Elsewhere, Artists by the Sea

That year saw the largest mass exodus to the shores of what everyone was calling 'The Living Sea'. A mass exodus of artists, performers, actors, singers and bored academicians, no less. For something wonderful was taking place in certain distinct zones all over the world: people were creating some very unnerving pieces of art near these places. I can bear witness to this fact. A rather large man, in his underwear, sunbathing and waiting for inspiration to hit him, suddenly broke forth in the most surreal contralto. I jerked out of my sleep and stared at him in silent wonder, along with a hundred other people. That was yet another something that struck me very odd: inspiration struck everyone, but only one at a time. Not till someone was finished with whatever they were enthralled with could someone else enter the fray. Well, as you might gather by now, this lasted for quite some time. There were hundreds of famished minds to cover. But what WAS this living sea? The large icthiyosaur hadn't been seen in almost a month since a part of the sea started pulsing ever so softly, and bulging outwards when it did so. The water hadn't changed colour or anything of that sort, but what struck me very fishy was the sudden hush. No animals in sight. No albatrosses, no crabs, and like I'd said, no icthiyosaur. Was the ocean channeling only human minds? And only a certain kind of creativity? By now I'd seen people craft elaborate, intricate murals in the sand, prance into the foam with a delicate non chalance only trained ballerinas were capable of, and even compose poetry, amazement etched on their faces as the words squeezed out of their mouths. It couldn't be that, however. For someone who hadn't learned to ride a bicycle all his life, here I am, riding the waves on a surfboard I filched from the store on the beach. The water seem almost alive in how it's nudging me along. Everyone's in a daze waiting for my 'turn' to end. The owner of the shop himself was weaving baskets a few hours before. He said that's what he'd always wanted to do.