sea of mystery

there's something really mystical about the sea. especially on a moonlit night.
i remember those bohol waters, one month ago. and the lone lamplit banca. if the fisherman got caught under those waters, would he have survived? or would the mermaids take him away?

mermaids in that oilbath! funny.

i remember the company, too. like children on vacation. after a long day's work, jokes. questions in a fishbowl. evasive answers. blowing out smoke. the wind carrying the noises of a nearby bar lounge. the tarsiers and the crabs. the rustic bell tower on a rainy afternoon. dozing off on the plane and waking up to see someone staring out the window--like a child--at the scene down below. waiting at the airport. hanging out in someone else's hotel room. water spurting out from a mischievous adult's mouth...onto us. carla, carla. the water, the water. how beautiful it seemed at night.

3rd (re)reading from the FORBIDDEN FRUIT anthology: The Mermaid. if it weren't for the myth and the milieu, i wouldn't have written about this. it's a story i've heard before--mythical creature nurtures affection on a mere earth dweller, takes him into her world, then out of love returns him to land, where he really belongs. but not before erasing the memory of her in his mind. the poignant part that i like--he felt a deep sadness, a deep longing like something was lost, but he couldn't understand, and he couldn't remember why. it suggests that feelings do come from the heart, and not based on the comprehensions of the mind.

i remember my own Mermaid story from long ago. two brothers who both get entranced by a mermaid. she has the Ariel syndrome--the passion to become human will transcend all other passions--but the one drastic way to that is if she could lure a human to their kingdom underneath and eat his heart. if i had the chance revise the story i would have dwelled a bit more on the sea and its mysteries. i think i'll be entranced by it for life.