People unaccustomed to this particular part of the world might mistake the numerous black shapes that seemed to cover the sky as a flock of birds. They would be wrong. Never in Stanley’s life had he seen birds gather in such numbers. Instead, it was something he was very familiar with; the flight of the local flying fox population. A fancy name for large bats that have decided that echolocation is overrated. As he lay there on the beach of his favourite town in the world, Stanley watched them. Despite his obvious attempt at avoiding other people, he was not alone.

“Beautiful aren’t they,” came a voice behind him that was definitely not a bat.

Stanley inwardly sighed as he attempted to hide his annoyance at the intrusion of his alone time by the breaker of the peace behind him. “Yeah,” he said simply.

The woman, unperturbed by the simple answer, took a seat next to him on the cold fine sand.

Stanley briefly glanced at her to confirm his suspicions, then returned to the sky as if nothing happened. As he suspected, Kerala was now seated next to him.

“So,” she started. “How does it feeeel to be named after a stapler?” she asked with special emphasis on a certain word.

“How does it feel to be named after a state of Indiana?” he retorted, as he saw a bat realising that spinning was a good trick.

“Pretty good. But I do occasionally get people that assume I’m not from around here though haha,”

Stanley tried to focus more of his attention on the fluttering of wings and the quiet crashing of waves when he realised that she just. Wouldn’t. Leave. He was rewarded with a period of silence that abruptly came to a cataclysmic end.

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“So, can I ask you something?” she said, now without a hint of sarcasm.

’Oh no, the prelude to a serious question. Where do I find these people?’ he thought in dismay.

“Sure,” he said.

“Why are you doing all this? I mean really, not just the reasons you gave in your performance earlier,”

Stanley opted to stay silent while trying to figure out how he should answer the strange woman. He looked out to sea, with the small hope that the Leviathan that Charlie had been known to summon might spirit him away. His hopes were crushed, he lived in the wrong country.

“I was unhappy, well. I am unhappy. I don’t like the way things are, and I desire change,” he said, having trouble believing that he was opening up to someone he had literally met yesterday. “I believe that people should all be given the opportunity to improve their own lives. Not with the help of some nebulous far away organization, but with their own effort,” he finished his speech, now hoping that it hadn’t scared the strange lady away.

Time passed. Waves broke. People ran away from their imminent destruction. But her lips remained sealed. Stanley turned towards her nervously, tortured by her complete non reaction to his beliefs. He decided to ask her a question, “Why are you trying to help me achieve this dream of mine?”

Before he could get his answer, he heard a loud crash out in the ocean. They were both drawn to the location of the sound, which happened to be illuminated by a lighthouse. They were greeted by the distant figure of a giant squid, frequently diving and re-emerging from the water as if a Dolphin. On its back was the unmistakeable figure of a dog.

“Guess I’m in the right country after all,” Stanley said in disbelief.

They both watched as the rare sight slowly made its way back to the dark abyss from whence it came. Upon realising that the Leviathan wouldn’t be returning, they again sunk into silence.

“To answer your question,” Kerala finally replied. “I’m helping you because I agree with you,” she said with a gentle smile.

Nothing could have made the man named Stanley happier.