Midnight at the Oasis

For Matt

Midnight at the oasis
Send your camel to bed
Shadows paintin' our faces
Traces of romance in our heads
Heaven's holdin' a half-moon Shinin' just for us
Let's slip off to a sand dune, real soon
And kick up a little dust

-Maria Muldaur
Real Lyrics.com

Our Oasis is a small, verdant valley in central Ohio and we had a chance to return there this past weekend on the ninth anniversary of our meeting. This place, the place where Shawn and I courted, is the most wonderful place I've ever been to. There are trees and bugs and woodland creatures. There are fish and hawks and wild turkeys. And at Midnight, the valley is alive with magic.

We visited our best friend, Matt, there and had a chance to catch up, play Monopoly and share a few beers. In fact, we shared enough beer that we all decided it was a fine idea to take a midnight drift in his pedal boat on his pond. So, with the aid of the world's least luminous flashlight, we made our way over to the far shore where the paddle boat was beached. As we were walking, we all took note of the fog on the water and the stars (every single one of them!) up above, framed by the hills and trees.

Matt flipped the boat over, right side up, and began to explain what it was going to take to get us all into the boat. He was going to hold onto the rope at the front and ease the boat down the bank, which slanted into the water at about a 45 degree angle. Then, he told me I would get into the boat first and the boat would naturally ease into the water, where Shawn and he would join me. I was laughing so hard at the very idea of this. Yeah, sure, I'll get in and you'll join me later. It was so ridiculous and frightening. Not that I feared they would abandon me; I trust both of these men to the end of my life. I just imagined myself drifting out into the middle of this pond with no idea how to control it, and then of course, some sea creature would rise from the depths and have me for a midnight snack.

I pulled myself together enough to follow Matt's directions. As the boat and I slid into the water, Matt climbed on board and directed Shawn to hold the rope, all the while warning us that we should be using our "quiet voices" since his brother's family were at home sleeping not 50 yards from us. This was difficult to do, under the circumstances. We first had to calm down from the initial thrill of doing something dangerous in the middle of the night. Then we had to remember everything we learned in school in order to coordinate ourselves so that the damn boat wouldn't sink.

I distinctly remember Matt explaining the very basic steering mechanism to us (Shawn and I were seated in front, Matt on the back) and being struck dumb by it's complexity. Actually, I was so afraid we were going to sink or capsize, I couldn't even comprehend the instructions, which were: Move the lever up to turn right, down to turn left and leave it in the center to go straight. Eventually, we calmed down and were able to steer that boat like champs. Shawn and I would pedal with our hands, since the bow would come out of the water if we leaned back and the rudder would no longer work. Matt would balance in the middle and, yes, I steered. We cruised all around that pound.

Every now and then we'd stop and talk. While we were chatting, Matt saw a shooting star. I looked up in time to see the second one and make a wish. We had to be careful, though; looking up was enough to make the back end of the boat dip under the surface and take on water. I wasn't able to star-gaze as much as I would have liked, but I did get to look at those stars that were lined up with the horizon. It was beautiful: stars crowding around the hilltops, fireflies lighting up the hilltops like so many fairies. It was so quiet and still. I was transported. I wouldn't have been surprised if Gandalf himself had wandered upon us, requesting our services for an errand.

Every time the boat began to drift toward the back corner of the pond, Matt would begin to get nervous, saying he thought he saw some kind of sea creature there the other day when he was feeding the fish. He'd insist that we steer away. We were caught up in the magic and sea creatures existed alongside of those fairies. We wondered more than once: wasn't this the way many horror movies started? A handful of drunk idiots out too late, getting into things they shouldn't be getting into? But this moment was so far from anything horrible; we knew it was just idle fancy. The only thing we really had to dread was disembarking onto the steep bank of the pond.

Eventually, we decided to end our jaunt into the sea and Matt directed us to shore. Well, I thought he wanted us to go near what looked like a boat launch, so I headed right for it. It turns out, where I was headed was covered with large pieces of gravel. Well, I guess it doesn't take a genius to figure out that sharp rocks and plastic are not a good combination. Even though I could steer that thing like a pro, I still had a bit of wisdom to earn when it comes to being a good captain. So, we corrected our course and got out of the boat without incident and made our way back to the house.

Upon returning to the light, we noticed our hands were BLUE. Here it turns out, Matt's Dad had treated the pond for algae with some kind of chemical which dyes your skin blue for two days and counting. We giggled at the state of our hands, and heaved a sigh of relief that we didn't actually fall into the the water! But thinking back, I believe that the fairies had something to do with it. We joined them and their sea creature friends for a frollic at midnight and they marked us Druids, lest we forget our connection to the earth, the sea, the stars, the magic, and them.