A New Adventure for Martha

Martha crawled to the seashore spitting salt water from her lungs. She could barely make it, she was tired and her arms weighed a ton. On the beach, there was a man reading a newspaper sitting comfortably under an umbrella.

She waited a moment, but nothing happened. She coughed a couple of times loudly, but still, no one came to her aid.

"Jesus!" shouted Martha angrily.

She got up, and staggering, walked toward the stranger.

"Didn't you hear me calling for help?" asked Martha.

The man at the girl's protests stopped reading his newspaper and glanced at her under his sunglasses.

"I guess it's a bit much, but are you all right?" asked the stranger with a friendly smile.

Martha turned red with anger.

"For what it's worth, I'm not a lifeguard," snapped back the stranger.

Martha couldn't believe how cynical the man was. She turned around and walked as far as she could, sputtering. Suddenly she stopped, she had barely made it out alive; all her life she had been a submissive girl and after the experience, she had lived through, she was definitely not going to leave things like that. It was time to give up decorum and express her feelings.

In her mind, she had already concocted a series of expletives with which she would curse the stranger's entire generation.

As she turned back she noticed something unusual, the sand glistened with the sun's reflections, golden and untouched. Her footsteps had disappeared; she looked back and there were no fresh footprints either. How was it possible that she had left no tracks in the sand?

The stranger folded his newspaper and stood up.

"I see you've already figured it out. It takes most people a while."

Martha didn't understand what the man had said.

"It's unfortunate, but don't worry, I'm here to make the transition a little more enjoyable."

She noticed also that there wasn't a drop of water on her clothes.

She was afraid to ask the question. For God's sake, I had never stolen, killed, or done evil to anyone, everyone always considered her a prude, where were the angels, the cherubs? I was sure that I would not go to hell.

"Are you looking for St. Peter?" asked the stranger amused by Martha's expression.

Was he able to read my mind? she wondered.

"Come on, M! We know you were not a faithful devotee of your religion. You hardly went to church two or three times a year. And you hated the whispering of the chattering old ladies who always called you the eternal spinster."

¿M? It had been many years since anyone had called her that. Suddenly, she began to feel something familiar in the stranger.

Martha remembered her lonely life very well. Her small apartment, her single job at city hall. Maybe it wasn't an exciting life, but she didn't regret it.

"Better alone than in bad company, isn't it?" the stranger added, hiding a smile.

Leaving no time to defend herself, the stranger continued.

"The answer you don't want to hear is Yes. Unfortunately, no one noticed that you fell overboard from the beautiful cruise ship you always wanted to spend your vacation on after 10 years of continuous work."

She remembered that it was not what she expected, despite her savings she had barely gotten a regular room and not the luxury suite.

"Situations are not special, it's us who make them special. It's our attitude," the stranger exclaimed.

She contemplated that last statement for a bit.

"Come," the stranger surprised her by extending his hand.

Martha hesitated for a second, but the boy's sweet expression convinced her. And he wasn't as old as he looked.

The moment she took his hand, the scene changed, she was no longer on the lonely beach. She was on something like a university campus; buildings everywhere, people wandering around with books, a tangle of concrete paths between the green areas, and young people gathered together taking notes.

The stranger smiled, but it was no longer the man he had seen on the beach.

"George!" shouted Martha.

"Sis!"

They both hugged each other tightly for a long moment.

"I've missed you so much," cried Martha.

"I know," replied George

"I know you have a lot of questions," George paused, "but we have all eternity to answer them."

She was speechless

"Relax, you'll never be alone again little sister," he said sweetly.

"Come on! There are many other people anxious to see you," shouted George cheerfully.

Finally, the two of them entered the tangle of paths.