An Octopus’s Garden played out in his head every time he went for a dive.

“I’d like to be

Under the sea…”

And under the sea, he did love to be. He never grew tired of the colours and the life that existed below the waves.

He often wished he could stay down longer than his air tank allowed. He was convinced that in a previous life he must have been a fish of some kind such was his affinity for the underwater world.

He often went diving into a landscape that held him on awe. It was a jagged rocky world and contrasted against the harsh landscape was the infusion of the most delicate aquatic life that he never grew tired of.

The tiny colourful fish that made this their home, darting in and around the rocks and the often-mesmerising vegetation that harboured ecosystems of their own.

There was the occasional big fish, the sharks that glided past ignoring him as there was obviously plenty of food for them and they didn’t need to resort to a chewy old body such as his.

Twice he had been captivated by a whale shark. Its massive body came gliding through the water, and he was taken aback by the sheer size of the creature as his slipped past him. It was travelling slow enough for him to swim alongside it and take in the magnificence of this unique creature.

Sometimes he had friends accompany him, which he enjoyed mainly for the de-brief afterwards in the coffee shop at the marina. Their chat describing what they had seen always excited him.

It came as no surprise to any of his friends when he didn’t return from a dive one day. They knew of his love of the sea, to them, he had gone off to join the underwater world, where he felt most at home.

Written for: https://mindlovemiserysmenagerie.wordpress.com/2020/10/22/tale-weaver-298-underwater-22nd-october/