The Ocean’s Map

In the distance, he recognized the lines laying in the sand, still wet, glowing under the sun, without any effort. It was a sea fan, and he would have recognized it anywhere else in the world. By then his personal collection of sea fans had grown so much, that he believed sea fans recognized him and came to his path just to say hello.

His love for sea fans had started years back, when his father showed him one for the first time, in an act that he remembered almost as a secret ceremony. His father and him ran into a sea fan one day walking in the beach, while on vacation, and as soon as the father saw it he made him stop, and didn’t speak for several seconds, so the son could understand the solemnity of the occasion.

After the silence, the father told him what a sea fan was, why they were so special to him, and how lucky they were to have found one. They are the maps of the ocean, he said, and they will show you the way. Each sea fan has the ways of the sea, and the more you have and get to know them, the more you know of the ocean.

He never forgot that day, and since he started to look for them every time he was close to the ocean. He collected them, he talked to them, he studied them, and every time he felt closer to the ocean, and closer to his father. He never stressed about finding more, or went out of his way to find them, instead he enjoyed running into them, and letting the sea fans find him, as lovers do.

So, at that moment, seeing the sea fan laying in the sand, finding one for the first time with his son, he walked up to it holding his child’s hand, and when getting closer he made his son stop, and stay silent for a few seconds. He thought of his father, and smiled, it was time to show his son the ocean’s map.