The Lucidity of Confusion

The setting sun had painted the cloudy evening sky with golden hues. The breeze that had been blowing since the afternoon was showing no signs of letting up. Though a golden light was everywhere right now, in less than 3 quarters of an hour it would be dark.

So it was strange to see a lone figure dressed in a bright blue hawaiin shirt, bermudas, slippers and a white hat, climbing up the side of the hill, leaning forward against the descending wind. A cheerful smile/grin was on his face and the wind played with a few loose strands of his hair that had escaped from the hat that he held with one hand to keep from flying off. No good purpose suggested itself as to why he was going to the top of the hill... It was actually a natural lighthouse, the top of which had been used as a beacon back in the old days before navigation systems rendered it redundant. Yes, the view was splendid but in the evening such strong windsfrom the sea buffetted the hill that it wasnt really considered safe to go there. But that didnt seem to concern the sojourer as he kept a steady pace and was now almost at the top. If one had a morbid imagination then a purpose, incongrous with the man's cloththing and bearing did in fact suggest itself. It was a long way down from the top to the bottom, and there were more rocks than water at the bottom. There was no way one could survive a jump...

He was at the top. It was hard igneous rock, mostly barren, barring a few small shrubs and scant grass. But the view of the sun setting over the Arabian sea in a kaleidescpoe of red and golden was breathtaking. It was the most beautiful thing anyone in all of history had ever seen. He took his hat off and let it fall to the ground, where it was dragged a few metres by the wind before getting stuck in a thorny bush. His hair blew wildly around his head. He walked over to the edge......paused.....took a deep breath, and shouted "HELLO" at the top of his voice. From the distant hills, on another part of the coast came the faint but unmistakeable answering echo "A...o...". He had timed the echo on his watch, so he knew how far the nearest cliff was, assuming like a crow that he could fly. He shouted again just to confirm and again his voice came back to him, faint but his own. He laughed and he laughed and he laughed and laughed.