Blue-moon kingdom

The lagoon we are on gleams blue at night, even after all the beautiful creatures here go to sleep. The moon is a feminine hue, set against dark forces of space. In the distance, we can hear her waves lash against invisible rocks. 

‘This diminutive dimension is home to sorceries we are yet to understand’, the man tells us, letting out a cloud of smoke from his lungs.

I trace the path his fumes take; journeying up until it becomes one with the starless sky.

‘I’m going to tell you a story you will never forget’

Those of us whose membranes are meandering, ready to shut down for the day, give a last push to stay awake to this man’s narrative.    

‘The story takes place in a land far, far away, interlocked between a mountain and a river. The mornings here were full of sunshine. The vegetation, tropical, was in abundance. Dense forests, thick foliage, bovines grazing lazily in the open grasslands. It had everything’

‘The people inhabiting the land had a fun time, nowhere to go, and nothing to do. They mated amongst themselves like bunnies, days and nights, season after season, year after year. Till the day came’

‘What day?’

‘One day they were all smoking home-grown marijuana, like us, on the banks of their great river Sharu. A giant yellow creature, blisters marring its face, made its appearance in front of them and declared - 

‘This River will become a sea one day, then an ocean. The banks you are sitting on will vanish tomorrow and be replaced by crystal blue waters, a lagoon it shall be made. You are to be stripped of all your memories. When you wake up, you will all be newborns again. You will be separated from each other, you will wander across remote stretches of the world, lay your seeds and see them grow into big civilisations and then, back unto dust again. But a time will come when all of you will return to this very same place with this exotic herb of yours, and inhale its juices. Then, I shall set you free again’

I look around our lot and see a racially vibrant group of people. We are embracing sleep, hands on sand and across shoulders. The man smiles at me. I nod my head and we, too, go back to sleep.