SEA ANEMONES - A SHORT STORY

Her eyes welled up like the tides that rose a few feet away. What did they mean by “You can’t come here anymore”? Who were they to stop her from visiting her leisure spot, Kolanji wondered. 

It was the same sea she watched with her eyes wide open the first time her parents took her there as a child. The same beach that made her dizzy with happiness when she submerged her feet in the waves for the first time when she was three. The same sea where she dipped in now and then when she was drowsy with happiness. She would be left drenched from head to toe, drawing her mother’s wrath towards the end of the day. Her father would giggle and drag her back to the same spot where they would spend hours bathing their dog, Subbu. 

“Where the hell have you three been? Do you even know what time it is? No dinner for any of you today,” Kolanji’s mother would vent her spleen out but would not affect the daughter-father duo whatsoever. Subbu would shudder to dry himself up and wind around Kolanji, wagging his tail, and they would soon all convince her mother. It was almost a tradition in their household ever since her father got a new boat. 

When she turned fifteen, the same spot became her place to vent her emotions. She visited her space whenever she was hurt - when her friend ended their friendship over her father’s ‘not so fancy’ job, when she failed her first math exam, and when she was turned down by the guy she had a crush on - every moment of her life was carved out in the very spot. She would cry on certain days, but on other days, she would stare into oblivion, immersing herself in the silence of the sea, unheeding the noise inside her.

Today, they announced she couldn’t visit the spot anymore. She almost fought the man who chided her away as he ordered the men to put up a fence around it. 

“Who gave you the right to tell us not to enter this place?” She had asked.

“Who should tell us? This is our place now. We don’t need anyone giving our rights.” He smirked at her, his looks making her uncomfortable as he scanned her from head to toe.

Kolanji gently fidgeted with her shirt and gulped in the air she found too tense to breathe. “But this isn’t your home. This place belongs to everyone. How can the sea suddenly become someone’s property?” 

“Child, you are too young to understand this. But let me brief you a bit.” The man nudged the worker on his way to Kolanji towards his right and jogged towards her.

“See, child. I understand you used to play here for all these years. But look,” he pointed towards a building a few hundred metres from the shore. “They have gotten the rights over this piece of the land with the ocean for making it a private leisure spot. Do you even understand what that means?” 

Kolanji was dumbfounded. She had never heard of the beach turning into a private property before. How can the beach, like the sky, become someone’s alone? How will they define the limits? How will the locals know which beach is theirs and which is not? And did it even make any sense to call the sea someone’s exclusive? Her head was reeling. She just needed the same spot she used to visit since she was one. The very place where she had written her name over and over again in the wet sand. The exact spot where she lazed around with her friends, stealing shade from the tall buildings and trees around. And how would her father react? It was where he docked his boat and got off with his catch. 

“Child, the government has already sold this off. They are going to make this a huge vacation spot - a private beach, that is. You can visit sometime too and see how it differs from the regular, boring beach view. Or, I can make some special arrangements for you to visit this place.” He sneered, staring into her. Kolanji was deeply disgusted. A sense of fury took over her pain of losing her place to the money mongers. She ran as fast as she could, not even turning back once.

“They cannot do this to us. We have already lost a lot of space around to many property owners. And now this place, too, is gone. In a few years, we will lose every space like this, and how will we go fishing then?” Her father vented out as Kolanji narrated the day’s events. The men decided they would go as a team and petition the government officials to withhold it, though they knew it would be useless. 

Kolanji was lost for a few days and avoided nearing the sea. She did not even step in that direction, nor did she enjoy her mother’s famous nethili fry. She didn’t want to have any connection with the sea anymore. She directed her anger towards the harmless sea.

The summer holidays began, and Kolanji stepped out of her home at her mother's insistence. Unlike her routine, she marched away from the sea for the first time to find some peace. On her way, she stumbled upon a bookstore, which she had always heard of but had never been enthusiastic about visiting before. Now, not knowing where else to kill her time off, she decided to try it. 

She was welcomed with a huge glass frame decorated with letters and miniature book stickers. The face of the kind storekeeper beamed as she saw Kolanji entering. Kolanji scanned the shelves stocked with books of all colours and sizes. There were reds, blues, greens, and purples. She stood with her eyes and mouth agape like the first time she visited the beach. 

She ran her hand through the racks, and a bright blue book with drawings of shells, sand, and waves caught her attention. She yanked it out and turned the pages slowly after scrutinising it. She was spellbound by the words that ran deep in the book. It was as if the book was speaking to her, an experience that solely existed between the sea and her before. The words calmed her soul the same way the sea did to her. She realised she had found her new spot that day. At least words can’t become privatised, she thought.

She kept turning pages and overlooked the shopkeeper winding down for the day. “We close at seven. Do you want that one?" she asked. 

Not knowing how to make it her own, she decided to return every day to explore the book a little more. “I can’t buy this book. But can I come back to read this tomorrow?”

“Of course, you can. But do not damage the pages, and don’t let anyone else know.” The lady chirped and waved Kolanji off.

Kolanji made a plan for the next ten days. Her holidays were sorted. She was disheartened that she found the store very late. But when she left, she knew she found a treasure and something inside her changed. She walked towards the beach that day. 

#penbooksandscalpel

This story is written for the #BlogchatterBlogHop for the theme beach and bookstore.