Celeste's Dark Lighthouse
the disappearance of
light was never
discouraging to the family in
the lighthouse. celeste could
see quite clearly the rocks in
the sea looked like men
carrying dangerous things and
worried only over the hem of
the dress she made, her first, and
certainly norman the cat wasn’t afraid of
birds, white or otherwise, nor
dark crashing waves.
so at night they went to the shore
***
they say cats see quite well
in dark, though norman couldn’t.
night seeing is necessary
by the ocean because waves
take up all of the sound
ears can see so of course
celeste walked carefully and
was especially observant of things
that washed up and glowed while
norman the cat pretended to be more
brave than he thought he could.
for instance, when celeste knelt his ears pricked
and swiveled and then he stepped in
her footprints while listening for clams
sniffing once, just once, at an
old jellyfish when suddenly she
presented him with several puzzling pieces
of shiny white sand dollars, and waves
crashed amongst the flexing
rocks and she squinted
“maybe i can put them together,” she
said to norman, right up close
she whispered, “maybe they are parts of the same one.”
***
celeste carefully placed them
in a shape in the sand
as she approached
the cave. the entrance was guarded by
blue glazed shells deep
as a hand and pincers armoured every
split in the rocks, colourful
weeds grew where water
dripped down and the
cave was shorter than celeste
herself so she stooped, carrying norman the cat
like thorny hand muffs above the
sudsy tide pools filled with
fractured pieces of
dark starfish which
wet the hem of her plain
white dress and seemed
to pull her feet
***
within the cave water wooshed
everywhere and was so cold
it scalded celeste’s
hands as it dripped and
her ankles were red
as radishes
“i may die someday
this may be the
end!” norman the cat
said as he squirmed
in celeste’s arms but
he purred as she leaned
to guard him from
the dripping chill.
“no you won’t,” she said.
the entrance
to the cave was
far behind them and
the sound of rushing
sea and wind from
the belly of the stones
hot and steam quieted
everything but them.
she set him down.
“see?”
norman the cat
scrunched up his body
on the balls of his claws and looked
at the cavern first
with one eye, then
both.
“what do you see?” celeste
asked her wet friend.
he shivered and stood fast
and looked clearly into
the cavern which
was full of gas and
fog and depth and
gathered his answer:
“i don’t know,”
norman the cat said with one eye
again closed, “what are
those?“ he asked, "where does that go?”
celeste frowned and
scooped him up. a voice stopped them,
shaking celeste’s heart even
more than her radishy feet
and it boomed:
“I See Something.”
the voice sounded like a great
groggy, gassy and angry
belly. celeste’s arms froze still
while norman the cat
crouched into her, hiding
his head as she clutched him, splashing
away backwards as best she could
"i see something.”
the cavern groaned again. softer this time
as though it didn’t know how
loud it could be with a low
moan
***
the cavern began shuddering
and shaking and celeste
couldn’t tell if it were her trembling or her eyes,
the colors and dark became
a moosh and norman the cat jumped so high
he didn’t know when to run until he saw celeste,
momentarily caught on a rock by the dress
she made herself now ripped at the hem!
it was then norman stopped.
the great mouth of the hallway to
the cavern was lined with two vast curves of yellow
and white tusks of teeth the size of which
he couldn’t see and wouldn’t believe. it yawned
while one giant eye drooped
down sadly, a bulbous dark orb and
iris which squinted next to them and the cavern
spoke. “you’ll surely drown,” the
cavern yawned, “go before me. go before
i leave. go.“ it hushed, "go or go not.
or drown.” and the cave shook
as the droopy eye shut and disappeared
and things fell with great echoes
like rocks as norman the cat
turned about and stood up
on four legs
firmly, two eyes open
while celeste trembled and
worried the torn hem of
the dress she made
and became brave:
“we’ll be shortly out
of your way, mister cave,” he
chattered in his best bravest way in
the way animals say, "you never ever
hurt celeste or her dress again.”
and he meant it, though the
cavern was never
angry at celeste and norman the cat
anyway. but norman the cat
was so very brave and celeste
swooped him up and hugged him
then started to run
***
the old cavern waited for them flee
as fast as they could
out the way the came:
out the throat past
the teeth and tusks,
the mouth and
the shapes celeste
had made like ships and up the beach
past the rocks like men
carrying dangerous things
celeste and norman the
cat watched from the cliff
beneath the dark
lighthouse as the creature
crawled from the cavern and
slid into the sea with a spout
which was lit, by now, by the
sun above the waves.