Whale

It was one of the more agreeable afternoons Jim could remember.   The sun beat down upon his skin, and the waves rocked against his feet lolling him into a relaxed state of tranquility.  It was a lazy Saturday afternoon at the beach and he was engaged in the the most pleasing conversation with his college friends.

The conversation continued for most of the afternoon.   Jim drifted in and out between his friends and the waves coming in.   His reverie was broken when one of his friends remarked with alarm at the size of the wave coming in.   It was as large as a house.

"Look, there is something inside the wave,"  one of his friends shouted.

And sure enough at the base of the wave was a grey object reflecting off the setting sun.  At first, Jim thought it was a shark, but on more careful inspection he realized with a sense of delight that it was a whale.    Everyone knows that whales are friendly.  He saw the whale's majestic body rise with the incoming tide, then disappear back into the depths.

Then he and his friends were back at the cabana enjoying margaritas and once again life was pleasant and as it should be.  After consuming an untold number of the amiable concoctions, Jim's reflexes were somewhat impaired.   He turned around to face the bartender, but in the process he spilled his drink on the white shirt of the female sitting his right.   The bar grew silent at his accident and he quickly attempted to rectify the situation by finding a towel to clean off the woman's shirt.   As he applied the cloth to the woman's shoulder, Jim apologized profusely:

"I'm so, sorry, I hope I didn't leave a stain."

But he quickly determined that the stain would not come off.   So he decided that the next course of action would be to remove his shirt and give it to the woman to replace the shirt he had ruined.  He looked into the woman's eyes as he proposed the switch to her and he recognized immediately that the woman was a whale.    She might have been the same whale who created the massive wave that had impressed him earlier.   As he continued to look into her eyes, he could not help but to feel himself drawn to her, almost magnetically.   His gaze shifted from her eyes to her lips and he felt himself move uncontrollably down to meet her lips with his.

While he was kissing her, he remembered dimly that in the past he had been shy when kissing a woman, so many times before.  But he knew in his heart of hearts that this kiss was right, and he engaged in it without hesitation.  Moreover, unlike any kiss in the past, he was overflowing with confidence.   He knew how to please the whale, how to nibble just so on her lips so that she could not resist him--and he did not want to resist her.  

And invariably the whale grabbed him and she took him to the beach with her.  And his friends saw Jim and the whale disappear beneath the waves.

The remaining story of Jim and the whale was depicted in a series of still life photographs.  Of the whale showing Jim the crystal clear coral reefs.   Of Jim clinging to the whale's dorsal fin.  Of the whale's gaping maw nuzzled against Jim's chest.

And on the next day Jim saw his skin begin to turn gray and become more malleable and his face brightened.  He was not afraid of metamorphosis taking place inside of him.  

And when he did not return to class that Monday, his friends knew that they would never see Jim again--unless they were looking for the large waves that crashed the on beach.