Fragment

           TIME CIRCLE

Astro stops in front of the small church of Alto Vista that is surrounded by a field with large boulders scattered about, that have once come from the inner fire of the earth. The future will once again swallow those stones in the endless turning, in the cycle of things. According to his wife Beatrice, the imposing boulders are frozen people that have been punished by time because of their greed and their unscrupulousness. There are rocks that are as large as giants or that resemble mammoths or elongated crocodiles. His wife often had the tendency to personify nature. When they had first met he had thought this was strange, but now he started to understand her better, because their peculiar shapes seem to take on any form in the game of sun and shadow.

Here and there, bushes or grass grow with difficulty between the stubbly cactuses. On this high point of the island, the sea mirrors a visionary landscape that is millions of years old. It is so intense that he has to squint his eyes. Through the infinite glistening of the Ocean and the moist air, the light compresses to a lens-like thickness. The waves hit the volcanic rocks about half a kilometer below. They jump up like dancing fountains, to float down slowly in a cloud of bubbles afterwards. The almost unearthly silence is disturbed by some tourists that drive away crackling on their motor cycles like silly bees.

Sweat is poring down his face. Despite the fact that he is from the island, the tropical heat almost numbs him, especially now he has to hurry. He has still got fifteen minutes according to Beatrice who will help him later to complete the circle of the Aleph.