This mind sharing with a creature that had ingested me was totally outside of what I had expected once I realized that Willie had eaten me.

“Willie!” I cried out with my mind, “What is happening to us? How am I sensing what you sense? Help me understand.”

Willie’s response echoed in my head (if that’s what it was), the tuba tones now somehow muted, now not only like that voice I’d heard from him, but like the one I’d heard so many times: mine.

“Let it happen, ground-dweller,” the Willie/Me voice said, “this is how it is to be. Just talking to you wasn’t to be the only step on this journey. You must learn to be as we of the sea are to truly understand.”

“But I’m afraid!” the Me/Willie voice in my head(?) replied.

“What do you fear?” intoned Willie/Me. “Is it the sea? Understanding? Loss of your life? Your thoughts are alien anyway, and your confusion makes it hard for us to understand ourselves. Can you not simply accept and learn?”

Something about the words calmed me. “I’ll try.”