There once was a boy who made a castle out of sand. And the waves licked the ground before him. He was a tall little boy with translucent skin. He thought about the world differently. The lessons he learned in school repeated themselves so he didn’t listen, and this made people think he was stupid. That’s what people told him over and over, “you are stupid little boy,” and eventually he nodded his head right along with their proclamations. Since everyone and himself felt he was stupid, people had something to say to him all the time. The little boy lost silence. A stream of advice and lessons and reprimands filled the space around his body like an aura of correction. The little boy thanked everyone for their caring and turned off his ears. He replaced auditory sensation with a humming coming from deep inside his chest. The humming was an unchanging note that calmed him.

When the little boy built his castle out of sand, he was thinking about mountains. Each morning when he woke, he immediately looked out his window to watch the sun break through the fog hovering over far off peaks. At breakfast, a glass of apple juice and brown toast with honey, the little boy trained his eyes once again on the mountains visible through the window above the sink. With the sun holding reign, birds gathered in the air, swooping and fluttering in and out of patterns. This sight made the little boy think of growing up to become something bigger than himself. The birds reminded him he likes other people, but just hadn’t met the right ones yet. The birds seemed happy and equal in the brief arrangements they found with one another. This way of living made sense to the little boy too. He wished to explore all possible shapes and speeds in the air with them. But he knew he wouldn’t in the same way since he was boy and they were bird.

The castle he built that day in the sand was as tall as he could make it. It towered above his head to the height of the tip of his middle finger. The little boy carved doorways and windows in its side, and even wove small seashells throughout like stairs. While his hands collected muddy sand, the world grew silent and his fingers enjoyed silky sensation. The little boy entered a trance. The hum in his chest did not increase in volume, but climbed up to right behind his eyes and between his ears. He only experienced one thought, which was the word “good” as he neared the end of creation. He stepped back to take in the structure he had made. It shone proud and faithful in the sun. The castle seemed to say to him “I am not going anywhere, you made me but I was here before you.”

Creating the castle changed the little boy’s body. His smile grew so big it rearranged his face. His legs grew an inch. Then another. And another. Soon the boy was the same height as his castle. His feet grew very cold. His toes turned blue and his ankles creaked in warning. He looked down to find the ocean’s waves swirling around him. In their enthusiasm to touch the boy, the waves pulled him down into the same sand he built his castle from. But when he looked up to check on his creation, he saw the water would not reach it. His castle would stay safe in the sun. This sight filled the boy with trust in life to be beautiful, so that he closed his eyes and fell back on the sand. And the happy waves ran over him.