Bro Druid: Despair Doppleganger

Cooper’s Return to the Sea ceremony was a solemn event held at sunset. Bodhi helped put Cooper on a black surfboard and set to drift in the water. Bodhi cried as Big Kahuna Keone performed the eulogy for Cooper. Even after everyone left the sparsely attended event, Bodhi sat and watched the seas. Long after the vessel carrying his dead boyfriend had disappeared past the horizon, the blue-striped sea otter sat and watched. 

 

As the sun rose the next day, Bodhi lay in his hammock. Usually, he would be before the sun to catch a  few waves before his shift began, but the lifeguard hadn’t slept the night before. Between the depression and the images Bodhi saw when he closed his eyes, there was no rest for him. Big Kahuna had granted the otter time off work to grieve. Being off work took away Bodhi’s smallest motivation to get out of his hammock.  

 

“Alright, you, out of that hammock. I need to clear these trees for a chemical treatment plant,” a familiar voice ordered. Bodhi pulled himself up enough to find himself face-to-face with another sea otter. This one looked exactly like him but with gold stripes instead of blue, a black business suit, and dark sunglasses. “Get up or I’ll tell them to cut straight through you.”

 

“Who are you and what are you talking about a chemical treatment plant,” Bodhi asked his counterpart as he blinked a few times. Was this some sort of dream? Had he drifted off?

 

“Already losing the bro thing out of your speech? That’s a good step towards becoming a corporate lawyer like me. Bodhtholmew at your service,” the suited otter introduced himself. “Each of these stripes is a billion gold that I’ve made for my clients, which in turn has made me quite wealthy.”

 

“Bodtholmew? Corporate lawyer? What are any of these things?” Bodhi groggly inquired, yawning. Weren’t lawyers those blood-sucking leeches that were always trying to make money at any cost?

 

“I am one of your potential futures if you keep moping around in that hammock,” the gold-striped otter answered. “Eventually, we realize there is no point in saving people when bad things are just going to happen to good people, so we decide to take advantage of those bad things. We stop dressing like a beach bum and study hard to become a lawyer specialized in helping corporations exploit people to make tons of gold.”

 

“No! I would never do that, bro,” Bodhi leaped from his hammock, furious that he would ever become like this doppelganger. “I don’t care about gold or fame and would never sacrifice people for it. Copper’s will be missed dearly but I won’t waste ever become like you, bro!”

 

“Maybe not now but it will always be a possibility on the waves of time,” Bodhtholmew smiled as he disappeared into the wind. 

 

It was only an illusion this time. A warning about what could happen if Bodhi let the despair take over his life. Big Kahuna Keone had always said that in times of crisis, the Cove of the Summer Breeze had a way of showing you what you needed when you needed it the most. The lifeguard washed himself up, did his daily workout, and then carved his fallen boyfriend’s name into his windsurfing board. Now Cooper would always be with him on the wave. A rustling among the trees alerted Bodhi to someone approaching. A pink-haired, brown-furred hyena with silver stripes stumbled out into the opening. It was Nix, the girl who worked at the smoothie shack that the blue-striped sea otter visited every day. She was still holding a drink in her green and yellow work uniform. 

 

“Um, hi. Sorry for intruding, but you didn’t show up at your regular time, so I brought one to you,” Nix shyly whispered, barely audibly holding the drink out before her.

 

“Thanks, bro. This is exactly what I need right now,” Bodhi smiled as he took the drink from the taller girl and sipped it mightily. “Is there an extra charge for hammock-side delivery?”

 

“No, its its on me this time,” the hyena answered, looking away. “I’m sorry to hear about what happened with your boyfriend. If you want to talk about him or hang out sometime together, I I can be here for you.”

 

“I’d like that Nix, bro,” the lifeguard nodded. “I need good friends like you right now.”

 

“Uh, I know you call everyone bro, dude, or guy but can I request that you call me gal from now on,” Nix sheepishly requested, blushing a bit at being called a friend. She’d rather be his girlfriend, but this was a step in the right direction.

 

“You got it, Nix gal,” Bodhi winked before taking another sip of the smoothie.