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On Such a Full Sea
Her bedroom light flickered on, then off, three times. The signal.
Meet me in the back garden.
First, our Promise:
“Friends forever,
Parting never,
Nothing can sever
The bond between us.”
Then the Gifting. My turn to receive.
Over the years, the gifts had gotten more complex. Like our dreams. Like our friendship.
A sleek silver tube – my first lipstick! I smiled, imagining Samuel’s timid kiss. Another first.
“Here, let me.” She reddened my lips, then leaned forward, a hummingbird to nectar.
An ocean of moonlight washed over bird and flower. She whispered, “Unpath’d waters, undream’d shores?” Trembling, I accepted.
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Another story full of Shakespeare quotes – bravo! A different kind of coming of age story, exquisite in its unexplored undertones.
Your story is beautifully written, Fuji. It is a very sensitive and poetic description of the close and secret relationship between the two young friends. But it is also very cryptic, with a lot of details being left in the dark. Who is the “I” in the story? Who is “she”? Who is Samuel? What is the invitation about that is accepted?
Oh dear, Christer, I’m afraid I was a bit too cryptic! The “I” and “she” are simply two young girls, best friends all their lives, just entering their teen years. We know their gender and ages from the pronouns and from the lipstick gift. Samuel is simply “a boy” – an indication that the first-person protagonist is starting to think about boys, imagining her first kiss. The title is from Shakespeare. You’ll know of course the beginning of the quote, but perhaps not the end:
“There is a tide in the affairs of men.
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat…”
The two quotes in the last paragraph are also Shakespeare, a different character in a different play, but still keeping with the ocean/sea idea and the underlying theme of making choices.
Hopefully the story is now a bit less cryptic. I won’t say any more, since I don’t want to turn an almost mystical poetic moment into an everyday description! ?
Thank you, Fuji, for your high expectations of my knowledge in Shakespeare. Sorry to say, I have to disappoint you. All I remember from Julius Caesar is the expression “The ides of March”, which didn’t help me here.
I should, of course, have understood what you say about the people involved in your story, but I think I was confused by the memory of a Swedish TV-series where a couple had a secret relationship and where a lipstick tube played an essential part.
I’m glad you didn’t reveal more about the mystery. I just smile when I think about the two 13-year old girls quoting Shakespeare to each other. I can imagine a young Fuji doing that.
“Friends forever / Parting never / Nothing can sever / The bond between us.” Meta-writing—Those four lines alone are lyrical genius!!
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Thank you Jessica! I don’t exactly understand what “meta-writing” means. I can’t wait to find out, because it sounds pretty good! ?
Fuji, I can’t believe you have fitted so many subtleties into just 100 words.
Hi Susan – Thanks so much for that comment. I rewrote the story many times to finally get the version I was happy with. I find that the Bard makes a great writing partner, especially for including a multitude of subtleties, as you said. He was always good at that!