“Adopt the pace of nature. Her secret is patience.” –Ralph Waldo
Mana and Nathan moved along a trail that paralleled the ocean. The sand-covered beach stretched across a great distance as they traveled. The constant tireless surf kept pace with the travelers. Eventually the landscape along the ocean changed. As the travelers reached a bend in the beach a buttress of gray granite appeared. The succession of waves that had methodically cooled the hot sands of the beach took a menacing form in the open sea as they assaulted the barnacle-covered rocks. As the travelers continued their journey Nathan became hypnotized by a reverie of natural elements. His senses were removed of all unnatural distractions leaving him exposed to the song of the wind, the washing of the rocks by the sea and the changing coloring of the shore as the sun’s rays were altered by the shadows created by the towering trees. The child was mesmerized by how the waves advanced in sequence. A big swell would rise from the depths and trample the rock-covered shore. The excited wave boldly leaped high in the air transcending into splashes of spume. Three smaller waves followed and broke lower at the base of the rocks surrounding them with gentler force, as if each swell was a reassuring embrace. Rising and gaining momentum in the distance the large wave would return and belt down on the granite ledge, darkening the rock. The influence of the of the ledge’s location, the wind, the current, and the tide in orchestrating the waves’ symphony was obscure to the boy’s consciousness, yet his mind was transfixed into a state of meditation that allowed him to appreciate the fullness of this ceaseless motion of nature.
A gaggle of an ancient species of geese rose with the lesser waves in a protected cove where the long green sea grass swayed to a soundless melody. “Nature’s song is most beautiful.” Seemingly Mana had spoken to Nathan in her silent reassuring manner or perhaps the thought was his own. The boy did not know.
Eventually as the sun rose higher in the sky Mana and Nathan arrived at another cove where the beach was covered with splintered shells and periwinkles. An eight-foot hollowed trunk of a tree with pointed ends shaped by Mana’s hand with sharp mudstones was hauled high up on the shore beyond the reach of the waves. Inside the hollowed trunk was a long-whitened piece of driftwood narrowed at one end widening to a foot expanse at the opposite end, a paddle. Mana effortlessly moved the heavy crude canoe to the water. She motioned to Nathan, “Get in little one.”
Nathan was nervous. “Can’t we walk?”
Nana, expressionless, looked at the child, “No.”
Nathan hesitated. He tried another tactic, “I don’t have a life preserver.” The response was ironic as the child always protested when his father told him he had to wear a life preserver on boat rides. Mana, of course, seemed to understand his protest. She remained silent while staring at the boy in her deliberate way. Nathan understood that his objection was futile as well as wasting precious time. He climbed nervously into the canoe as Mana heaved the craft into the water leaping in as the vessel gained buoyancy. She stood in the stern paddling with long effortless strokes. The canoe soon reached a current that carried the craft and its inhabitants swiftly along the shore as Mana steered away from the land. Nathan soon spotted an aberration along the bank of the shore. The green firs that occupied the vast majority of landscape atop the granite shore were gone. Instead an expanse of bleached trees destroyed in an ancient fire stood eerily along the shore like skeletons marking the end of life. Nathan soon understood from his vantage point in the hollowed craft why Mana had chosen to travel at sea. The landscape changed dramatically as the rock rose in long vertical columns hundreds of feet high. There was no way, Nathan thought, that they could climb those cliffs.
Impressive long waves carried the canoe along the shadow of the cliffs. The deep water in the shadows appeared dark and foreboding. Without warning a fog appeared. Mana stood stoically in the stern appearing as if she could see through the deep fog bank. The only indication of bearing that Nathan had to rely on was the constant breaking waves on the rocks to his right. High above he heard the amplified squawk of an unknown animal he imagined to be a bird. The sound seemed to be just above him, but there was no telling what or where the creature was. He looked at Mana for reassurance. She stood affectless steering the craft through the gloom. Dramatically the small vessel emerged out of the fog. As time passed Nathan spotted another alteration along the shoreline. Around a hidden bend in the land an inviting expanse of shore appeared like an enormous horseshoe as the canoe jettisoned beyond the mist. Nathan studied the escarpments rising sharply from the sea on each side of the craft. About a hundred yards ahead was the only apparent spot for the vessel to land. An inviting cove with a stretch of sand dotted with small round pebbles coaxed Mana and Nathan inward. The sun reflected brilliantly off the suddenly calm water. The gleaming reflection initially blinded the anxious boy. The raft slowed as the current vanished and Nathan beheld a spectacle of birds appearing not unlike a horde of anxious shoppers anticipating the opening of store doors on Black Friday. Diverting his eyes from the horizon Nathan was captivated by the sudden change in the water’s color. A slow methodical movement of golden ripples replaced the deep green hue of the ocean. Small anxious golden splashes flashed on the surface of the water. As the boy peered further down his sight captured a constant dark mass that occasionally radiated with the reflecting sun. “You have been greeted by the golden alewives who await their timeless journey to the lake,” Mana confirmed through her deliberate manner.
“They’re fish!” Nathan exclaimed watching the school suddenly divert away from the canoe displaying a brilliant splash of gold as the sun’s rays reflected off from them.
Nathan looked ahead as the golden surface parted and the raft was directed away from the aperture of the cove to a bed of sea grass cradling the craft. As he surveyed the land beyond the shore Nathan observed a gradual cascade of water that leveled off at intervals and then continued to climb several hundred feet beyond his vision. The cascade twisted and turned at the command of the tapestry of the land. As Nathan tried to follow the stream’s path from above he would lose sight and then regain the visage of the rushing fountain of water until the meandering stream turned one too many times, its source lost to him. Every so often Nathan’s gaze caught sight of a jumping alewife leaping desperately for an ascending plateau of land where a pool seemed to offer the fish a respite from its migration. His study of the waterway returned to where the stream emptied into the ocean a short distance from where the canoe had beached. A menagerie of sea birds gathered at the mouth of the stream like hungry children in a cafeteria lunch-line.
“The fish are going all the way up there?” Nathan spoke his mouth agape imagining the struggle the fish had to endure in their ascent. He wondered how the alewives could possibly have the strength to accomplish such an unimaginable climb.
Mana once again ascertained the lines between the young boy’s speech, “Yes, strength is required. Determination. Trust of course.” Nathan looked uncertainly at the matronly figure, again she anticipated his query, “What do the alewives trust? They trust each passing age that the stream will flow from the lake. They trust that their ascent is a necessary pursuit in their existence.”
Nathan absorbed Mana’s explanation the best his limited understanding allowed, “Why—”
“Like the alewives we must journey alongside the stream in order to reach the lake, from there you will find your way to your kind.” Impulsively Nathan rose to leap from the canoe. He considered protesting against Mana’s vision. He quickly surrendered realizing that he was entirely dependent on his companion’s knowledge of this unaccountable world. He stepped from the raft into the shallow water, warmed by the sun. He marched on along the stream to follow his trusted commander.
Initially the climb was gradual. Pools formed where the land along the stream became flat. The boy had a vivid sight of the spectacle of alewives that gathered in each pool. The exhausted fish seemed to welcome the relief in their journey. As more fish gathered in a pool, however, they forced the others ahead of them to leap to a higher pool. Occasionally the crowded pools would force a fish to mistime its leap out of the water and the alewife would flop on the moist ground aside the stream where an alert gull would scramble for its meal. This assembly line of motion continued as far as Nathan could see until the stream was lost around a bend in the mountain. Mana left the stream at this point choosing instead a steeper trail. Large rocks provided Nathan with the ability to pull himself up along the route that Mana led, but the boy quickly became fatigued. The sun on his back was no longer a source of warmth but a burden. His young legs strained to sustain the ascent of his journey. Mana’s steps were effortless as her pace was precise. She navigated each boulder, each turn in the route as if she were strolling along a garden. Her charcoal eyes captured every detail along the climb. At times she stopped like a statue never looking back, aware of the boy’s difficulty to overcome his ordeal.
Nathan’s breathing told the story of his struggle, his frustration, his fear for his cousins and for himself. Mana was patient in the presence of his pleading appearance. Each time as the boy persevered to catch up to his awaiting companion, Mana would continue ahead like a mother ram leading her clumsy foal to a destination above the clouds. As the sun stood boldly high in the cloudless sky Nathan stopped and looked beyond Mana. He was overcome. His mind willed him to stumble, so that he could surrender to his despair. His emotions, an overripe storm cloud, exploded. He wept unwilling to contain his sense of helplessness any longer. Mana stood in her place as if she were a tree rooted along the mountainside. She anticipated that the boy’s protesting cries would eventually subside. Nathan’s breathing informed her that his resistance had ceased. She could smell the salty tears on his cheeks under the hot sky. She sat on a large stone. Nathan found a smaller rock like an angling stool beside Mana. In her silence she stared at the domain they had covered. Nathan had learned that his anger was lost on Mana. He looked at her for guidance. He studied her gaze and he too viewed the trail that they had traversed. Beyond the sprawling boulders surrounded by green vegetation Nathan was stunned to observe that the stream they had passed where the golden alewives glistened–droplets of honey in the morning sun–appeared like a faint blue thread. The beach where their craft had landed was thinner than his pinky and the vast blue sea disappeared over the horizon where ocean shared space with the sky. His breathing slowed to a beautiful deep pace guided by his wonder. He heard Mana’s thoughts as steady as the waves that soothe the awaiting sands of the shore, “Doubt is what makes the journey difficult. Acceptance frees your senses. As the path behind you becomes distant the path ahead of you is realized.”
“But, it’s so hard. Everything seems so hard,” Nathan’s protest extended beyond his present ordeal; it spoke of a deeper pain.
“You can learn from your struggle or you can regret it. You have control when you accept that your journey is yours alone to prosper from.”
“Will it ever end?” This question was not spoken by the child. Mana leaned into him and smiled her generous smile.
“One journey ends and another begins. That is the marvel of life.” Mana’s message was reassuring like the melody of the music box that Nathan’s mother would play when he was a toddler going to bed. He sighed as he glared at the distant beach for the last time. As he rose and started his ascent once again, he was aware for the first time that Mana heard his thoughts. He thought, “I am so glad that you found me.” As Mana moved ahead of Nathan he found new strength that made him determine to keep pace with his companion. Exhaustion naturally soon returned but the child labored on. Without resistance his steps seemed lighter. Mana disappeared ahead of him behind a spectacular boulder. When Nathan hurried to reach her he stopped wide-eyed next to Mana. They had reached the extent of the mountain. The mountain top was formed by a barrage of meteors that had assaulted the land countless ages ago. They had created deep cavities in the mountain forming a ring around the peak of the mountain. Over time the cavities filled with water and swelled to form a lake around the mountain’s peak. The width of the mountain like the the circular ring that surrounded it’s peak was far more expansive than Nathan could comprehend. Far more expansive than you or I could imagine.
Further to his right Nathan observed where the lake spilled over to form the stream where the golden alewives climbed. He was astonished to see that as the alewives finally reached their habitat ancient bears awaited them clawing at the generous supply of fish. Ospreys too circled above diving into the water to scoop up a golden meal. Nathan placed his hands on his forehead brushing the hair away from his brow. “They’re, they’re being eaten after all that hard work.” His anger temporarily overcame his sense as he looked for a sturdy branch to assault the bears with. Mana looked on knowingly.
“The other creatures have to eat,” Mana expressed. Her response did not seem to alleviate Nathan’s concern. “Many fish make it beyond. They too have to coexist with the other larger creatures that occupy the lake.
Nathan looked over at Mana, “So even though one life may end, the group’s journey never ends?” he was not finished with his thought. “I just don’t get it.”
“O, my child, you are growing wiser all the time.”
“What?”
“Life is most precious when it is accepted in such a way.”
Confused, Nathan decided to change his focus to a more pressing concern. “Where is Whitney?” Mana, of course, had anticipated the thought. She smiled as she looked to the mountain peak rising out of the lake. “Of course,” Nathan added, “I should have guessed.” He looked around for another canoe, but there wasn’t one. “How do we get out there?” Mana, for the first time, did not have a response for Nathan’s question.