Sin Fronteras Spring 2017 Sin Fronteras Spring 2017 | Page 40

Chase Joaquín Gutiérrez A placid mirror in front of me, a sea lacking its imperfect bumps of waves. Now, at this time, with no waves in sight, I took some time to contemplate. Time for me to wiggle and stretch my arms a bit, or have my feet play with the current and maybe also have some daring algae touch me after leaving the rock that it called home. Doing this I lost myself in the sun setting far to my right. Past the natural rock dock that stubby little concrete lighthouse that seemed to have been there forever. So in 40 By Karen Amaya awe, I saw how the sun seemingly began to mesh its corpulent circular body on the palm bedded tree tops, as its once orange glare reflecting to the skies shifted to a sapphire hue that spread faster than the blink of my eye. It was such a mesmerizing display that I lost track of the water’s flow, almost submerging my upper body into an icy current alien to the season. Soon enough some shivering shout awoke me to the waves that had now broken the stillness of the blackish sea. It didn’t seem to be a good set, but at least it was something. So I quickly lay down and went from the sun to the waves. Their crests warned me of their growing size. It was then that I saw her. She struck me as extraordinary, more so when she seemed to call for me. And so, like a fish to the hook or the algae to my foot, I ventured beyond my comfort. Strongly paddling against a growing current that at times pushed me back and then drew me closer. Avoiding the rest of the waves and their apparent charm, I passed them with respectful regret. I’m sorry, I thought, but there is simply one that’s calling for me. Whether it was destiny, fate, luck or a mere coincidence I dared not question, for I was simply focused on the matter at hand. I recall now that I faced that moment unconsciously, being driven by something bigger than myself. Shifting my thought abruptly to someone bigger than me. It didn’t matter then and neither does it now. Because I was then approaching the moment, I’d turned around and instead of chasing I began to be chased. Actually, we were both going in the same direction, not chasing each other. Going to the same point, towards the same objective. A moment, perhaps, always a bit further off than we were, up to the point where it ceased to be. It happens to me almost every time. And it’s what makes me go through this life, it’s that drive that shoots me forward in an almost endless search, and once I find it I realize it’s already happened, and so I have nothing more to do but to go at it again. As an endless cycle. On and on, just like the waves of the sea. 41