Second Nature

Chapter 8

8 

The woman awoke on her back. Wet, gritty sand beneath. A massive thunderhead roiling above. White dunes all around. 

A humid breeze softly caressed, trembling downy hairs on her arms. The air smelled salty, pungent, rich. She sat up and sucked in her breath at the watery expanse before her.  

What is this place? How had she gotten here?  

Falling. She remembered the sensation of falling, falling, falling. 

Now she found herself in an impact crater in the sand; its rim reached to her waist. Orange nylon cloth clung to her body in bloody tatters. Am I hurt? She carefully moved her limbs. Not the slightest pain.  

A shimmering mist flowed over her body, head to toe. Even in the dim light, it glittered like diamond dust. 

The woman peered up into the sky. Murky clouds flashed with deep, interior light. Haze filled her head; but like the storm clouds, flashes of light swept through her brain, building in energy. 

She stood up. Shreds of nylon slid to the sand. Sea oats nodded in the freshening wind. Lightning cast a golden net across the gloom. 

It all seemed alive. The world pulsed like a heart and breathed like lungs; its rhythms not heard, but felt. Waves unfurled and broke upon the shore. Palm trees swayed and rustled. Dusky seagulls rose and dipped, crying: Kee-reeee! Kee-reeee! 

And when the woman identified her own strong heartbeat among the blended layers of rhythms, a most basic question occurred to her: Who am I? 

Thunder boomed. A thud ran through the sand and through the girl's bare feet. 

What's my name?  

She did not feel afraid. This had happened before, she knew. Many times. She would remember soon. 

Her skin reabsorbed the sparkling fog. Electric signals traced a web throughout her brain. All her parts were linking up, coming back online. 

Then abruptly, Gen remembered everything. 

"Oh no, no, no." She clutched a hand to her bosom. "Toshi!" 

Her rescuer had kept the transmitter with him in the Citation and led Eberhard's fighter jets away from her. He had saved her life. But at what cost? 

Toshi. She began to sob. She had wanted to stay with him, but he'd tricked her. How could she have been so dumb? Of course, the high air pressure in the Citation's cabin and low pressure outside had vacuumed her right out the door. She would have foreseen that outcome if she'd stopped to think. 

Suddenly, the vivid image of Toshi's grinning face shone through her sadness, and Gen couldn't help but smile. Thank you, my friend. She wiped tears from her cheeks. You set me free. You gave me the world.  

Gen's heart felt full to bursting with sadness and joy as the first fat drops of rain splatted down. 

Rain! She turned up her face to greet it. It smacked upon her skin. Cold. Fresh. She caught the raindrops on her tongue. Delicious. 

Bless you, Toshi. She recited a Shinto prayer for her friend's kami to be happy in its new, spiritual home. 

Butterflies flitted past, chasing each other through the downpour. She recognized the species from a guidebook she had studied: Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. She laughed. The photo in the guidebook had lied. Colored ink on paper cannot capture butterflies. No more than words can capture rain-its sound and smell and taste. Its touch.