004 - anything right

The rhythm of the sea awoke Danny again this morning. Danny sometimes reflected on the fact that somewhere in the civilized world, some middle-class jerk was purchasing an overpriced alarm clock to replicate sounds of nature, including the agonizing sound he awoke to every morning. To some people the sound of the sea was a symbol of luxury, but to Danny it represented nothing but bondage.

It had been six months since his space capsule had disintegrated during re-entry, flinging fragments of it across two continents and the entire Pacific Ocean. The space agency, the government, the media--everyone, had assumed that the eight crew members on-board had died. And for all Danny knew, the other seven were indeed dead. Or maybe they were like him, unfortunate enough to have survived in a part of the capsule that not only stayed intact long enough for him to not be killed by the intense heat, but also having his ejection seat's parachutes function properly, landing him safely only a few hundred yards off the shore of an island.

As an astronaut, Danny had more than ample survival training. He woke up every morning and set out to forage for food. The island was not completely deserted, there were some trees, some rock formations, and some fragments of his former spacecraft. Fashioning instruments out of what he could find, he was able to catch many types of aquatic creatures, and even twice capture birds that had chosen to land on the island.

Danny was so sure that he had scoured every millimeter of the island. Yet, as he set out today to find food and to kill time, like he usually did, he stumbled into a new part of the miniature forest that he often pretended was a much larger forest.

He would have never known it was new, except for the fact that he found something new there. It was a plastic bag, from some huge grocery chain that existed back stateside, something that seemed like a vague and distant memory to him.

Danny fashioned his newfound memento from a time past over his head, tying the bottom tight around his neck, and ran fast into the sea. Danny was always good with improvisation.