Oliver Benjamin
Everyone lives,
And everyone dies,
And in between, cries.
That’s why they say we’re made mostly of water.
The flood of our tears
bathes the blood of our slaughter.
He jumped bail the day before his sentencing and with the aid of a
childhood companion, managed to lay low for a few months before
escaping the country by stowing away on a cargo ship. He traveled
around for a while under assumed names. After hooking up with a
traveling group of South American Indian musicians that were
panhandling their way around the world, he ended up on Samrin.
Dennis didn’t play any instruments, but he helped them translate
their native Spanish songs into English so that they could make more
money. He also picked up a bit of harmonica. It was then that he
finally confronted and immersed himself in his great love for poetry.
All his life he had been a businessman, and unconnected from the
aesthetic, but inside he had all the pain and emotion and reverence
of a poet. Dennis wrote a few songs for the group, but when they left
Samrin, he decided to stay. Even only a few years before, Samrin
island was nothing like it was now. There had always been tourists,
but when Dennis first arrived it was much calmer and more serene—
a paradise. As the flocks of tourists grew, he retreated up into the
hills. That’s when he came in contact with his true self. And that’s
when Dennis became Tree. His four years on Samrin island had been
the best years of his life. Now, that he had finally found his heaven, it
was only to be expected that it would not last. Still, he felt that those
years helped pay back a lifetime of misery, and the balance was even.
Dennis felt that he was finally a free man, and had decided he would
always remain that way.
Finishing the story, Dee took a long sip of tea and sighed.
“But Dee,” I protested, “He won’t be free when they catch him!”
“Don’t worry. They won’t catch him,” said Dee Tok, heavily. He
obviously knew something I didn’t, but despite my continued
probing, he wouldn’t let on. I thanked him for sharing Tree’s story
with me, and wandered back down to the beach to see what was going
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