The Forever Blue
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A cool breeze blows and I stand on my island in the middle of the Great
Barrier Reef, letting myself become dissolved in the wind. It cleanses me of
all my stress and troubles and fears. It reassuringly stings my skin with its
coolness. My air and clothes are pushed back in the breeze. I smile, feeling a
new sense of peace, confidence, and hope. I turn around and she is there. I
don’t know her name, yet I know her. Her light, wavy hair is pushed back by
the wind. Her sea green eyes entrance me and her small nose and quirky smile
reassure me. Her tan skin is typical of one who has lived on the island as I
have. She is half a head shorter than I am and well proportioned throughout.
She could be Neri, or someone else. All I know is that she is my friend and I
trust her.

I turn and smile at her. She motions to the water and we both run and jump
into the crashing waves. I kick with my legs together and swim very fast. She
is right behind me at my heels. I can hold my breath for a long time, almost
forever, and we play tag underwater for a long time. We swim along the reef
beds and old shipwrecks. It is as if the ocean our playground and we are the
only children to play in it. We chase schools of fish and swim with the
dolphins that feed off our coast. When we get hungry, I grab the knife and
dive for mollusks, crabs, and seaweed. She takes the double pronged spear and
soon returns with a large fish, flapping helplessly on the prongs. She goes
out again as I start a fire and clean the mollusks, crabs, and fish. She
returns with two more fish and helps me prepare our meal. We gut the fish and
remove the heads (bait for our traps) and cook the fish on stakes in the
coals. We use palm and fern leaves to boil the crab and mollusks in. We eat
out of turtle shells, from turtles we found dead on our island some time
before.

Clean up is simple: there are no leftovers and we wash our leaves and other
utensils in the ocean. She smiles mischievously at me and pushes me headfirst
in the water. I walk out, pick her up, and throw her over my shoulder. She
laughs loudly as I throw her into the ocean. We re-wash our dishes and head
back to the fire. She adds more wood to the fire as I put away the spear and
utensils in their places in the tree tops. I walk out onto the beach and watch
the setting sun. We have been on this island for over four migrations and more
than forty-five moon cycles. About four years. When we crashed on this island,
very few of us survived. Just her, myself, my mother, her father, and my older
brother. They all got a sickness from a part of the island we don’t go to
anymore. Later, they passed on. I don’t remember them much. She was my mother
after mine left. We were the one each other missed the most. I took care of
her when she missed her father. She was my mother. We have tried to contact
our people from the stars. Nothing we have tried works. She comes up behind me
and tickles my waist. I laugh and push her back.

We then lay in the ocean together watching the stars come out and dream of
what our world was like before we left. The stars seem so much more numerous
from the ocean. We swim back to shore and walk up the beach. We say goodnight
to the ocean and put out our fire, letting a few embers glow and smolder for
morning. We climb up our tree and into our nest. She climbs down and goes to
get into something dry. I lay on my back and watch the stars. She returns and
climbs in and lays next to me in the nest. We are not lovers, only friends and
enjoy each other’s company at night. She rests her head on my shoulder, her
hair warming my chest. I rest my arm on her shoulder in the usual spot. We
both then drift off into the dreamtime together. In the morning, we will
repeat this cycle all over again. We are both lost, but not entirely lost,
children of the sea. Part of that forever blue as we wait, but not anxiously
wait, on our island for our people to come and find us. We enjoy our lives
here on our island. As I drift off to sleep, I hope that my life is not a
dream. “Children of the sea, the Forever Blue.”