An Arrival

Imanol’s two year medical posting embarked in the north: their first station in Sebasan coincided with the advent of summer. Warm weather and sunny skies greeted him as their convoy crested the mountains hugging the village. He was taken aback by the natural beauty of it all; his eyes drank in the scene before him in huge gulps as they descended into the valley. Sebasan was a clam-shaped town, with mountains rounding out its rear and deep blue sea waters of the bay nesting at its shores. 

Imanol spotted a small island in the center of the bay, equidistant from all edges of the town’s shoreline. He was unaccustomed to being so taken with his surroundings; he had known the city and its surrounding villages so well that he no longer felt the need to observe them. Here, though, everything was fresh and vivid and intoxicating. 

The others in his convoy had already become accustomed to speaking around Imanol, sensing his shyness and apparent disinterest in any display of camaraderie. Yet Imanol’s palpable excitement seemed to goad Hugo, one of his fellow surgeons, as he nudged Imanol and said, “They say the women here are even fairer than the land itself!” 

Imanol did not respond; he did not feel comfortable commenting on the appearances of women or even acknowledging his attractions to them outwardly. In this sense his disposition had never aligned with the others’—but his deft surgical skills were why he was needed and thus he was usually left alone. 

They arrived at the station, and Imanol’s excitement expanded even further as he saw that their dormitory was facing the shoreline, the island he had spotted before directly in line of sight from his window. He quickly unpacked his few items to the tune of Hugo’s chatter—about what he did not know, he was not paying him any attention—and turned to look at the island again. To his surprise, he noticed two specks roughly halfway between the shoreline and the island. Were those people? Swimming? 

He left Hugo behind as he moved outside, finding a seat on the sand and keeping the bobbing specks in his line of sight. He was amazed at their speed; they quickly reached the island. He couldn’t capture any details of these figures but saw them both emerge from the water and sit on the rocky face of the island. He imagined them soaking up the sun and resting before their return journey. 

Hugo abruptly interrupted his daydreaming by clapping his shoulder. “Don’t you want to join us? Come get drinks with us, in town—celebrate the summer!” 

Imanol shook his head. “I need to review these journals, Hugo,” he said, gesturing to the stack of medical books he had carried with him. 

“Ah, Mannie, you’re not going to spend the whole summer in your surliness now, are you? Lighten up! Join us after a bit, yes?” Hugo gave him directions to the canteen they would be occupying in case Imanol changed his mind.

Hugo’s distraction had caused Imanol to lose sight of the two specks; it took him a few moments to locate them again. They had already re-entered the water and were making their way to the shore.

As they approached he was able to make out different details: one of the specks had darker hair, and the other lighter. He saw they were alternating their strokes, moving from their front to back bodies. Looking up, they paused to take in the bright blue sky above them. He was mesmerized by their comfort in being cradled by the sea as their bodies undulated in tandem with the bay’s calm and lapping waves.