Alka chuckles. “It’s tried and true.”
“Yeah, well, I’ve also realized some other things. Like I’m not the biggest fan of being alone all the time. I start wanting to make other unhealthy decisions which are only thwarted because I’d need to go to the tech center to make them happen.”
“And I’m being a good boy and have said hello to someone just as my husband instructed me to,” Alka says. “You know, putting myself out there and shit.”
I grin. “Seems about right.”
“How about this? Let’s be all woo woo and take a minute to manifest the future we want. Cleanse our auras or whatever.”
I eye him skeptically. Maybe I misjudged his sanity.
Alka laughs. “There’s a spiritual principle that states if you put into the universe what you most desire, it’ll put you on the path to realizing it. At the very least, it can’t hurt.”
“Or I do it wrong and end up with my body being buried in the sand, never to be seen again,” I deadpan.
He nudges me. “Have a little faith in the universe. It’s billions of years old, so clearly it’s got a good success rate.”
Shaking my head, I say, “Fine. What do we do?”
“Close your eyes and think about what you want. The thing you want most in this world. Then imagine yourself having it. Like… Imagine you living that future.”
I suppose this would work better if I knew exactly what I wanted. For a second, I think about Lix and Noah, then the couple that walked by, oblivious to the world because they were so clearly in love that no one else existed.
That’s what I want. It’s a start, right? I try to picture myself looking at someone like that. It’s hard to see because this person doesn’t truly have a face, but he looks suspiciously like Alka. Probably because he’s the one telling me what to do. Still, I try.
I hear the gentle waves on the beach. Distant laughter. I feelthe cooling air as the sun disappears. I smell something that makes me salivate.
“Does your manifestation smell like delicious food?” I ask.
Alka snorts laughter. “Yes.”
I open my eyes and look around. We’ve been walking on the beach for a while, so we’re quite a ways from where we’d met up.
“There,” Alka says, pointing to the smoke in the distance. “Let’s see what it is. Continue to manifest but do so while mobile.”
I’m not sure I can still picture the future with the love of my life, so I mentally chant,forever love. Forever love. Forever loveover and over again until we get to the giant smoking hole on the beach.
There’s a pit that’s lined with skewers of fish, leaning in toward the ring of black coals. There are also enormous steel pots that people are scooping seafood and vegetables out of.
“Hungry?” Alka asks.
“I literally just ate something, but I could eat this.”
“You grab the skewer, and I’ll get us a bowl of whatever’s in that pot. I just ate too.” He flashes me a grin and heads for the pot. I go grab a skewer, and together we sit on the sand and eat as we watch the moon begin to glide across the sky.
Our conversation is much lighter than it had been, talking about Kala and the different things to do on the island. We stay there for what feels like hours before getting to our feet. Alka explains that this is his seventh summer visiting Kala, so he knows a path to cut back toward the way we came without continuing on the perimeter.
Eventually, after we get to a point where I see the resort hotel, we stop at a crossroads where he needs to go in another direction.
“Thanks for the company,” I say. “You’re the first person who’s been interested in something other than dick, and I appreciate it.”
Alka smiles. “Same.”
A moment passes as we look at each other, and I think,Maybe I’m wrong.
“Listen, I’m going to be on the island for a while, so if you want to hang out again, I’m staying in the bungalows right by where I met you on the beach. My husband would be thrilled if I talked to someone instead of reading a book all day.”
“Just walk on the beach, huh?”
