The Beach

They were playing on the beach, taking in the sun. Asa looked down at his charge and saw her annoyance at having to be there at all. She was whiney and pushing boundaries and attempting to get her way. He knew that she loved him because he didn’t accept her whining, set clear boundaries and only let her get her own way when she had earned it.

“Uncle Asa, you know how I hate to go this slow. It’s infuriorating after being Connected. I do not know how you can stand it.. at least we could drive instead of walk?” She hated walking anywhere. He chuckled softly, “It is important Tamar, to take things slowly. It is important to understand how to move with clarity.”

She rolled her adoloscent eyes in his direction while his back was turned to look over the lake. “I see that Tamar” he said.

She giggled, “How do you do that Uncle Asa?” And she took his hand and pulled him down the beach at a faster pace. Laughing she asked, “Do you think the World will continue to get faster? Can it go any faster than it already does? Or will it get slower again like it did in the ancient times?”

Such was Tamar, ever inquisitiveness she had some of the strangest questions he’d ever heard. She often spoke with an old soul beyond her years. “Where does a question like that even come from Tamar?” he asked her gently as he slowed down the pace of their walk again.

Tamar shrugged. “I suppose it comes from the lessons in class today. They told us about the Disconnected, they told us they do everything the slow way. They told us that they are the last remaining strands of humanity that resist the truth. They told us that these people are poor, slow and uneducated because they choose to be. But why would anyone choose to be poor? Why would one want to be slow? It does not make any sense Uncle.”

Asa paused at the question. They stood, not walking, along the shores and he looked over at his beloved niece. He put his finger under her chin and brought her eyes to meet his. He searched them, he looked for their mercy, he looked for their understanding. She had all the right questions but he was not sure that she could bear the answers. Finally, when he could tell she was getting restless, he began to walk again. She watched him for a few steps and then jogged to catch up with him. She was used to long silences and strange gazes but she persisted anyway.

“Do you not know the answers to my questions Uncle Asa?”

He kept walking and stayed in his thoughts for a bit longer and finally he said, “I believe that you already know the answers or you would not have asked the question my dear niece.”

She stopped walking and watched him go ahead of her. “Asa” she said, dropping the formality as a way of getting his attention. “Will you always speak to me in riddles?”

“My dear” he said, “we have places to be. Let us hurry.”