The sea and the sand.

This is ben

A, lives on a hill, not far from a town that was once a port, back when waters covered the levels.

A very long time ago.

B, lives on a ridge composed of ancient marine sediments from back when the ridge was submerged under ancient seas.

A very, very, long time, ancient.

C, is on a boat; where the waters flow is where C goes.

He doesn’t live on the boat, but he is there right now.

He prefers it.

His house sits on what once was marshland, half water half soil until someone thought to drain the water.

Not so, so long ago.

C has been on a diet, very limited calories. He compares it to surviving on his own saliva.

He started because his made-to-measure-in-China silk suit, had shrunk.

He has stopped now because he is on a boat where people feed him.

Good food.

Sea food.

From the depths of the ocean that once covered the levels and another time laid down sediment on the ridge.

A is frustrated; he wants to get off the hill. He says it feels like a prison now.

Before, it was a refuge.

He wants to know how B managed to do it; B lived on the hill for a short time.

B is not sure he has ever really left the hill. At night, when the wind rages, he remembers the feeling of the distant waves.

Far away in space.

Further in time.

Sea.

Sand.