Su

Su didn’t love the sea. She didn’t hate it either. The sea was part of her life. Just like when you wake up in the morning and know that that the sun is shining, Su knows the sea is out there. Just beyond the little garden she had somehow managed to plant in the sand outside her house, beyond the little stretch of sand, its waves crashing on the shore every few seconds. To Su, the sea represented her life and all she had come to know. Just like she neither loved nor hated her life, she neither loved nor hated the sea. The waves on the sea were unrelenting, they crashed and they crashed but their life was completely sapped from them the second they crashed. They never even made it to the edge of the wall beside the road. Except in bad weather, that is. Such was the story of her life; she lived all the days as if she were declaring war on life itself. Never relenting until she died. But just like the sea sometimes got rough and splashed high against the wall beside the road, she had a few highs as well.

Su had grown up near the sea. Every major event of her life had the sea in it. She had been born in the house that she lived in now. She had also lost her mother the same night. Then there was Pa. Pa had gone waving and smiling one day in his boar from the pier and had never come back. It was quite a storm, that day. All the fishermen had warned Pa the crests of the waves were white- the surest sign of an impending storm - but Pa never listened to anyone in his life, and he didn’t start then. Thinking about Pa made Su smile. Pa was the crusty sailor. Her fisherman father. He always told her the fish he brought them to eat was caught by him. “Just like God intended,” he would say. Being a fisherman was a sacred duty in his eyes.

Then there was her husband. She had met him near the surfer’s bar. He was an Australian and a damn good looking one too. They had liked each other their eyes met. Love at first sight. But John had left her, for a dimwitted blond some months after they got married. Thinking of John still made Su sad. But, well, it was another stunningly beautiful day, even though it was December. Another day beside the sea. Sometimes, she wished she had lived in a cold place near mountains where it snowed all year round. Then she didn’t have to look at the sea all day long. She had seen enough sunrises and sunsets to last her a lifetime. Oh well, she thought, time to get to work.

She hastily ate a breakfast of cold tuna sandwiches and went out to her car. Her musings had already cost her to run late. And the traffic at this time would be immense! Even though it was just after 10 o’ clock in the morning, the tourists were already out in force. She started her car and heard an odd rumbling sound coming from the engine. The last thing she needed right now was engine trouble. She quickly got out and opened the hood. Strange, she thought, the engine seemed to be fine. Then the sound got louder and people started screaming. Su turned around and for the first time in her life, was afraid of the sea. An unreal sight met her eyes. The sea was receding! It was as if Armageddon had come upon the world. So forceful was the sea’s receding that people and boats were being swept away into it; it was as if a giant whirlpool had opened up right in the middle of it. Then there was a deep rumbling sound. Everything, and everyone, stood still and simply stared at the sea, wondering what would come next. What came next made Su relieve her life in her entire mind. She felt as if she was watching it all in fast forward, she even felt the emotions all over again.

When the giant tsunami crashed upon everyone, some ran, but most stood rooted to the spot. It was the most spectacular thing anyone present that day had ever seen. It was as if the sea was mocking Su, telling her that it had possessed the strength all along; it just hadn’t shown it to her before. It was the most overwhelming scene Su had seen in her entire life. The last thought that passed through her head was, about the weather. How clear the day was, how brightly the sun shone, as if it wasn’t aware of what was going on beneath it.

Every major event of Su’s life had taken place near the sea. She had been born there, lost her mother near it and her father to it, met her future husband there, spent her whole life there. And she

died there too.