The Magic Minute

 By Harriet May Savitz                         

Fourth Happening

             After a while, a Chiton spoke.  Though he looked like he was wearing a suit of armor and though he was known to have a fierce temper, the Chiton surprised himself when he said, “There is no bad news tonight.  Life is beautiful.”

            “It certainly is full of surprises,” added the Giant Squid.  “Good surprises.”

            “Why don’t we get to know the Tenants better?” suggested the Oyster.  “Why don’t the Tenants get to know us better?”

            Then silence again, and deeper thinking.

            “There is good in everyone,” said the Conch.

            “We must understand one another,” said the Clam.

            “Every time I get an answer, there is another question,” added the Oyster.

            The Mollusks continued their Deep Thinking.  The moon grew in size.  The air turned chilly, then warm.  Nothing was on schedule as the Magic Minute swept everything into its embrace.

            “Have we been thinking enough?” asked the Octopus.

            “You’ll know when it’s enough,” replied the Grand Sea Turtle.

            The Mollusks grew tired.  Deep thinking was tiring.  They slept, but when they awoke, there was more deep thinking to do.  It seemed never to be over.  More thoughts kept emerging.  It was a quiet, peaceful scene, the sand filled with thinking Mollusks and their special guests.

            “This is getting to be most enjoyable,” said the Squid after a very long time.  “It is different than anything I have ever done before.”  She never recalled being without anger for such a long time.  Or suspicion.  Peaceful thoughts took their place.

            The Giant Squid understood what it was like to be hungry and search for food.  She knew what it was like to be afraid of an enemy.  But Deep Thinking erased her fears.  She had new ideas, peaceful ideas, important ideas.  She had always been smart but now she felt smarter.  She didn’t want to stop Deep Thinking.  She wanted it to continue forever.  The Giant Squid looked up and thought about the sky.  She had never really looked at it before.  It had always been there, overhead.  And she thought nothing more of it.  But now she noticed everything about the space overhead.

            The Octopus was going through his own experience.  He knew what it was like to look for a mate.  He knew what it was like to move from one place to another.  But Deep Thinking took him places he had never been before.  He was swelling with ideas.  One after the other.  He found himself thinking about the Tenants.  He never really thought of them before.  What did they do all day?  How did they keep busy?  What was it like to live outside of water?  Why did the Tenants make so much Bad News?

            The Grand Sea Turtle found satisfaction in deep thinking.  He was also accustomed to searching for food, or fleeing an enemy or chasing after another Sea Turtle, or exploring a bit of ocean, but this deep thinking needed no movement at all.  It seemed to need nothing but stillness.  The sea Turtle could remain in one place and yet feel he was traveling everywhere.  He looked up at the sky and felt he was part of it.  He thought of the Tenants upstairs and felt he was part of them.  He wondered, if Sea Turtles had been around for 175,000,000 years, why had they known nothing about Deep Thinking before?  What must it be like to have thoughts come and go like this every day, or even every minute.  Like little treasures popping up and shouting, “Here I am!  Another one.”

            Deep Thinking kept everyone busy, even the Chitons.  And the Conch also.  How interesting the world suddenly appeared.  The Conch looked at the Grand Sea Turtle and thought him quite a nice fellow.  He watched the Giant Squid and wondered what he was thinking.  In fact, he wondered about all the mollusks on the beach.  It was as if they were meeting for the first time.  With a new awareness of each other.  The Conch looked around him.  He didn’t feel frightened, though he thought he should be.  Instead, he felt important.  He was part of this big decision-making. 

            The Clams and Oysters were growing uncomfortable.  Their thoughts were disturbing.  After all, the Tenants needed those who lived in the water for food.  If all of them on the beach were destroyed, even the fish, there would be little food.  The Tenants might starve.  Suddenly the Clams and Oysters cared about their survival. They even cared about each other.   And what about this garden of ideas that was growing so quickly inside them.  There was barely time to explore one thought when another pushed it out of the way.

            “I care for you,” said the Oyster to the Giant Squid.

            The Octopus turned toward the Oyster and repeated.  “I care for you.”

            The Jellyfish didn’t want to miss the fun so she turned to the Clam and said, “I care for you.”

            The Chitons turned toward the Conch and the Tusk Shells and repeated, “I care for you.”

            None of them remembered caring about each other before.  It was as if their hearts were full and warm and would burst if they did not say it.  Every Mollusk on the beach felt as if they were joined together in this caring feeling.  Soon they would know how to stop the Tenants from making more BAD NEWS.

            “What are you thinking about?” asked one Mollusk of another.

            “Of the months in the year.”

            “Of the days in the week,” said another.

            “Of peace,” offered a third.

            “Of love,” said a fourth.

            “Of everything,” they shouted in chorus.

            “ABCDEFG….”

            “Who said that?” asked the Slug.

            “Me,” answered the Octopus.

            “Why?”

            “Who can say.”

            “To really enjoy the sunny day, one must run through a rainstorm.”

            “Where did that come from?” asked the Snail of the Giant Squid.

            “Who knows where anything comes from?” responded the Slug.

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