The Hatch (5)

This morning, the homeless man met me and Gonzo on the stairs down to the beach. He was waiting calmly for us.

He asked if I wanted to go back to the other side.

I had no idea what he really meant, but I said yes.

He pulled another tennis ball from his pack. He gave it to Gonzo and told me to follow Gonzo. Gonzo ran on down the stairs with the ball in his mouth, so I followed him on down, leaving the homeless man watching us.

Gonzo is not a ball dog, but this ball was different. I followed him to the left at the bottom of the stairs. Today, the tide was out, and the dry sand extended around a point of rocks I had never seen dry before.

Gonzo saw the point open and galloped around it, then came back to make sure I was coming along.

Around the point, we found ourselves inside a wide cave opening. The cave reached under the lighthouse and the people above. The air was cool and moist, and the sand was untouched, smooth, and flat.

Gonzo ran around in the cave, climbing rock outcrops and sniffing every corner and crevice.

I walked to the back of the cave, where the sand was dry and the air was absolutely still. I sat down on the sand to look out through the cave’s mouth, and Gonzo came to sit next to me.

We both watched. The noise from the beach stopped. Inside the cave, nothing moved, nothing made a sound. Through the opening, we could see the waves come and go on the beach

The roof of the caved glowed in blue light like a sky covering the inside of the cave’s ceiling.

Gonzo and I sat for hours watching the glow of the sky and the crashing of the waves.

The homeless man appeared finally at the mouth of the cave, picked up Gonzo’s ball, and said, “You can’t stay. Not now.”

“Just remember,” he said, “the clock never stops.”