Week 19 - The Sand On My Back

The Sand on My Back

Matthew Ryan Fischer

Somewhere off in the distant sky, the trail of smoke blended in with the darkening clouds, and Tommy lost track of which was which. The plane was little more than a dot now, but Tommy had watched it take off and followed its path across the sky. Away, away it flew. Away into the yonder blue. How many planes took off each day, Tommy didn’t know, but he had followed the planes that took off today. There had been five. Tourists packing it in and going home, wherever home was. The seasons didn’t change much on the island, but they still did back home, and tourists were always on borrowed time. Tommy didn’t envy them that. He didn’t miss calendars or schedules at all. He did miss the changing seasons a little. Not snow. But the rest was okay.

Tommy’s back was getting wet. He lay on the damp beach while looking up at the early evening sky, and the waves were coming in higher and higher now.  The soft sand was soaked and what remained was a mush he could sink into. He had been lying in this spot most of the day and wasn’t inclined to move. He didn’t like feeling wet though. And he knew if he stayed too long, the light waves would only grow and legs or more would soon be covered. He knew all of this. His back was wet and he knew he would have to move before too long. He just hadn’t found the proper motivation to move yet.

Above the tiny little dot raced away, but he remained, motionless.

He looked up at the plane, flying away. He asked himself why anyone would want to leave paradise. Seasons be damned. Jobs and schedules be damned. Modern life made no sense – there shouldn’t have been anything to miss.

“Hello my friend. Enjoying the weather on this evening are we?”

Tommy recognized the voice without looking. Vicente was not Tommy’s friend. Not in the conventional sense anyway. Acquaintances maybe. Partners. Allies. But not friends. Still, the men had uses for each other, and Tommy wasn’t going to begrudge another man for looking out for his own interests.

“Do me the favor of sitting up, please.”

“Afraid I might wash away. And what if I did? Where would you be without me?”

“Where would you be without me? Plus I would be remiss if I let one of our guests drown.”

“Guest?”

“Of course. You are a most special guest.”

“I’m not going to drown.”

“Do me this courtesy and sit up.”

“Float away, float away. That sounds so nice – to just float away.”

“Ah. You are dissatisfied tonight.”

“I’m dissatisfied most every night.”

“We have solutions for that. Very lovely solutions.”

“I’m well aware of what this island has to offer.”

“That’s not all, of course. There are many reasons you should appreciate this island. And I don’t mean the women.”

“I do, I do. I appreciate everything you’ve come to offer me here. But I pay for all of that. And there are some things you cannot pay for.”

“Some. But not many. You are free here. You are offered protection. You are offered a venue to satisfy your appetites. Is it my fault if your appetites are faulty?”

“I was just laying here in the sand. I have yet to criticize your hospitality that I pay for.”

“Just as I am only asking you to sit up a little, and allow me to keep offering you that hospitality.”

“I admit it’s a simple request. But maybe I’ll choose to stay and simply float away… and then where would you be?”

“I have already been paid for your protection. You float away, I am paid either way.”

“And here, I thought our friendship wasn’t about the money.”

“Our friendship is fine. And so is your money.”

“So it is.”

Tommy sat up a little.

“What is the problem, Thomas?” Only Vicente called him Thomas. Tommy didn’t like it, but he didn’t hate it either. It just made him sound too serious. Tommy never felt serious in his life before coming to the island. But things had changed and maybe he had too, without even realizing it.

Vicente continued, “Missing the tourists already? Don’t. It will be cold somewhere soon enough and then there will be new visitors for you to admire. It is always cold somewhere. In the meantime, if you are lonely, well that I can take care of.”

“No.”

“You’re sure? There are women all around us my friend. Other things as well. Anything you like.”

Tommy was silent. He thought about the plane, flying away. That could never be him. He could never go home.

“You’re sure there is nothing I can get you?”

Tommy didn’t reply. He looked back at the sky and tried to find the airplane against the darkening sky. There was a dot that he couldn’t make out. The plane should have been in the clouds by now; it was unlikely that Tommy was seeing anything at all, other than his own meandering imagination.