My Oldest Friend

It was still dark on the beach with just a glimmer of sunshine starting to peek over the horizon. Billy found a place to sit down near the water’s edge where the waves sprinted up the beach before slowing, stopping for a mere fraction of a second, and then sliding backward into the surf.

Billy pulled his thermos from his backpack and poured himself a cup of coffee. He then sat back and watched the beautiful spectacle of the sun rising over the ocean. Today it was especially beautiful as the sun began to drive away the darkness and cover the earth with the golden sunshine of a new day.

It was moments later that Billy heard the voice that he had hoped would reach out to him. Actually, it was something he felt more than he heard. Other humans walking nearby could not hear the voice or any responses from Billy. They would have only seen a man in his middle years enjoying the sunrise and his coffee with his eyes fixed on the ocean. They would not have known that Billy was talking with his friend, the waters of the ocean.

It has been too long Billy; how have you been?

I am sorry my friend. Sometimes life gets in the way of even the things that are very important to us.

I understand but I do miss our talks; what kept you away?

My father was very ill. I had hoped more than anything to bring him here one more time. You know how much he loved this place. His cancer was very aggressive, however. He could not travel. The doctors did all they could, but they could not save him. I have been in mourning.

I remember your father well. He was a good man. When I first saw you, he was holding you in his arms out in my waves. I think you were two years old. You were crying.

I’m sure I was crying; it took me years to get over my fear of you.

In your early years and occasionally when you were older you seemed to greatly enjoy peeing on me.

I did?

I think you know you did.

I’m sorry.

Don’t fret about it, it is better than getting pooped on. I think you only did that once or twice.

I did get better as I got older.

Yes, you did. You were still young when you asked your father how long it would take my waters on this beach to make it all the way to the beaches in Europe. Do you remember when you brought a saltshaker out of the restaurant so you could shake salt into my waters to make sure they always stayed salty?

Yes, I remember.

I very much enjoyed your years as a teenager when you would bring girls down to the beach. Do you remember the one you were with when you were seventeen?

I remember her. She’s the one that kept kissing me. I was telling her about how amazing the water cycle is and how cool it is to study hydrology, but she didn’t seem very interested.

Billy, I think that night she was more interested in human anatomy than hydrology. After four beers at the bar up the beach, she was a little drunk. She was nineteen. She thought you were older than you were. I really thought you were going to get lucky that night Billy.

Well, I did get lucky the following summer and that girl was much hotter. I think her name was Violet

Yes, you did get lucky, but her real name was Sally. She just told you her name was Violet because she thought it was more sexy. Also, Billy, the only reason you got lucky that night was because you paid her fifty dollars to help with her rent that summer. I hate to tell you this Billy, but you were only one of about twenty guys that got lucky with Violet that summer.

Seriously! You’ve got to be kidding me!

I’m sorry, Billy.

The one I thought about the most when I got home was Jennifer. She could be very quiet but seemed to listen to everything I said. I’ll never forget the night that we walked along the beach. The moon was full that night. The stars seemed to reflect off her long brown hair. Her eyes seemed to sparkle too. She laughed at my jokes even though I know some of them were not very funny.

Jennifer had a very kind soul. She loved to help others. As the years passed, she helped many people. If there were more people like Jennifer, the world would be a better place. Why didn’t you stay in touch with her Billy? Did you ask her for her address and phone number?

Yes, I did, and she gave it to me but when I got home, I washed my clothes and forgot to take the piece of paper with her address out of my pocket. The washing machine destroyed all the writing so I could not call her or write to her. I had promised her I would, but I couldn’t. I felt stupid. I’m sure she thought I was a jerk for not staying in touch with her.

I’m sure she didn’t Billy. She was not that type of girl.

Billy, it is good that you are here today. This may be the last time we see each other.

What, why is that?

The Master of the Tides has told me that it is time for me to leave. I will be going away soon. It is my time.

What, why? The anguish in Billy’s voice was palpable at the thought of losing his oldest friend.

I love living here near your beach, but I have been here for more than three hundred years. I am needed elsewhere.

Where will you go?

I don’t know.

Is there someplace you would like to go?

I would like to go somewhere where there is drought and great famine. My waters could help there. The saddest sight in the world is the skeleton-like bodies of small children who are horribly malnourished.

Perhaps I could also go to the North or South Pole. The ice is melting there and causing great suffering for wildlife. I was there over a millennium ago. I think I could help there. The wonders of the Arctic and Antarctic are incredible. Rest assured Billy, anywhere that I go I will be helping this earth. I will be happy.

Will you ever come back?

I don’t know Billy, I have lived a wonderful life near your beach, but my days could be numbered. The people of the earth seem intent on destroying the things that give them life. The things that are placed in my waters are destroying me and the fish and other creatures that depend on me.

So, pollution is killing you. What is the worst?

Anything that takes years to decompose is like getting punched in the gut. Oil and industrial waste are especially destructive. Even plastic that would seem harmless in my waters is very dangerous. Altogether, it is really like cancer. A body can handle some but if allowed to spread the cancer will destroy the ocean.

Is global warning as bad as they say?

It is much worse Billy. My waters are warmer than they have ever been. Many of my species of fish are dying. Please do what you can to help Billy.

Is there any way that I will be able to find you?

Perhaps Billy but there are no guarantees. If you are near a body of water, look for me. If I am there, we will renew our friendship. If not, just know that I am doing what I can for our planet.

May I swim in your waters one more time?

Of course, Billy but it’s still a little cold.

I won’t mind.

Billy quickly stripped down to his swimsuit and ran out into the waves where his oldest friend cradled him for perhaps the last time.

Even though the water was cold, Billy swam and swam not willing to leave the arms of his friend. For a short period of time the water around Billy changed from cold to warm. So different was the change that it startled Billy. What was that? Was that some kind of pollution or something?

His old friend roared with laughter. No Billy, I just wanted you to know what it felt like to be peed on. I’ve been waiting fifty years to do that!

Tired at last, Billy walked from the water and sat on the beach looking at his old friend.

With tears welling in his eyes, Billy looked at his friend and said, so this could be good-bye.

No Billy, it is not good-bye. It is until we see each other again, and if that never happens then we have many wonderful memories.

You asked me to do something to help your waters. What can I do?

You’ll figure it out Billy. Oh, I almost forgot to tell you. There is a new coffee and tea shop just down the beach. I understand the coffee there is great and they also have a wonderful selection of tea. Ask for Jenny, she is nice. Take care of yourself Billy.

You too, my friend.

Billy walked along the beach for a long way thinking about his old friend. The waters of the ocean near here had been his friend for many years. It was only a few summers of his fifty-four years that he had not come here. He could not even begin to remember all the wonderful times he had had here.

He knew his friend had been sincere when he asked him to do something to help with the damage being done to the oceans, but he had no clue what he could do.

Billy headed back toward his hotel. He had been so wrapped up in his thoughts when he had walked past the first time that he had failed to notice the new coffee and tea shop that his friend had told him about. Ocean Coffee and Tea set just off the beach in a small two-story building with outside decks that gave beautiful views of the beach and the ocean. Inside was the usual maritime décor accented with some of the most beautiful paintings of the ocean that Billy had ever seen.

Billy took a seat at a small corner table. So enthralled was Billy with the paintings that he hardly noticed the waitress with a very kind face and beautiful brown hair that approached his table.

“I take it you like our paintings,” said the waitress.

“They’re incredible,” said Billy. “Where did you get them?”

“I painted them,” replied the waitress.

Billy took his eyes off the paintings and looked at the waitress. She was perhaps close to his age, but the years had been very kind to her, and she just as easily could have been a decade or more younger than Billy. It was then that he noticed her name tag that read Jenny.

“A friend of mine told me about this place and suggested that I ask for Jenny,” said Billy.

“Well, that would be me,” said Jenny. “Who is your friend?”

“That’s a very long story,” replied Billy.

“Let me get you some coffee first,” said Jenny. “I think it’s your first time here and that means a free piece of pie. I have apple, blueberry, and cherry.”

“Cherry would be perfect,” answered Billy.

A short time later, Jenny returned with a cup of Ocean’s Special Coffee and a generous helping of cherry pie.

Setting the coffee and pie in front of Billy. Jenny said, “This is your first time here, but I feel like I know you from somewhere. Have we ever met?”

For the first time, Billy’s concentration on the paintings was broken and he looked closely at Jenny.

Billy smiled, “Is the beach still as beautiful as it was about 35 years ago, when the moon is full and all the stars are out.”

“It is,” said Jenny.

“Would it be all right, if I called you Jennifer?” asked Billy.

“Yes, you may, but you have a lot of explaining to do,” said Jennifer.

Later that evening, Billy and Jennifer had dinner at a small restaurant that was a favorite for locals like Jennifer. A very embarrassed Billy told her how he had lost her phone number and address in the washing machine. At first Jennifer was skeptical of Billy’s seemingly lame excuse but eventually his sincere pleas convinced her that he might just be telling her the truth.

Jennifer told Billy how a few years back, an old friend had suggested that she make this area her permanent home. Thus, after many years of annual visits she did so. She liked how her coffee shop allowed her to interact with both the locals as well as those that made annual pilgrimages to the area.

The moon and the stars seemed to align over the couple. After dinner they had a long walk on the beach. Billy was not surprised when the stars seemed to reflect off her long brown hair. Her eyes seemed to sparkle too.

That night was a turning point in both Billy’s and Jennifer’s lives. Billy soon moved permanently to the beach and found that serving coffee and making friends with the customers was something he was pretty good at. The times that he and Jennifer spent together were blessings to his life the kind of which he had never known. Their wedding on the beach was beautiful.

Billy had always wanted to write children’s books that taught children how to be friends of the beach and the ocean and to care for them so they would be enjoyed by many generations to come. In Jennifer he found the perfect illustrator and a little over a year after moving to the beach, an award-winning children’s story about their beach was published. “Our Friend the Ocean” by Billy and Jennifer became a bestseller and taught many children to respect and care for the ocean and its beaches. As the children became adults, they tended to remember what they had learned.

Billy never saw his oldest friend again and he never answered Jennifer’s question about who his old friend was. Somehow, though Billy and Jennifer both knew that her old friend and his old friend just might be one and the same.