Satanic Rites 2/Satanic Rites - Issue 2 (1992-08-17)(Destiny).adf/beach/beach

Text File | 1999-12-25 | 10KB | 193 lines

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{2{m                 BEACH
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{1{cBy Prrak/Catastrophy, Holland.

{aAt a destined time, a man walked past the coastline. In his brain the memories
of lost loves, good moments and better times popped trough his conscience.
In his left hand he held an empty beercan; he had finished it thirty minutes
ago already, but he still clinged to it as if it was his only possession in
the entire world.

This man was not drunk. He was struggling alone.

I stood there and watched him; I cannot recall from where it was, I can only
remember that I stood there, watching him, eternally watching him.

I wondered, what is he doing? I wondered, is he mourning? I wondered, what
is on his mind? I wondered. I wondered, ...could he be me?
He was me. I was there, sitting on the beach, watching the great blue, the
sea as it disappears from view on the horizon, thinking of...
nothing.

My memories seemed to have faded away, beyond the horizon.

The Messiah gathered his group of disciples around him, and as he looked at
them, he knew he had to tell a tale. A tale to straighten it all out.
There would not be an elaborating tomorrow. No explanations, but also no
questions. Nobody would even care.

"Once..." he started, "Once there was a giant palm-tree."
The People sat down around him, clearing their minds for some simple everyday
enjoyment.

"The palm-tree stood on an island. On the island, there also lived a man.
he was stuck there, the only survivor of a plane crash. The man was not alone,
however, as he was accompanied by a troop of monkeys. One monkey, a small and
smart monkey, had found a way to lead his troop. Every first day of the month,
the palm tree would be shook by the monkey. Every first day of the month, a
coconut would drop out, and land at the monkey's feet. And every first day of
the month, the monkey would hurry home with the coconut to give it to his
troop. And, every first day of the month, this little smart monkey was the
hero of his troop, the new king for a month. He was worshipped by all the
great, strong monkeys for his vast knowledge, though they could easily knock
him over in a fight. The monkey, he just sat back for the rest of the month,
until it was time to fetch another coconut. until it was again time to shake
the tree. The man, who had built himself a nice cabin, as he wanted to be as
comfortable as possible until a passing ship would pick him up, got up on the
first day of the month and looked out of his window, as he heard a strange
sound. In the bright daylight, he saw a monkey shaking the tree. A coconut
fell out, and it landed at his feet. The monkey didn't hesitate for a moment,
grabbed the coconut and hurried away, into the forest. The man was very
curious about all this, and he followed the monkey. His amazement grew larger
as he glared through the trees and saw the little monkey being served and
worshipped by his entire troop. And the man wondered, he wondered.

The monkey didn't get up that early the first day of the next month, as the
sun already shone down on his majestic bed. He stretched, and got up. A few
female monkeys brushed his teeth and clothed him. Male monkeys guarded the
entrance to his tree when he stepped out in the hot sun to shake the tree. He
always went alone, as he didn't want any other monkeys to see him shake the
tree. They might get funny ideas, and try shaking the tree themselves.
One hour later, the monkey reached the tree, stretched and shook it. To his
surprise, nothing fell out. Again, the monkey shook it. Still, nothing.

As this point, the monkey started to worry. If he would not be able to give
a coconut to his tribe, he might not be chosen as the new king. Our little
worried monkey climbed up the tree, only to discover that no coconut had been
grown by the tree that month.

It was until late that night, when he decided to head back for the troop.
Maybe he would not be the new king this month, but he figured that there
would be another chance, another month. Strange were his thoughts when the
monkey discovered the lights. A party! A feast! But why? Probably, another
king had been chosen. With great curiousity, the monkey neared the town
of his troop. Great was his surprise, when he glared through the vegetation.

Around the campfire, the monkeys were dancing on in the night. The yelling and
screaming should've been seen in order to be believed - it was tremendous.
But not for our little monkey, as he knew his seat was taken. Forever?
Stout, the little monkey stepped into the town. A female jumped at him and
screamed in his face, "We have a new king!" and pointed at the fire-place.

Noticing the monkey, a hideous creature stopped in his steps. The little
monkey opened his eyes wide. That, that thing there, that was certainly not
a monkey! That creature - was a man. The man stood there silently, not
knowing what to do, as the monkey pointed at him and yelled, "He is not one of
us! he is... human!"

The wild dance stopped. The monkeys listened.

"Can't you see?!" the little monkey screamed furiously at his troop, "Can't
you see he is the one from the beach?"
The monkeys all turned around, looked at the monkey and said "He makes a
great king."

Then, they shrugged and continued their dance.
The man, he smiled and joined in, as the little monkey turned away from them
and walked into the darkness of the cold night, alone.

At the first day of the next month, the man got up and walked to the palm tree
in order to get a coconut. He shook it, and both the little monkey and the
coconut fell before his feet. Before the man could recover from his surprise,
the little monkey ran hastily off to his town carrying the coconut.
The man could not reach the town in time to prevent the monkey from giving the
coconut to his troop. He was king for a month.

At the last day of the same month, the monkey had gone to the palm-tree to
stay there and guard it, until the next day, when he would shake it.
When the daylight had come, the little monkey shook the tree. Nothing.
Behind him, he heard a noise. He turned just in time to see the man disappear
into the woods, carrying the coconut, which he had taken from the tree two
days ago. The monkey sat down by the tree and waited there, while the man was
king for a month.

It was three days before the last day of the month, and the monkey found the
coconut to be good enough to take. He shook the tree, and the somewhat pale
coconut fell down at his feet. As the little monkey bent forward to pick it
up, the man jumped at him and pushed him to the ground. Quickly, he grabbed
the coconut and ran off. The monkey got up, pursuited and tackled him, grabbed
the priceless coconut and headed to his town. He was king for a month.

The man sat down next to the tree and guarded it. The little monkey, after his
coronation he returned to guard the tree as well. Neither one slept, ate or
drank for a month. But now, something strange was happening. The palm tree's
leaves changed from lively green to pale brown, before falling off. The man
and the monkey stood by the tree and gasped as the leaves fell off one by one.
The little monkey leant against the tree, and accidentily pushed a hole the
size of his head in it, just by leaning against it. The tree had died.

"Acid rain." the man murmured. "Conservative party." the monkey murmured.They
both agreed to return to the village and tell the troop the sad news.
As they wondered how the monkeys would take this, they stepped into the town.
To their surprise, all monkeys were happily dancing around the fire. They
asked, "What is it?"

"This is it." said an elder monkey as he whipped out a Bounty bar, with real
coconut in milk chocolate.

"We do not need either of you now." he said. "Leave now and we will not
hassle you. Otherwise, we will banish both of you completely."
The monkey and the man stepped out of the town to go their separate ways."

The Messiah silently looked around the gasping faces of his People.
"Now that is beautiful!" sighed the People, and they stood up to go home and
watch "Wheel of Fortune" on the telly.
As they disappeared beyond the horizon, the Messiah yelled after them: "But
do you understand what it means?"
The People turned around, looked at the Messiah and said "It's a beautiful
story."

Slowly, the sky grew red.

The People shrugged, and turned around to walk home.
And, the Messiah wept, for he knew he had not reached his target.
He had been a Messiah for a day, and the day was over.
Darkness swept over the land.

As said earlier, I was walking over the beach. The salt seawater closed in on
me and nearly drowned my expensive leather shoes. Somehow, I did not care.
With my mind I was definitely working on something larger, something so much
bigger than this world.

A roaring sound behind me distracted me from my work. I turned around, only
to see a white jeep pass me by quite rapidly. I stood still and kept watching
the jeep until it traded the beach for the road some minutes later. I sighed
and sat myself down in the cold, wet sand. A seagull closed in and screamed
at me. I averted my eyes from the animal; animals had always disturbed me.

When I was a kid, it had begun. My mother hated animals, and father agreed.

She was allergic to them and therefore hated them. Or was it the other way
around? Did the natural hate of animals cause the allergy as a psychomatic
symptom?  I shook my head. It did not matter.
There was many a time when I said no to the kid who invited me over to see
his new pet.

I turned, and saw myself looking at me.
As I looked out of the window, I realized...
He wasn't me. He wasn't a soul to be put in a cage, and neither was I.
Dreams were not to be stolen, they were to be told, to be written
They were to be heard and read. So, here you are.

The man looked at the beercan in his hand once more. I did not know what he
was thinking. I didn't care and made up my own version. Now, make yours up.

"It is a fact, that even if this awful virus were to increase a thousandfold
in the next ten years it would never, and could never kill as many lives as
intolerance daily does... that's getting heavy."
                        - {eStephen Fry on AIDS{a.