Traveler at the Beach

He was a traveler that never was far off the beaten path. Quiet, humble, and discerning, his ways were quite disarming. This worked well in urban places, where food and sleep could usually be gotten for free, if needed; resources were generally more plentiful.

Though learned in urban practices, each community had nuances. It was usually beneficial to reach out to one or more individuals of the community. There was a strong police presence.

“Is there somewhere to sleep?”

“Under the canopy of the building with the homeless outreach center.”

So, off he went to get a decent night sleep.

Come sunup, he checked in with the homeless outreach team, as he thought the police officer tacitly suggested he do. They performed an intake and told him to keep checking up. He was first sent to shelters, then placed in transitional housing.

Now a block away from a breach park, he began frequenting the beach, almost daily. He became acquainted with the ocean, sand, waves, animals, people, plants, et cetera. Each visit seemed to bring new activities, lessons, and attachment. The more he went, the more he was convinced that the ocean had a soul.

Just as he thought he would spend the rest of his days near the ocean, he went down to the beach and found a ship in the horizon. He thought it a disagreeable sight. After some time, he was sure that it had not moved. It seemed to be anchored! There was no reason for this to be the case. It was a disrupting people’s activities and lives. There was no port in the immediate area, no reason for the ship to be there.

He believed there was an omnipresent, omniscient, and omnipotent being. What was this? An omen? A lesson? Obviously, this was a symptom rather than the cause, even if law enforcement were to cite them for breaching anchor laws. He left, perplexed and a bit disappointed. Once home, he thought about it. Was he the ship, disrupting people’s lives? Is this karma? Was it just a sign that it was time to move on?

Rather than erring on the side of overextending his stay and creating a hostile environment, he thought he would move on. He packed up that day and decided to head north.

Before leaving, he thought he should say goodbye to the ocean. When he arrived at the ocean, he saw something the ocean had produced, that looked like a hut in the sand. He took it to mean that the ocean would house him. While that sounded good, he did not want to have to fight off other forces that may affect him. So, he said goodbye and went for a good night’s rest.

In the morning, he returned to the beach and found the ship gone. While he thought maybe it was a situation like Abraham being ready to sacrifice Isaac (him being ready to relocate if necessary), he also thought he would rather go than get into a mess by staying.

Once arrived at his destination, he found living quarters a bit inland, but still near enough the ocean that he could, leave, spend a good amount of time at the beach, and still return home in the same day. He never went though. Figured if he was supposed to be by the ocean, then he would live near the ocean. There are so many things that can go wrong and reducing exposures to those risks seems like the right thing to do. Besides, how many ships in the horizons do we want to see? That is, unless you are an industrialist.