Restless: A Story of Beauty and the Meaning of Life
By Kelly Lenox
Luster. John examines his teeth in a mirror. Is it wrong to want to look beautiful on such a day? He forcefully rips this thought from his mind, refusing to be trapped in another interrogation.
Today is the bicentennial of the Annual Pearl Collecting Competition. Each year, the municipal government releases thousands of fake pearls into the sea, floating on the surface of the water like sesame on a bun. The person who collected the most within a twelve hour period would receive a $10,000 cash prize. Since this year was the 200th anniversary, the municipal government would also release a single real pearl, christened Le Chemin De La Vie, having been found off the coast of Papeete and described by critics as the most beautiful pearl yet discovered. Worth seven million dollars, the pearl would be hidden among its artificial companions, a sugar crystal in a bowl of milk. Having spent years working with both real and fake pearls as a jeweler, John sets his eyes upon Le Chemin immediately.
As he drives to the beach, he is cut off into the parking lot by an old blue truck with fishing equipment hanging out the back of the tailgate. John tails the man before parking directly opposite the truck, which could hardly stay within the lane. He stomps towards the fisherman, calling out, “Who do you think you are?”
The truck-driver, Tony, grabs an inflatable raft and a large fishing net and begins waddling towards the sand. The event would soon begin, and Tony wanted to be there by the time the whistle blew. John quickly followed, gently berating Tony. “We’re all here for the same reason, to have the pearl,” John explained to Tony, who just wanted to sell the thing.
“Help me load up while you blabber,” Tony says as he pulls on a cord that inflates the raft. On the edge of the water, he begins handing various vittles and equipment to John, which John then chucks onto the raft.
The Whistle.
Left without his equipment, John shakes his head at Tony once again, boiling over with frustration. The masses rush into the water, and John, caught between Tony and starting late, jumps inside the raft. Tony silently accepts this reality.
He pushes off from the shore, and they both begin scooping large swaths of orbs into buckets. Endless white. Disillusionment quickly overtakes John, while Tony pulls in more and more with no plan of how to distinguish between the fake and the real.
The sun begins to sink beyond the horizon, casting an orange hue onto the milky sea. As John gazes out, he sees one pearl that has drifted farther, as if thrown out. Longing swallows him up as he stares. In front of the crowd or away, in the light or in the dark, being seen with the pearl was nothing. “That’s the One,” John mumbles. But is it enough for me?
John and Tony paddled over the burgeoning waves, hastening to their end. The constant glow of the pearl harkens the two men toward it, as the sea and sky merge into one blackness. Tony silently begins to contemplate what he would do with the money, to wonder what of himself would last. John begins to describe the pearl, words gushing out of him, springing outward from a pressure within. Not to sell, but to hold and cherish; this was life. But he speaks as if trying to convince himself.
Was this life? Tony ponders. They arrive at the pearl; their journey has come to an end. Joy, utter joy, meeting each other’s eyes as acknowledgement of their achievement. Complete quiet surrounds them and neither has the strength to break it. Each looks back at the blurred dots in the distance, the mass of people grasping in the dark. A strange sadness now colors the blackened horizon. John reaches over the ledge of the raft to sweep up Le Chemin, but it eludes him, suddenly sinking rapidly below the waves and into the depths. Each could see the glow gliding lower and lower.
Fear comes over John. His dream, his pursuit, slipping out of his hands. It was right there! Tony gazes into the water and abruptly stands. John looks at Tony and sees an emboldened resignation glazed over his eyes. Shaking his head, John asks:
“Are you willing to drown?”
Breathing out a sigh, Tony dives, reaching and grabbing the pearl, holding and cherishing to the bottom of the sea.