Guy--Part Twenty-Six

Splog # 111

Twenty-Six

 

   Now Guy, in his turn, found himself waiting for a response. It was a distinctly odd sensation, floating in the middle of an empty ocean, ostensibly in complete solitude, and yet waiting for a voice to speak from one's own mouth. Guy put his fingers to his cheek to find that there was still something covering his skin. Something smooth and slightly warm. His fingers couldn't feel his cheek and his cheek couldn't feel his fingers. He brought his hand back to the water and wondered why the voice wasn't saying anything. It had been fairly talkative ever since its eyes had opened facing him upside-down. Had something happened or gone wrong? He opened his mouth a little bit to make sure the voice had an available outlet. He took a deep steady breath and slowly let it out while opening his mouth even wider. He tried moving his lips a little to give words a chance to form themselves. But nothing came. He looked to the left and the right and even behind him, although he knew it made no sense to try to look for the voice. It had been coming from himself and he couldn't look at his own head. Or could he? He looked down into the water but found there were no reflections on the surface. He could vaguely see his stomach and legs and feet but, as familiar and comforting as they were in and of themselves, they had no information as to the odd voice and its uncharacteristic silence.

   After pondering a little, Guy decided to try one of the voice's signature catchphrases.

   "Excuse me?" he said in a clear strong voice.

   He paused for an answer and then tried again, a little louder.

   "Excuse me?"

   Still receiving no response, Gut started to become slightly uneasy.

   "Excuse me," he repeated, though in a more conversational tone this time. "I hope I haven't offended you in any way. I only interrupted you because you seemed like you wanted to hear from me and I didn't know how else to let you know that I was here and that I was ok and not fainted or anything like that. I - well for a few minutes I - well I just - I don't know - the bubbles were going up and it seemed like I was so far under the water but the water wasn't hurting me and I was a little afraid but nothing bad was happening and I was - I was - I guess I was sort of confused and maybe I wasn't listening to something you said 'cause I don't remember what you wre saying but it was something about poetry and then I wasn't under the water but maybe that's when you were talking about what we were supposed to become after we got out - I mean after my head was in the air but I know you're here - well, I think so 'cause I still can't feel my face but you stopped talking - well, I stopped you but you can talk now 'cause I just wanted you to know that - you wanted me to say something - well, you were asking me questions but I couldn't..."

   Guy's voice petered out and he stayed still. He was a big boy and he wouldn't cry but he knew that now he was afraid. If he was alone here he didn't know what he could do to get back to land. His father and mother had talked to him about being afraid. One thing they said was that when he was afraid a helpful thing to do was to try to think of what he was afraid of and then play the if-then game. If he was afraid of a fire, then get some water to put it out. If he was afraid of the dark, then turn on a light and chase it away. It didn't always work, but it might be worth trying now. So what was he afraid of? Drowning? He put his face into the water and found that it was still protected and he could still breathe. Large predators? Again he put his face into the water. That was odd. This ocean, or whatever he was in, seemed completely uninhabited. With everything that had been happening, he hadn't noticed but now he saw, in the unusually clear water, nothing anywhere he looked. That didn't mean that something couldn't swim into view at any time, but it did seem unlikely. So he wasn't really afraid of being atttacked and eaten. It was finding his way back to land. There was nothing to be seen in any direction so he had no idea which way to go in search of land. He couldn't stay here forever. He needed food and he'd get cold...And now that he knew what he was afraid of, he could think of nothing that would help to take the fear away. Unless he wasn't as alone as he felt.

   "EXCUSE ME!!!" he yelled as loud as he could.

   And while he was catching his breath, a tiny voice from his own mouth said,

   "Was I talking too much?"