The Sea (Part I)

“The Sea”





As I sit cozily on a park bench, I seldom notice the
blur of humanity as it slithers along at a relative pace. No one face appears
out of place in the crowd, and no one face sticks out as being different. I
continue the flow of music in my mind while silently observing the crowds.


Still, no one person appears out of
place. It seems to me as though everyone has been going the same way, at the
same speed, and for the same reasons. Suddenly, the music in my head stops, and
I ponder this strange phenomena. How is it that this population of random
passerby’s, with which I have no acquaintances, can all be of the same mind,
yet I, who tends to patronize and elegize the smallest of thoughts, appear to
be outside of the crowd.


Panicking, I survey in and around
the crowd for anyone like unto myself, yet everyone I lay my eyes on seems to
suddenly obtain some feature of the persons surrounding them. I watch as a
woman’s nose appears to flatten slightly, and an old man’s hair turns
strawberry blonde. Fleetingly examining the moving members of the crowd, I
somehow fail to observe a member who has stopped to stare around her in wonder.
My eyesight passes over her, and at first she appears to have only stopped for
a moment, yet even after a minute, she is still observing the events around her
without being drawn into them.


Upon the first several minutes of
watching this confused maiden, I don’t notice anything particularly special
about her, but as I continue to watch, I notice that she does not outwardly
change like the members of the crowd do. Lighting up a cigarette, I continue to
watch this girl who is now walking absentmindedly against the crowd, only to
see her engulfed in the sea of humanity.