The Light Of The Sun Reef Zachary Price Micro 69 I       The morning light seemed to bleed through the strange fog that had enveloped our canoe two weeks ago. The red light among the gray mist made the world seem unreal, like we had entered the long hall that led to hell. The only sound in the misty abyss was the creeks and groans of our poor little canoe and the waves slapping against her sides.       We had set out from Hawaiki, on a fishing trip. We had paddled one day, us seven brothers out to the deep reef where the sunfish thrived. I remembered thinking that all things appeared clear and right. The wind was at our backs and our sail was tight with wind power. Our paddles were like wings and together we synchronized our strokes. We flew seven days travel in a single day.       When we got to the sun reef, we dove. The sun reef was like no place else. The ocean deep was lit by the warm orange glow of the reef like the sun in space. All around the reef swam glowing fish and squid of many colors. We took turns going over the side. We would breathe once, twice, three times, and then kicked for the bottom with our spears. We were looking for the sunfish. A large golden fish that was three times as long as it was wide. It had a face like a fist and a large purple fan on its back.       We had dove three days until we had speared our first sunfish. Then we speared three more in three minutes. All of a sudden we were spearing sunfish left and right. We had plunged our spears into the water and brought out a sunfish again and again. One fish, ten fish, thousand fish, ten thousand fish, until we were unable to number them all. Then at the zenith of our catch, the sea went dark. Then we became aware of the whispered sobs of youngest brother who begged us to stop. Because he was so small and the depth of our dive took us beyond the reach of his voice. We could not hear him tell us that we had more fish than our small canoe could bear. Strange currents began to stir the water. Swift dark shapes moved with frightening speed. My six brothers and I then realized that we were surrounded by sharks, drawn by the blood of our catch. The surface of the water rippled with the mighty thrusts of the sharks. The wakes of water shadowed their movements. Large, dark, angular edged forms tore at the ocean. We lost our second brother that day. He had helped our big boy fifth brother into the canoe when one large shark rose straight out of the deep and engulfed him.       After, we had got back into the canoe with our fallen brother still in our minds, a wind rose from the north. It brought a cold wind that turned our breath to mist. Each breath was ripped from our mouths and formed a bank of fog that completely surrounded us. We were blown along, six paddlers without a steersman, paddling for our lives. Huge swells tumbled over our small canoe. We dipped low in the trough then back up to the crest. The whole time, the fog wrapped us up and blocked out the light of the sun. In the rising and falling darkness, up became down and down became up. We pulled at our paddles with the strength that comes with fright. We paddled for six days through the fierce storm until we finally rested in the bleak stillness that has encircled us since. Our bodies were thinned from our efforts. Even big boys ribs were showing and second brother could hide behind his paddle. We ate the sunfish and strength filled our bodies again. Our catch soon dwindled to seven fish as we continued to drift in this grey netherworld. As we awaited our fate, I written this tale down so I could set it adrift in a gourd hoping others may learn of our fate and the damage that was done. We must save the reef!

II       When the ocean swallows an object it may take ages for it to re-emerge. The message that the first bother had set adrift that fateful day floated on the ocean for two thousand years before the current had brought it north where it became trapped in its frozen seas. The message spent an age beneath the fiery and heavenly lights of the north sky. In this land of freezing temperatures, the colors of the ice range from blue to green. As the color of the sky changes so does the color of the ice.       For five thousand years the message slowly crept with the ice sheet until it reached the other side of the northern sea. There, the message began it journey south in the belly of an iceberg. When the iceberg melted, the gourd was freed. It floated on the currents to the east along a coast that was lined with rugged cliffs and large evergreen forests. The gourd was caught in a kelp bed for a summer and brought again to tropical waters that winter. While floating along the calm equatorial currents, a great shark swallowed the gourd. Here, it spent forty years. At the twilight of the shark's life, an enormous squid caught the shark in its long embrace. The gourd was lodged in the belly of the giant squid for twenty years until a massive whale ate the squid. The gourd containing the lost message of the brothers was trapped in the gut of this colossal whale for ten years until the whale spat it out, thus freeing the gourd to float on the ocean currents for another seven thousand years.

III       In the 14070 years or so of travel, since the seven brothers set out on their fishing trip, many things have come to pass in the world of men. The island nation of Hawaiki had sunk beneath the waves and the last of the ice sheets have retreated to the poles. Like the spread of warmth and summer across the globe and the time since, so too had the great family of Hawaiki expanded where they had relocated on the many remaining islands of Oceania. Their descendants could even be found inhabiting the interiors of the continents that flanked the great ocean. But, being that men are only men, they could only remember a certain amount of their family ties. Thus, the great family fragmented, and each slivers slowly forgotten their roots over the passage of time.       In this, its last year of travel, the gourd floated over where the lost shore of Hawaiki once washed. Here, this lost message from the past was swallowed up by a huge sunfish. This sunfish named Ew, swam into the net of the good fisherman where it was brought into the hands of one who could help.       Michael Goodfisherman had never seen a sunfish before. In his excitement, he quickly paddled to his home where he presented his prize to his family. He gave the rest of his catch to his sister and then took his prized sunfish to the home of the old man of his village. No one really knew the age of the old man except that he had lived in this humble home for ninety years. Stories of him said that he was far older and he knew many ancient and wondrous things. When Michael Goodfisherman showed the old man the sunfish, the old made said "It has been a long time since I have seen a fish such as this. When I was a boy, we would catch fish like this for special occasions. Now, these fish are no more. I remember when I had lived on an island to the west; we would dive for these fish. So good they taste and powerful were there magic." So, Michael Goodfisherman brought old man home with him to have dinner with the family. When the cut open the sunfish, the gourd fell onto the table. At last, the gourd fell into the hands of those who the seven brothers left behind.       At first no one could read the message. They gave the message to the old man who then slowly pondered the ancient script. He looked up with a sudden recognition of this ancient script and knew what was written. When Michael Goodfisherman and his family heard the message they did not know what to do. They cooked the sunfish and ate. One by one, they tasted the sunfish and the feeling of hope and inner power flooded them. Each had realized that they were a part of a great family and together they would have the strength to mend what must be mended. The rifted in the reef could be renewed.