Poseidon's Gift to Elizabeth

Elizabeth put her ear to the shell. A sigh of relief escaped out of her lungs stemming from a pit in her stomach. As she sat in the empty dark room, kneeling humbly over her treasure she still felt the wonder she had felt that first day. After a few moments with her eyes closed she had transported herself across miles of land to her old home, her childhood home. Where the sea had been her lullaby each morning and each night. A creak from the old bones of the house snapped her back to awareness. She took her conch shell and buried in the back of her wardrobe in her sweater storage drawer. She definitely wasn't ready to share it. She closed the wardrobe door, stopping briefly to allow her feelings of eternal gratefulness to wash around in her. How she missed Poseidon.

Her knew home was land and fields. Endless rolling hills for crops and grazing, the rest was left wild and untamed as lands uncultivated or touched by humans.

As she had listened to the ocean in the shell she could feel herself prancing down the worn path, making her way to the beach. The path depositing her in the center of the beach. From there, she'd run to the water, splashing her toes in the cool water, ultimately letting them sink in the sand as she awaited the next wave. Every morning and every evening she traveled the path. At the beach she'd search for mussels, clams, and sea grass. Occasionally, she'd find a beautiful shell she could take for her collection. Life was hard, but full of joy. That was until her brother married and moved out. Then came the sickness. It had effected the animals first and then the rest of them. Pushing on each day was a laborious task, everyone was short on patience during these times. The smallest task took all her energy. They were struggling to survive each day. Picking up the water pitcher strained her arm muscles and stole her breath, but she had to take care of herself, for them.

The ocean saved her from herself, the sickness, her days and her family struggles. Her Father did not see it the same way as she did. The Beach and area became a plague to him. He told her, "we are moving, leaving this god forsaken place".

As she cried, this day, at her spot, her tears dripped down her cheeks falling into the ocean. She sat, telling her woes to the sea as it lapped at the beach she sat on. Poseidon appeared, having heard her melancholy ramblings and having noticed the salt from her tears that were being added to his ocean. Strong and commanding he stood before her. In her intimidated state she could only cry more.
She remembered his words.

"Save your salt, the sea is full of it already my little love, it needs no more."

"I'm sorry I can't", I respond.

"The ocean is not going anywhere, it will be here when you need it."

"It will be here and I will be there, with no way to reach it. We are moving. I won't even smell the salt air."

"My loyal beauty and lover of the sea, I now see why you are crying."

Poseidon felt anger at those taking his beached mermaid from him.

"Do you want to join the sea with me forever? I can make you a dolphin, a fish, a mermaid, whatever you like."

"I can't. My family needs me to help in the small ways that I can. They need me more than the sea does."

Poseidon had never been turned down, it bewildered and delighted him. Her tears now seemed rational. However, not wanting to allow another to own any part of his ocean he knew he needed to tade something for the salt she had given his sea.

"My little mermaid, I have just the thing for you. A gift for you to keep me and all the ocean with you forever."

Next thing she knew he was weilding a triton made of what looked like polished coral with a brilliant golden red hue. He lifted it mightily before touching it perfectly to the waters surface and then stabbing it into the ocean violently.

After the blinding glint was gone, so was Poseidon. At her feet was a beautiful shell, in a geometric form she had never seen. It had a pointy terraced top. A high spiked spire with spines. It had a smooth siphonal canal. The outside was peach orange-ish color with black horizontal stripes. There was nothing like it in her entire collection. She brought it to the end of her nose, studying the pattern and colors. It is undeniably, a natural piece of art. Then she heard the voice of Poseidon. The voice of a God the only possible distraction able to pull her focus from the shell.

"I'm always here for you, just listen."

She remembers putting her ear to the shell. To her bewilderment and delight, she had heard the ocean. Shocked at the kindness Poseidon had shown her, she cried one more single tear into the ocean.

The tear proved to Poseidon the girls grateful nature. He created, harvested and dispersed more of these shells. This way if anything were to ever happen to her shell she could find another. She would never be alone without the ocean and a piece of him ever again.

A piece of him is in every conch shell. Forever captured inside, always, for all his land mermaids or dwellers. He would check in on Elizabeth every once in a while, adding songs to her shell to let her know when he was there. It always brought her comfort. Elizabeth is the reason we all can carry a piece of the ocean with us no matter where we live.





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