Ravings for Remedies

Nervous but intent, we arrived at Frankston beach. It was not necessarily hot, but rather warm and the staggeringly beautiful conditions were perfect for what I had in mind for the afternoon come twilight conclusion. Within moments of plonking our gear upon the sand, ‘Special K’ starts rummaging through the side-pocket of my backpack. A sensation of alarm rose through my spine, my dreams of fruition this day, this night, quashed upon her possible discovery. A tentative inconspicuous performance prevented her from stumbling upon the secret.

‘Let me put your glasses away for you, Tash!’ Phew! I sighed as she flip-flopped away toward the water in our new snorkeling gear.

The determination as not to draw excessive attention to a valuable object, I placed the polished wooden box in a sealable bag and slipped it into my shorts pocket. She looked back and saw me heading toward the water with flippers and snorkel in hand. A closer observation would reveal a protruding lump from my leg pocket, but even from her vicinity – without her glasses – Special K could not see very well.

Truly, the water was perfect; warm yet refreshingly cool in places. The sun perched upon the cliffs of Olivers Hill, waiting almost in anticipation of the surprise itself. Special K was a fair way out, though she did not realise it at that stage. The tide was low, it seemed to take forever to get to some decent depth and all the while I held on to my pocket tightly hoping the item didn’t dislodge. When the water reached the top of my chest, I called out to Special K.

‘Tash, there’s something shining underwater here! It could be some sunken treasure!’ I dived under to make it look like I was grabbing it from the sea floor, but while under, brought the bag out of my pocket.

She headed back toward me, rather astonished she’d been out so far and declared ‘What’s that?’ She thought I’d stumbled onto some junkie’s hidden stash. When she was a foot or two away from me, she could plainly see it was a box of some description. She really was fooled, she had no idea what was inside, until I said ‘I think you should open it.’ At which point, her eyes dilated and as soon as she opened the box and saw the three diamond engagement ring, she knew from that moment, that this was a very special day for a very Special K.

‘Will you marry me Tash?’ to which she replied ‘Yes, yes, oh god yes!’

Following the very successful proposal, we swam together hand-in-hand hovering above a rummaging Banjo Shark (possibly trying to find its bag of drugs), adjacent a school of King George Whiting and a Port Phillip Swimmer Crab trying to bury itself before we passed overhead.