DAILY COLUMN FOR FACEBOOK - THE VISITOR AND OTHER COLUMNS STARTING AUG 2023

 THE VISITOR
    Chapter One

I was sitting on a beach watching the sunrise when out of ocean mist and walking on foaming seas appeared a translucent human.  He stepped onto the beach, tripped and crashed face down in the sand.  Defying gravity he levitated from his prone position and pivoted upright mid air, laughing.  Unruffled, he settled to earth, firmly planted his sandaled feet on the beach,  brushed sand from his shaggy white hair and beard and jiggled his body like a wet dog.

I sat there, frozen in place, mouth wide open, eyebrows raised, and could feel the whites of my eyes exposed.   I was in shock, unbelieving that there was a Walmart tag still attached to his sandals.

He sauntered towards me like a man without a care in the universe.  When he was within spitting distance, he stopped,  flopped down in front of me, crossed his legs, adjusted his shimmering white robe, and said, “Hi, Tom, want to have some fun?”

I looked around me to make sure no one was watching, got up and tackled him.  We rolled around in the sand, ran out of breath and settled down, and I said, “You’re late, Nemesis.”

“Late?  You really said, ‘late’, seriously?”

“Just testing you,” I said.

“Good.  I thought maybe you had reverted to your pudding-headed way of thinking. Come on, let’s go for a walk on the beach and see whose minds  we can screw with.”