“You run, you never rest, and after hours, perhaps days without sleep, you escape this dreamstate, this strange place, and finally come back to the sea. A sea you know and love. The sea that provides bounty through the seasons.”
I pinched my eyebrows together as I do to block what needs blocking and clear what needs clearing. When I opened them again, I found an elaborate clay pot steaming below my face, reaching up around me like a familiar sea breeze.
“This Shiizakana signals your arrival to the sea, a safe haven to refill what you have lost on your journey, to allow you to crawl the final steps on your long road home.”
The stone bowl sat precariously over an urn of sorts burning low and powerful like some undersea volcanic artifact.
In the bowl were chunks of rich seafood. White fish, crab, prawns, octopus. Deep red salmon and rich pink tuna flashed to whiteish flake as I sorted through. Feeling my cheeks warming around a goofy smile I experienced each bite, sip and slurp as instant medicine, fast comfort in a place I recognized. To the last pool of clairvoyant liquid shimmering with fats from the fish, I couldn’t help myself.
Slipping into memories of my youth, I saw my mother, my home, my room and my drawings. The seafood and broth warmed my belly, and everything was in its right place once again.
Until his voice cut through once more.
An excerpt from somewhere deep within The Sushi Prophecies