A Land Down Under

Some while ago lived a seaman in a dockside shack with his wife and small boy. This boy was named Aquarius. The man found his only income from the few crab pots he set in the sea just outside the bay. A certain jewel was said to exist deep in the sea, which maybe was the reason the father insisted so strongly on sticking to such a low-paying job. The pots were absent from view one morning as he set out to collect the small creatures; for the past weekend had been deeply overcast with intense fog, and the man unknowingly had set the pots way beyond his normal spot. The man knew he had not the time to search for these misplaced cages as the catch was due to the market before sundown. So the old seaman gathered what he could and headed back to the docks. Upon arriving home that night with what he managed to earn from his miniscule catch, his wife complained, “And you suppose this is enough to support this family?” “The best pots I could not find…I don’t understand. I set them last night,” the old man answered with a defeated tone. Motioning to the young boy the wife proclaimed, “Have the boy search for them.” “And how do you suppose he do that? We have one dinghy which I need to collect the remaining crab pots,” retorted the man. “He can swim, moron!” Thinking about the presumption, the old man thought to himself how far he might have actually set the traps.

Aquarius had always enjoyed boasting of his skill in the water. Because of this conceit, his step-mother was always trying to find a way to use this against him. She knew by challenging Aquarius, he would be unable to resist an opportunity to flaunt his gifts. Aquarius had attained certain knowledge about swimming outside the bay, however, and knew to bring buoys on his journey. Every two hundred yards or so the boy would place a buoy in the water, swim to the bottom of the sea, and anchor it to the bottom; the first buoy set just as the flash of the light house met the horizon.

A task requiring a skill unknown to most people, swimming to the bottom of the sea scared even Aquarius. Every buoy, even though deeper still, became easier and easier to the boy. Not until more than three buoys had been anchored, Aquarius assimilated this increasing facility with a strange sensation which, as he swam deeper, grew in intensity. The feeling’s significance reached Aquarius as he anchored the tenth buoy. Reaching the floor, the boy realized he had no need to return to the surface for a breath. Aquarius felt as though he had the ability to breathe underwater; however, the shear thought frightened him back to the surface. Yet, this discovery led Aquarius to forget his mission and continue further into the sea. The eleventh buoy was his last, and this time he went to the bottom with a newfound confidence.

About half way down, Aquarius spotted a glimmer towards the bottom. Feeling completely free of the need to return to the surface, he explored. The glimmer grew until; at last, Aquarius had reached the glistening palace of Ubombay. Not people, but similar, the inhabitants were a new sight to Aquarius.

“Welcome stranger,” said a creature that slightly resembled an old man.

“What are you?” the boy asked, without a sense of respect.

“Well, young boy, we represent the land down under, where women glow and men plunder.”

“I feel like I’ve heard that before…” the boy chimed thinking of a popular song he recently heard.

“Not unless you’ve been here before,” replied the ubombayan.

Aquarius then made his second encounter in Ubombay. Very quickly he recognized this to be the female version of the ubombayans. “Aquarius? Really?” piped the girl, who now closer could be described as younger looking. “Uh, yea? How in the world do you know my name?” he barely could speak. “English class silly,” she said. “Wha…wait, Christie? You serious?”

After describing how she was in the same fog as his father, got lost sailing, and took refuge in Ubombay, Christie told Aquarius she had no way of knowing how to find her way back to the bay. She had been there once before, but had found her way back. At this point he realized Christie was the one who sang him the song about a land down under a week before at school.

Aquarius then explained to Christie the buoy path he had created. When they returned to the bay, Christie showed him pieces of the palace that shined like stars. Now this is what the girl had sold upon return of her last trip. Aquarius gave a portion to his father, and told him not to worry about crab pots anymore, for crab pots couldn’t reach such jewels. The father was now to rely on his son’s extravagant skill of swimming, as he observed from his perspective. Aquarius and Christie kept the secret of Ubombay to themselves.