Down the Road a Piece – Magical Moments

DOWN THE ROAD A PIECE

I’ve been going to the beach with women friends in late March for many years. We often have at least one magical moment – a magnificent sunset, a mesmerizing murmuration of sea birds that dances across the waves, a lovely walk in the wetlands. This year one of our moments was exceptional.

As we walked the Emerald Isle shoreline after the night’s thunderous storm, we found a coconut in full husk next to a brilliant blue jellyfish and a few steps away, an intact watermelon! None of us had ever seen a watermelon washed up on the beach before. We took pictures.

This basketball-sized melon looked good enough to eat, so we brought it home, passing it around like a kettlebell in an exercise class. I put it in the refrigerator, thinking we would serve it with our breakfast.

Next morning, I slid the long knife in a slight crack in the side, and cut the beautiful ball in two. A dark red inside, as desired, but what was the white square that had been stuffed inside the crack?

A piece of paper? Yes! With hand-written words in fading blue ink.

I carefully unfolded the sandy, soggy rectangle, and spread it out. Here’s what was written:

For Analiz to get out and to be healthy and to be with her family!!
To complete (complete?) my goal with my company
To be good in (and?) healthy
To be happy, Joyfully
Give Analiz the best life and support systne (system?).

I found wishes in a watermelon and showed it to the others. It was magical, we agreed. However, we also agreed that we shouldn’t eat it since its insides had been exposed to sea water and sand.

And then all the questions:

Who is Analiz? Is she sick? Is she in the hospital or is she being held captive somewhere? Is she a baby about to be born, the watermelon a metaphor?

Who is the loving writer making wishes for her? An expectant mother or father, a sibling, a lover, a spouse?

What kind of company does the wisher have? Where is it?

And how long was the watermelon in the ocean? Emerald Isle is a Southern-facing beach. Could it have floated all the way from Cuba?

We Googled “messages in watermelons” and found only one reference – a two-page wish list stuffed in a melon washed up on a beach years ago.

We also learned that in some South American religious sects the ocean is considered the great mother who can grant wishes. And watermelons are sometimes used in religious ceremonies. So maybe the two beliefs have merged into sending wishes to the ocean mother in a watermelon? As good or better than a bottle?

We’ll probably never know. In the meantime, we’re considering this a truly magical moment. It’s good be left with questions sometimes. It’s good to be in awe of what the universe may deliver.

And we hope the wishes for Analiz and the people who love her come true.

Jane D. Brown taught in the UNC Hussman School of Journalism and Media for 35 years and has lived in Chapel Hill since 1977. This reporter can be reached at: Information@TheLocal Reporter.press.