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The Tide
Pool
The middle-aged man parked his car at the top of the cliff,
overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The early Spring sun was
hanging low on the horizon, a warm silver-yellow. Lemony
foam purled atop the incoming tide, as waves broke gently on
the beach.
Slipping his hands into the pockets of his jacket, Jeremy
walked over to the ledge. A cold breeze, heavy with a salty
mist, brushed over and around him, ran phantom fingers
through his hair, as he descended the steep sand and wood
stairs to the beckoning beach.
There was a lovely tide pool circled with boulders and
tucked away behind a bend in the cliff side that few
visitors to the beach would ever discover. A tiny ribbon of
sand abutted the rocks and provided enough room for him to
sit at water??™s edge. He sat down, leaned back against a
large smooth rock, and gazed into the clear water of the
tide pool. Each time a wave stretched out and collapsed on
shore a ribbon of seawater would pulse into the pool then
trickle back toward the ocean.
Colorful anemone and starfish moved slowly in their isolated
world. Watching them usually managed to calm him. However,
today he found himself on the other side of ???usually
managed.??? It was the kind of day where things that happened
in the past, resurface, wanted or not! Nothing unique to the
human race, just the usual emotions that assail us all:
grief, anger, sadness, loneliness, shame??¦ And this is where
Jeremy came to work things out in his mind, if possible.
He did not hear the tinkling chime of disintegrating waves
on sand. Nor the cries of the gulls overhead. Where the
stairs bottom out on the sands of a nice sized beach, a
family was playing fetch with their black, Labrador
Retriever. He did not hear their laughter, or the excited
bark of the dog.
His chest felt tight and weighted down. It was difficult for
him to breath. He got to his knees and bent over the tide
pool. Unbidden, tears welled up, and he wept. The sound of a
crab scuttling over rock and sand drew his attention. He
looked down and saw the crab disappear into a rock crevasse.
He then studied his reflection in the still water. How
ragged he looked, he thought. How worn down. He took a deep,
settling breath and found the weight around his chest had
lifted.
Another wave broke on the beach, a rivulet flowed into the
pool and the water shivered. Jeremy reached out and dragged
his fingers across the rippling surface. In moments the
tidal pool was still and there, at his side, reflected in
the pool was an angel. A grand being, with heavy, flowing
wings the color of sunlight on pearls. And light pulsed from
the angel like the flame of a candle. Such an image only the
Divine could sculpt for it was beyond human beauty, The
visage that regarded Jeremy was radiant with grace and the
angel's countenance was like none Jeremy could describe. No
such emotion or like expression had every played across a
human face.
Jeremy trembled and all thoughts fled him, save for the
presence of the angel. "Why?" he said, as he turned to the
heavenly being at his side.
"I am an emissary, sent by the Creator, to be with you at
such times as He decrees.
"As you sat here, your breathing was labored and you felt a
heaviness inside of you."
Jeremy nodded.
"That weight was my presence with you, as I lifted the
burden in your heart."
"The tears you wept, I gathered unto myself. I will present
them to our Lord and he will return them to the heavens, to
bless all things on the earth that flourish when gentle
rains fall.
"The joy that will lift you up as you return to your world
today will come as I embrace your spirit, to accompany me
briefly, on my flight heavenward.
"And when it is your time to leave this place, I will hold
your soul--for we will both be heaven bound, and my wings
will take you home."
Jeremy shook his head. "But why am I allowed to see you? To
hear you? Why was this done for me?"
The angel smiled. "It was allowed more for me. He gave me
these few moments with you as a gift. A glorious token of
His love... For it is an angel's heart's desire to be given
time to commune with humans openly. To see one another with
our eyes and to speak together with words."
"Will I remember my visit with you?"
The angel's eyes flashed the colors of sunrise. "Whether you
shall recall our meeting I cannot say... that decision rests
in our Lord's hands."
~*~
Jeremy did not remember, but the vision he beheld, and the
words he heard, his spirit-soul will never forget.
~~**~~
Copyright 2005 by Kathy Anne Harris
I live in central, sunny
California, where I share my
life with my husband and our furry family. I work full time
for a living, and I write in order to live fully.
My works have been featured in many online publications and
in traditional print. I am also a weekly columnist for the
publication "Frank Talk" which is distributed in several
counties in the tri-state area of Michigan,
Ohio, and Missouri. I've written
four books and my fifth book, "For the Spirit-Soul," a
collection of my short stories and poems will be released
soon.
kathap@angelrays.biz
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