Guy--Part Twenty-One

Splog # 86

Twenty-One

 

   Waiting for his breath to come back, Guy found himself in a completely awkward, almost painful position. And he wondered why he had done what he had done. Panic, of course. Fear of suffocation either under sand or under water.

   His arms were bent backward over his head and, though his shoulders were touching the sand, the rest of his torso was curved up in a bow that was far from comfortable. And though there had been a pause in the movement of the object, probably as a result of Guy's somersault, it had now resumed. For a moment, Guy's arms felt as though they were being wrenched from their sockets. But the moment passed, and he felt his arms rising and rotating forward and his back coming to rest on the sand. His eyes closed and breath swept out of him in relief. His arms slowly arced around until they were over his face and he opened his eyes to see what it was that had captured his hands and finally emerged from the mud and sand.

   When he opened his eyes he just stared, completely at a loss to understand what he was looking at. Well, not completely. It was a face. Well, it was a face he was looking at so it must be a head that he held in his hands. Or that held his hands, for he still couldn't remove them from the object that was dangling over him.

   Guy looked at the face but couldn't tell if there was any expression because the face was upside down. Then again, maybe it wasn't a face. There was a line at the top (bottom) that had impressed him as a mouth and two circles at the bottom (top) that he assumed were eyes. But why? Two circles and a line didn't make a face. But the moment he'd opened his eyes, Guy had seen a face, albeit an upside down one.

   Guy sat up and shook the object in his hands. He wanted to be rid of it so that he could determine how to get out of the watery predicament he found himself in. But no matter how much he shook or swung the head around, his hands remained attached to the sides. He stood up and surveyed his position. The walls of water were spinning very slowly now and he didn't understand what was keeping them upright and moving. He pushed the toes of his bare foot against the lowest point and immediately regretted his action. Where he had punctured the surface, the water started to leak into the empty circle which had been a refuge a moment ago. The water covered the sand and within seconds his feet were wet and it slowly started rising up his calves. Now it seemed as though the water surrounding him had stopped moving and was now merely waiting to fill in the empty pocket of air that really didn't belong there. As the water rose over his knees, Guy wondered if he'd be able to float up to the top as he had floated down to the bottom. But it didn't seem the same. The water wasn't spinning as it had been when he had descended. It was simply filling up space like milk being poured into a glass. He turned around a couple of times but found nothing to give him aid. Just water everywhere and a strange head - if it was a head - stuck to his hands.

   The water had reached his waist and, in frustration, Guy slammed the head down into it. He left it submerged hoping that, by some chance, the water might help him free himself. He was pretty sure it would be almost impossible to swim with his hands awkwardly attached to that round troublesome whatever-it-was. He tried moving his fingers but nothing happened. He bent over and lifted one foot and placed it on the object between his hands. He tried to push it off with his foot but only strained his arms.

 

   He pulled it out of the water and started once again to shake it but stopped in surprise. The thing was glowing blue again. It had been like that when he'd first seen it but the glow had disappeared when it burrowed beneath the sand. Guy brought the object near his face so he could inspect it more closely. And that's when the eyes opened.