HALLOWEEN STORY

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"I guess I leaned too far over the edge of the boatrail. I don't think anybody saw me when I fell into the churning water."

"Of course I shouted and thrashed about, but in the back of my mind I was fairly confident that someone along the rail would see me. How could they not? I was shouting and waving like a madman.

The problem was I couldn't shout and breathe at the same time, so I had to stop yelling. And I couldn't wave and tread water at the same time, so I had to stop waving, too."

"What an absurd situation! What I needed to do to survive, was the exact opposite of what I needed to do to get attention. I'm not a good swimmer and all that thrashing was exhausting. I felt myself slipping inexorably lower and lower under the water."

"Down, down....I thought the human body was supposed to be buoyant, but it wasn't in my case. Every move just hastened my descent toward the bottom. I held my breath for as long as I could stand it then, when I felt I would burst and could take it no longer, I breathed water in. It was painful at first and I flailed wildly again, but after a time I began to feel almost peaceful.

I remember thinking to myself, 'So this how it ends: mellow and dreamy.' I still wanted to live, but I began to believe that the whole problem would be so much easier to solve if I could only close my eyes and get a minute of sleep. Just a minute. I shut my eyes and felt the soothing darkness wrap around me."

"And that's when I heard it."

"It sounded like muted circus music. I opened my eyes and there was...I kid you not...an elephant! He was swimming in the water as calmly and gracefully as could be, as if he were on his way to a Sunday picnic. It was so funny that I would have laughed if I'd been able. 'My God,' I thought, 'I must be hallucinating!'"

"Then, on a ledge, I saw something else...."

"....a dancer! She smiled and waved to me then went back to dancing, as if............. Wow! I thought, 'I can't wait to tell the guys at the office about this!' "

"I sunk lower and lower. There were all sorts of odd formations in the rocks. I didn't know the bottom of the sea looked like this.  It's not what I expected."

"I briefly thought of writing a book about the weird things in the sea that nobody knows about. I'd be great at book signings and it would be an excuse to buy a new suit."

"Finally the bottom was in sight. In dappled sunlight, in a clearing in the middle of undulating seaweed, I thought I could see what looked like people holding hands in a circle. Rock people...they were made out of rock...and they were absolutely motionless."

"A rock man seemed to preside over it, but he was motionless too."

"There was a space in the circle and out of curiosity I entered it and took the rigid hands of the people next to me. I only intended to stay there for a moment."

"Strange, though. Standing still there I was once again overcome with the need to sleep. Just a few minutes. Just long enough to clear my mind. I felt little fish nibbling at something in the coral that had grown on my body, and it was infinitely soothing."

 "I lost my desire to move. I slowly drifted off into the most peaceful sleep I've ever had, helped along by the gnat bites of tiny fish and the friendly movement of the warm sea."