The water rose and he stepped forward until his toes touched the high water mark, danced there briefly and began to recede.

"Such a small thing," he thought as the water drew back and left bare sand behind.

He sipped morning coffee. What else was there to do, than enjoy this moment, here and now.

The water kept receding, and reefs, wrecks, and trash rose from the depths to see daylight once more. One last time.

"Such a small thing that adds up to so much," he thought. "We can be clean again. Scrubbed pure in turbulent waters and reduced to a simpler state. We can find our purpose again."

The wave rose on the horizon. The paper said it would be like this on the dawn of the apocalypse. He sipped his coffee again, and stared out to the clearing clouds as they framed a perfect circle around the mushroom cloud on the horizon.

Not long now.

"At least they'll never know it was my fault."