Sailor Lost

I dreamt I walked on water.

A dozen seagulls, with alarm clocks strapped to their backs, were flying around me. I couldn't hear myself with all their squawking and ringing, though they were very friendly - too friendly, in fact, that one of them tried to tear my dress off. I was walking towards another girl, whose hair shimmered purple and blue against the hot, white sky. She sat on the crest of one wave, playing with two starfish in her tiny shell of a hand.

What are you doing here?, she asked me. She had half a leg, and a green-golden fin growing out of her back. She was beautiful. I fell in love with her a little, but I did not say anything. Underneath me, carp swallowed each other whole, and guppies made intricate, art-deco style houses out of seaweed.

I'm looking for him, I replied, have you seen him?

You mean, the man you love?, she said. I nodded (and it was then that I felt I'd been carrying four silver butterflies on my shoulders all along).

He's not here, she smiled.

You're looking in the wrong place.