Beneath The Crystal Blue Waters

It is a cold winter in Virginia; school is out for winter break; the campers are off to an exciting start, nestled around an alluring campfire at a local camp in Virginia Beach. Suddenly the camp director asks the camp counselors, “Who has a chilling story to tell?”

Makeda, one of the new camp counselors from the Caribbean, leaps up and, with her deep island accent, yells, “I got a story to tell!” You guys will never believe it. The campers unanimously turn towards Makeda with folded arms and sigh with an astonished look on their faces. One boy in the group muzzles under his breath, “who is this crazy lady?” Makeda replies, “If I were you, young fella, I would listen carefully. I know I may sound funny to you, but we all can make each other warm tonight by huddling together ever so closely so we can forget just how cold this world can be."

“Makeda," asks the young boy, “Do you know people always ask me why I left the islands?” The young boy stares at Makeda and doesn’t say a word. Makeda tells the young boy, whenever people ask me why I left my beautiful island, I tell them, “Little do you know, there’s something sinister beneath the crystal blue waters." Makeda tells the campers to be very quiet, so quiet that they can’t even hear a pin drop. She begins her story with a scream! Makeda recalls, “I try not to remember that unfortunate night. I can feel a chill up my spine. The air is still, and there’s no life seen or heard." The story goes like this...

A family of five, a single mother, and her four children returned home to the islands. When they returned, people looked at them as if they remembered them, but no one said hello. The family became angry and confused and began going up to people asking, "don’t you remember us?"

We are back home now. But to no avail, no one remembered them. The mother, troubled, angry, and confused, drove to the ocean, or as they call in the islands, the crystal-clear blue waters, the only place she ever felt safe and welcomed, sat in the sand and wept. As the mother cried, suddenly the sand began to roll back and the water rose high at least 50 feet in the air and washes the mother and her children away. People from across the sea by the nearby market hear the screams, but they see no one when they arrive. The mother and her children are nowhere in sight.

By this time, the campers are dead focused on Makeda’s voice as she tells the story. You can’t even hear a pin drop. Makeda asks the campers, "where do you think the mother and her four children disappeared?" Some of the campers say, in thin air, some say God took them because they were so sad, and others just remain silent. Makeda offers her take on the story...

“I know what happened to the mother and her four children,” Makeda exclaims! “The mother and her four children are now custodians of the sea, beneath the crystal-clear blue waters. Yes, they are now protectors of the island they love, the only way they know-how. The sea swallowed up the mother’s tears, and when she wouldn’t stop weeping, because the people were so mean to her and the four children she loved most, the waters cleansed them all by transforming them into a vapor, but a powerful agent for change, beneath the crystal-clear blue waters."

Whenever the new custodians of the island’s gem, “the crystal-clear blue waters" sense when evil in the towns has reached its capacity, the seas turn pitch black, the people become terrified, and they weep for days. The only thing that can make the water change back is their love and care for one another.

As with natural disasters, people get together despite differences. People come together to discuss why the water has turned black, and begin to offer prayers or positive words, and agree to work together for a common goal, to make the islands beautiful and filled with loving boys and girls, mothers and fathers, once more. When the sea custodians, the mother, and her four children sense the love in the air, the water changes back to crystal blue.

People from around the Caribbean, and even in Europe know this story, and they are even afraid to swim on their beaches, probably because they know they have been committing evil deeds and offenses. Even for a little while, the people are unified, fearing the custodians who lie beneath the crystal blue waters. Those who seek only to do evil will never get to enjoy the gems of the Caribbean ever again, and they will be banned from the seashores for the rest of their lives. Even if they are within 100ft of the sea and commit evil offenses, they will disappear and never be found again.

So, you see boys and girls, if you do good, you can enjoy the beautiful earth and seas. But if you do evil: disobey your parents, are unkind, show hatred towards other people for any reason, and say nasty things to people, you too will disappear if you come within 100ft of the water. “Do you know why?" Makeda asks. No one answers. You can still hear a pin drop. Makeda exclaims, “Even though you may not live on an island, but instead a city, you are still near a beach here in Virginia, right?" Yes, we are surrounded by water, the Atlantic Ocean, the Pacific Ocean, etc. So, no matter where you go, the sea will swallow you up if you do evil. More specifically, what lies beneath the crystal blue waters will swallow up, and all of the water supply in the whole United States will turn black.

The fish will all die. The rivers will dry up, and there will be no food. People will begin to kill one another, and the earth as we know it will disappear.

Makeda pauses and looks around and sees the fear in all of the children’s eyes, some crying, shaking, and looking at the other camp counselors. One boy yells, “This lady is crazy. Make her stop!” Makeda tells the young boy, "The only person who can make this story stop is you, your parents, and our entire community. If we don’t stop being mean to one another, yelling to adults like you are now, stealing, being a bully at school, setting things on fire, and even killing one another in the urban cities, the custodians beneath the crystal blue waters will avenge the lives of those who are neglected, abandoned and bullied, like they were. No one will survive the wrath of the sea custodians, the ones who lie beneath the crystal-clear blue waters."

Makeda ends her story by looking towards the sea. Before she even begins to move away from the children and go back to her seat, a sudden wind blows violently, and Makeda disappears. The campers and the camp counselors are astonished and look at one another in amazement. They all panic! Someone yells, “What the hell just happened? Where is Makeda?” Amazingly, one of the campers, the same little boy who doubted Makeda as she told her story and told her she was crazy, tells his fellow campers and camp counselors, “The people have her.” “What people?” a camp counselor yells. The little boy quietly says, “The people beneath the crystal blue waters have Ms. Makeda.” "She’s gone to be with the custodians to make sure we don’t do anything bad. She’s on our side. I’m sorry I was mean to her because she sounded different." “Can I go find her?” asked the little boy. One of the camp counselors tells the little boy, “I think you should stay here so that you can be brave for us. You now know that being kind is the right thing to do. Ms. Makeda is now our custodian, ensuring we all do good, even if she is directly beneath the crystal blue waters.

The children and camp counselors all hug one another, looking back at the calm but chilling view of the crystal-blue waters.

The story’s lesson is: no matter how cold a person’s heart can be towards another, it only takes one person willing to sacrifice their life to show others how to live in peace and harmony to be a change maker.

No matter what lies beneath the surface of a person’s heart, they have to power to do good or evil. If one chooses to do evil, everyone will perish. If one decides to do good, the goodness will overflow like a giant wave upon the sand. Beneath the crystal blue waters lies evil, good, and hope for a better tomorrow.