Flash Fiction: Chaac

Audrey Small

Period 5 World Literature Honors

Bennett

21 April 2014

Chaac

“Would’ya lookit that Honey, that there’s a sting ray!” Yelled a very large, pale man who clearly had forgotten his sunscreen. His skin was beginning to turn the color of the bloody mary he was holding on so dearly to.

Handfuls of people flocked into the shallow water. The crystal clear coast of the Mayan Riviera is the exact temperature for a perfect cool escape from the beating sun. Looking into it is like looking through a glass window. His wife came stomping up to the ocean, right where the water met the sand. She was wearing a hot pink swimsuit and big black sunglasses. She was the same shade of crimson as her significant other.

“Git a picture, git a picture!!!”

She fumbled around over-stuffed fannypack which matched the offensive shade of her bathing suit that fit her in all the wrong places. Upon retrieving the little digital camera, she waddled over to her husband, who was fixated on the ray who was clearly not as interested in the man as the man was in him.

“Quick… The kids’ll love this. Ain’t non’a these in Alabama, that’s for sure!”

There are all sorts of amazing wildlife that live in these oceans, and I can only imagine they don’t appreciate paparazzi like this man very much.

People in all sorts of shades of sunburnt ambushed the ray with big DSLR cameras and flashing Iphones. The ray swam farther and deeper, away from its adoring fans.

“Oh, dear, would you look at that. I guess it’s time to head up.” Stated the pink-bikini and matching-fanny-pack clad woman, referring to the sky.

At that moment, the sun was swallowed up by dark grey sky, which blanketed the beach that had just a minute ago been illuminated by the hot sun. Drops started to fall from the sky, scattering the sand with little brown dots, one by one.  

“Take cover!” the same fat man hollered at the rest of the beach.

He and his wife stomped away from the water and back up towards the resort. At that point, the rain started coming down harder. It made the ocean look like uneven pavement. The cool drops felt good on my skin, hot and saturated with the sun. I just stood on the sand for a minute, enjoying the rain as people ran past me in a frantic search for cover. What they missed while they were too concerned for their own well being was seeing how the rain made the trees dance. They missed the smell of the hibiscus flowers and salty ocean carried by the wind. The rain came harder now. They missed the big iguana who skittered across the pathway under a warm rock. At this point it felt like the Mayan Gods were dumping buckets of water onto the earth. I guess they didn’t appreciate the paparazzi chasing after their sacred sea creatures either.   

“Han, common. Seriously Hannah, let’s go!”

“I’ll catch up with you guys, don’t worry I’ll be up in a minute”

“Ugh fineee… I’m leaving your stuff”

My family didn’t seem to appreciate the rain either. But for me, I found a certain beauty in this force of destruction. The rain came much harder, and all at once now. It was not cold at all, in fact, I was fine just standing here in my bikini. I grabbed my bag and towel, which was no use to me at this point seeing that I, and everything else around me, was completely dripping wet. With my belongings in hand, I walked back up to our room, taking my time. In bare feet, I padded my way up the paved walkway that was still warm from the sun, and big puddles of glassy water were collected at my feet. As I walked, I could not hear the birds that usually sang throughout the day. The rain had created a new, different sort of serene calmness. I made it back under the overhang of my building, that was still soaking wet despite the cover from the rain. I trenched up the spiraling stairs up to the third story of the building that was mostly outdoors. Once I reached the balcony of our floor, I looked out on the resort, where the lazy pool slithered it’s way around tall palm trees. Through the rain, I could see that the rain had stopped on the beach. The sun was beating down as usual, reflecting off the water that was once speckled with raindrops. That was another thing they missed; How beautiful it was to see the rain let up and the sun come again.

*Chaac- The name for the Mayan rain Deity. He was claimed to be the king of Chichen Itza, not far from the place that this story was loosely based on in Playa Del Carmen on the Yucatan Peninsula.