The ocean eyes

2. Human gratitude

And yet he comes to shore the next day. And the next - only to see a strange man named Gulf, to whom for some reason he is drawn.

The guy, to his surprise, keeps his word and comes, but Mew is afraid to show himself in front of him, so he hides in the water behind stones near the shore and cannot take his eyes off the person who for some reason is really not indifferent to him.

All day after the storm, he doubted what to do, but then he sailed all the same to look with longing at the one to whom he could not approach. He sees how Gulf is looking out for him among the people that periodically appear on the shore, but he does not even try to turn his gaze towards the sea, where his savior is actually from.

For some reason, it pains him to see the guy get up and leave after a few hours, but everything is logical: no one said that Gulf would wait for him for days on the shore, he obviously has a lot of things to do. And all the same, something unpleasant and annoying his usual rest is scratching in the region of the heart.

Why is he sailing the next day?

Mew doesn't know.

As well as why Gulf also comes: this time later, almost before sunset, but still comes.

The guy sits on the sand even without bedding, his hands clasped his knees and he somehow sadly looks towards the ocean. The sound of the waves drowns out the already quiet voice, but still Mew hears something desperate. "And you left me too. Saved and left. Why then did you save me?"

These words cut without a knife, forcing him to shudder and swallow a bitter lump in his throat, because suddenly his own loneliness responded to the same human state. It is this despair that prompts him to go a little crazy and quietly answer. "Because I could not help but save."

"Mew!" Gulf immediately jumps up and begins to squint, peering into the darkness where the voice came from. "You still came! I came yesterday, but you were not there, so I no longer hoped..."

"I came," he interrupts the guy, already regretting that he had responded, and now frantically figuring out how to get out. "Only... I can't get close to you - I'll be at the very shore. But we can talk like that if you want."

"But why? Are you hurt? Let me see!"

Gulf is already taking a step towards him, but Mew almost screams in fright and jerks at his own voice. "No, don't! Stop! I... I have problems with my legs, I can't walk properly, but I can swim, so I don't want you to see me like this and feel sorry for me."

Well, he came up with a reason - and it was even plausible, because Gulf freezes after taking just a few steps. "Problems with your legs..." He is clearly confused, it can be seen even in the approaching darkness. "But how..."

"If you want to talk - let's talk, but not about that."

Mew gropes for a piece of cloth lying around on the beach and pulls it over his lower body, pulling himself up on his arms - just like he did when he saved Gulf. But with the big difference that now the person is fully conscious and ready to ask questions.

"Can I at least turn on the flashlight on my phone?"

Telephone? Oh yes, this is a strange device that people constantly carry with them. Is there also a function of light? He does not see anything wrong with this, so he agrees. "Yes, come on, just don't shine on me, please."

Gulf obediently directs a stream of light somewhere upward, which distorted his own face by strange illumination, but at the same time an unusual and kind of graceful beauty of features is emphasized. This makes Mew freeze in delight for a while and not immediately hear the question, which the guy is forced to repeat again. "Do you know who I am?"

"The man who nearly drowned?" He shrugs, more interested in the odd combination of light and shadow on Gulf's face.

"That too, and I am very grateful to you for your salvation. And I want to repay you!"

Mew shakes his head in disbelief. "I don't think you have anything I need."

He sees the guy hesitating, running his hands nervously through his jet-black hair. He is mesmerized by this sight, because he has never seen human emotions so close.

"I... My father is not the last person in this city, he has money and connections. And he could... help you."

"Help? With what?" He really does not understand what the human world can give him - he has a whole ocean.

"Well, everything is so complicated!" Gulf buries his face in his hands in a sort of despair. "You asked not to talk about it, but I don't know how else to say it. Your feet! I could help you with them - any medicine, any doctor!"

The guy blurts it all out somewhere in his palm, not daring to raise his head, and Mew looks at his interlocutor with curiosity:

"Do you really want to heal me?"

"Yes! This is the least I can do for you," Gulf looks up hopefully. "Aren't you angry?"

"For what?" Mew smiles involuntarily. "You didn't mean anything bad."

"But you yourself said... That's it, I'm completely confused!"

"Then unravel back," he laughs, for the first time in a long time so easily and sincerely. "Believe me, doctors won't be able to help with my legs."

"But can you still try?"

The guy looks at him with such hope that the warmth warms his heart and makes him relax in the presence of this person. "Not worth it, really. If you want to thank me..."

"I want, I really want!"

"...Then tell me about yourself, about your life. I live separately from all of you, so everything is interesting to me."

"Are you a hermit?" Big, curious eyes are wide open. "But why? Because of illness? Did your parents abandon you?"

"No," he smiles again, introducing his father, who will never give up his children, "it just happened that I spend more time at sea than on land with people. This is my... job, yes, I can say that. But I am very interested in what is happening on the shore, how you live there, how you relax and what you do."

Gulf still shakes his head in disbelief, but agrees. "Okay, but I don't know where to start. And it will take many hours, because I don't know what you're interested in..."

"Everything! I am interested in everything! Imagine that you have to bring up a person who has never lived in your world."

"An alien or what?"

Mew is puzzled because, to some extent, he can really call him that, so he nods. "Let there be an alien. So: what would you tell him? Where would you start?"

"Probably from the way our state is organized: everything is definitely different with them."

"So start with this," Mew, pleased, nods.

"You really don't know what country you live in?" Gulf looks at him in disbelief.

"I know, of course, but I'm interested in your version - consider it a kind of game."

He is almost not ashamed to lie to this gullible boy who so easily agrees to waste his precious time with a stranger and speaks.

Speaks.

Speaks.

And Mew greedily absorbs, like a sponge, knowledge and cannot get enough. Or is he hungry for that particular person?

He doesn't know, but evenings in Gulf's company by the light of his phone are already becoming commonplace for him.