The Muffin Man leaves a small shack on a beach. It is cold, it is vaguely stormy and the wind threatens to blow the tiny shack away.

Hundreds of people are standing outside. They’re looking at him. He looks at them. The world is static for a very short moment as they and he ponder each other.

The Muffin Man goes back into the shack on the beach.

A gray light pervades everything. Sea mist pervades everything. The Muffin Man lights a candle. The door to the shack blows open and the candle goes out.

The Muffin Man goes back outside. Clouds roil in the distance. Hundreds of people are now tens of people. They still looking at him.

The shouts at them, “Go away! Go away! How did you bastards find me? How did I end up here? How on god’s green and wonderful earth did you motherfuckers get past the landmines?”

The tens of people look at him. Wind blows sand through the tiny crowd. It has started to pile up against their legs.

Some finally give up and walk away. Only one person is left. It is the Cuban girl.

A few months ago he would have given his life to stand next to her for a moment. Now he looks.

Ceria stands in the sand, time is precious and most moments are wasted. She and he connect and that connection withers and dies and she stands in the sand. The Muffin Man’s coat wafts in the breeze, sand is starting to accumulate in his beard.

The breathe in the sea air. The examine each other, lost, not able to see the other.

She adjusts her scarf and takes a step forward. He pulls his coat tighter to his body. She misunderstands the gesture. She turns away. The only tear she has ever shed falls to the sand and is swallowed instantly. He wonders. He is confused and unable to move, to say the words, to make the gestures that could transform this gray dawn. He cannot fight. She cannot imagine.

Together they part. On this beach they have failed.

The sun begins to show through the clouds. The two are alone and there is no happy ending.

A sea gull lands and walks towards the water.