city and its lights.

She looked ahead at the moon. Still round and yellow. Big, but not-so-big, bright but not-so-bright.

She turned and looked at the lights on the other end of the beach.

Follow the guiding light.

She slowly turned around. This time, a complete about turn, and as she turned she left a trail on the sand that looked like a U. A U-turn!

The lights, those from the top of the pole shone bright ahead of her. She took a few steps towards them.

Follow the guiding light.

A few more steps, a few more and a few more as she disappeared into the flood of city lights ahead of her.