[R 1/2] Two Old Men and the Sea
Two Old Men and the Sea
The sun was setting as an old man hobbled toward the
cliff. He walked with a limp, but was going at a brisk
pace. When he reached the edge of the cliff he looked
down at the jagged rocks below and the furious waters
which clashed with the earth.
He became mesmerised by the sight and could only stare
as the sea receded and came back to pound at soil. He would
have kept on looking, but was brought back to reality by a
familiar voice.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing here?!"
The old man turned around and saw someone whom he
hadn't seen in years. Someone he had almost forgotten which
was surprising with all of the hours he spent thinking of him.
"Ranma?"
Ranma walked up to the old man. The last time they had met
Ranma had looked so vibrant and young. But now he had the
same wrinkles and frailty as the man who stood before him.
"Ryouga?"
The silence that came afterwards endured for several minutes as
they looked at each other.
Ranma decided to break the silence and said,"So, why are you here?"
Ryouga looked back at the ocean and faced Ranma.
"Oh, I was just walking by and I wanted to watch the sunset. And you?"
"Same reason."
Ranma walked up so that he was standing at Ryouga's side. Both men turned
so that they could look out to sea. Ranma looked at Ryouga and found that he
really didn't know what to say.
"Um... so what have you been doing for..."
"The past fifty years?" Ryouga finished for him.
"Yeah."
Ryouga sorted out his thoughts and said,"Got married to Akari. Been working
on a pig farm ever since."
Ranma blinked and said,"That's it?"
"That's it."
"Huh."
The waves intensity decreased.
"So, what have you done for the past fifty years?"
Ranma thought about it and said,"Got married to Akane, fought a lot of
monsters and a ton of martial arts masters. Managed to get Shampoo and Ukyo off
my case. Had to deal with the Kunos, but they stopped attacking me after a while.
Caught a lot of criminals and there's a lot of other stuff, but I don't want to
talk about it."
"You win."
Ranma looked at Ryouga quizically and asked,"Win what?"
Ryouga smiled and said,"You're life's more interesting than mine."
"Yeah, it is. But it's not all that it's cracked up to be. I mean I had to
fight all my life and everything was so chaotic. You know I just sometimes wished
my life was a lot more normal."
"Like mine?"
"Yeah. I guess so... So how's Akari?"
Ryouga's expression turned dour as he said,"Akari passed away a few years
ago."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"It's okay. So, how's Akane?"
"Akane passed away a few years ago."
"Oh, I'm sorry."
"Deja vu." And with those words Ranma burst out laughing.
Ryouga said,"Pardon?"
"You know... HAH! When you have the HA! HA HA! the feeling that you've
heard something before, but you're HA! HA! HA! hearing it for the first time
except we actually HA! HA! HA! said it!"
Ryouga began to snicker and then laughed as well.
After a while Ryouga said,"That HA! HA! wasn't a very funny HA! HA! joke you
know?!"
Ranma said,"Yeah HA! HA! But I've gotta laugh!"
"HA! HA! Me too!"
They laughed until tears were rolling down their eyes and they fell to their
knees. The laughs grew softer and the tears continued to fall. And the waves
lightened as they wept and the only sounds heard were of two old men and the sea.
After wiping his eyes Ryouga asked,"Ranma, why did you really come here?"
Ranma raised his head and said,"To see the sunset."
"No, why did you really come here?"
Ranma stared at Ryouga for a while and looked back at the cliff.
"You know what happened the last time I was here?"
"What?"
"It was years ago. My mother fell off that cliff. She was falling and I went
after her and saved her. And I wanted so badly to tell her the truth about my
curse. I felt more like a man than I ever did in my entire life. I just thought
that maybe I would feel that way again if I came back here."
"And do you?"
"No and god I want to. I don't want this feeling like I'm not a full person!
I didn't used to feel like this when-" Ranma stopped himself from saying it and
Ryouga nodded his head in understanding.
They both stood up from the ground and Ranma said,"Ryouga, how do you deal
with it?"
"I don't know. I scream sometimes. I break things. I try to let out all of
my rage and hope I'll feel better once I've tired myself out."
"Do you feel better afterwards?"
"I wouldn't be here if I did."
They sat for a while looking at each other. Seeing who the person was in
front of them and realising with great sadness that they had so much in common.
Both men stood up with some difficulty and went off in their separate ways.
The waves became still and nothing more was said.
____________________________________________________________________________
'The highways jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive
Everyones out on the run tonight, but there's no place left to hide
Together Wendy we'll live with the sadness
I'll love you with all the madness in my soul
Someday girl I don't know when we're gonna get to that place
Where we really want to go and we'll walk in the sun
But till then tramps like us baby we were born to run'
-Bruce Springsteen from 'Born to Run'
_____________________________________________________________________________
Until I find better things to write about. Ja ne.