Coconut Grove Your anger is frightening the sand

she awoke, startled; she had been bid by her dreams to visit the coast, and awoke in one of the circles her father had spoken of. at its very edges, flowers would soon break free of the fertile earth they were beneath. deirdre felt older, somehow; her family would not have seen her for hours, but she felt as if she had slept for years.

the coast beckoned when her eyes did open, and she looked 'round to discern which direction to head. but ah, the whisps came as they always seemed to when she needed to find her way; be it a figment of imagination or phosphorous gas that truly did arrive at the strangest hours in her life that others could truly see, only others could know. perhaps, this time, it was all a delusion of her hunger. but she followed these lights nonetheless, ever unable to catch them and knowing better, by now, than to try--these spirits were her guide, and she followed them devotedly.

it took time, but she came to a place that looked eerie when so terribly bare. it was as though she stood within a broken jaw, where only the jutting teeth might remain visible as she stood on some beasts sandladen tongue. but she did not fear; even the naked grove sang its welcome to her in its way, the waters darting to kiss at her feet gingerly in greeting and welcome. she did not question why she was here--the answer would come. and so it did! there, slumped against the wood, was a creature that had fallen limp! she raced toward it concernedly, first discerning what thing she might have discovered--food? a friend?--and withdrawing when she noted the thing she had found was neither. beside the inkblot was a coconut that had split open from its impact; in only one, the remnants of its juice lingered at the very bottom of it, the rest having dryed in the sunlight. deirdre sniffed at it, and the sweet smell first enticed her to drink it. other coconuts loitered the earth in the distance--she saw, upon observation, a lone bird perched atop another opened one. it seemed to be partaking in whatever was offered, and so deirdre herself sampled the stuff without worry. there was little of it left, and she knew after observing valley creatures what would harm and what would not. she then took the shell and moved toward the singing sea, to put within it cool water. deirdre returned to the stranger, only to tip the shell so the liquid would spill onto the man. she withdrew swiftly, and observed. if this did not rouse him, she would return to the ocean and keep doing as she had, if only to cool his body temperature, before she tried anything else.