Could You Repeat That Please

Fear freezes Leaf

He sighed. Not again!  

“Zen Leaf, be zen. Its just an oar,” he whispered to himself while taking a few deep breaths. 

Inhale 1, 2, 3, 4

Hold 1, 2, 3, 4

Exhale 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Hold 1, 2, 3, 4

Inhale 1, 2, 3, 4

Once a calm settled over him, he opened his eyes and smiled; the oar was floating beside the boat. He giggled to himself and looked up at the moon. 

“I am the luckiest person I know, Lucky things happen to me every day, I am so lucky.” He reached out over the edge and picked up the oar. Yes, he was stuck in a boat but he had two oars, the moon was shinning and the sea was calm. Always searching for the positive, Leaf grinned.

Bump!

He whipped his head right and then left, catching sight of two red fins cutting through the water, away from the boat.

Thump thump, thump thump, thump thump. 

Leaf looked around. The red fins had disappeared but he could still hear the rhythmic thumping. He nervously continued to scan the sea. Where is that coming from?  

“Oh! That’s me. Its my heart beating!”

“Relax Leaf, you are ok”, he repeated to himself over and over and took a long inhale and an even longer exhale. 

“Stay calm Leaf”, he told himself. “What to do?” He scanned the horizon and caught sight of more red fins. “What!!!! He stopped breathing. “Stay calm”, he repeated to himself and forced himself to slowly inhale exhale. Let’s think this through. Is it a school of dolphins? Sharks? No, neither are red. “Just paddle”, he told himself, hoping that that would calm him. How do you stay calm when there are fins; well, big fish attached to those fins, bumping into your boat? 

He paddled even harder to distract himself. Gripping the oars so tightly he hands began to ache, he had to pause to ease the pain. He timidly looked around, not wanting to see what might still be there. The fear was debilitating.

Nothing.

No fins anywhere. He let out a sign. “I guess they’ve gone”, he said to himself. Feeling slightly more relaxed but utterly exhausted so he lay down and fell asleep. The gentle rocking of the boat lulled him into a very very deep sleep. He woke with the stars shining above him and the sensation that he was being lifted up. What a silly thought, he said to himself and allowed himself to fall back to sleep. 

The stars danced while he slept. Dawn crept in and he continued to sleep. Around mid morning he woke to the sound of a loud frog croaking. He opened his eyes and saw a black and white bird with a yellow-orange parrot like bill standing on the bow. They stared at each other. “You’re not a frog”, he said wondering what he was staring at. The bird made a rattle sound with his beak and stopped. “What’s up?” Leaf asked. They stared at each other. 

Silence. 

“Why do I expect you to talk? Why not? I’m a rabbit and I talk AND I do yoga so why can’t you speak?” The bird danced from one foot to the next and bounced his head up and down. Yeah, that’s a great idea, I’ll do some yoga, Leaf thought. Talking to himself was nothing new but this friendly bird was a welcome distraction from the isolation. Leaf rolled over and pushed off the floor into downward dog then stepped each foot forward and did a quick little sequence to release his back pain. While in upward dog he heard a voice: “that looks fun”.

Leaf turned and looked at the bird. “Did you say something?” he asked as they stared at one another. 

Silence.

“I’ve been alone for too long”, he muttered to himself, turned around and went into downward dog. “Yoga is my sanity”, he whispered to himself. 

“Do you think you can show me how to do that?” The same voice whispered from behind him. Leaf peered between his legs and saw a red fin. Very slowly he shifted his weight on to one knee without taking his eyes off the red fin. He sat up and turned to face the back of the boat. “Who said that?” He shouted out to the sea.“I did”. Leaf turned to his right and saw two very large eyes peering at him.

He stopped breathing. 

“Stay calm, stay calm, stay calm”, he repeated to himself. The bird stood and watched turning his head from Leaf and the pair of very large eyes looking at them. It looked like he was watching a tennis match. Leaf stuttered a few sounds but no words came out. “I beg your pardon” the pair of eyes said. Leaf tried again: "Wh Wh Wh”.

The red eyes rose and revealed a very large head and smiling muzzle. He tilted his head slightly to one side and said “Who am I? Is that your questions?”

Leaf eyes were wide and he nodded his head in agreement.