There were three men in the boat when it suddenly capsized, and the three men fell toward the bottom of the sea.
   
I can't breathe! said the first man.
   
I can't swim! said the second.
   
I don't know, said the third, how we'll ever find the bottom!

   
The first two men looked at the third in confusion, but just then, a whale came swooping in, and it opened up its big mouth and swallowed the three men.
   
And when they woke, they were lying in its stomach.

   
Ah! said the first man. I can breathe again!
   
We're alive— we're still alive! the second said.
   
There was a noticeable silence, so they looked at the third man.
   
But the third man looked decidedly glum.
   
I don't know, the third man said, how we got in here. And I don't remember where we came from. I don't understand how we're alive inside a whale— and I still don't know how we'll ever find the bottom!

   
The first two men were disturbed by the third. They glanced at each other, then at him. They retreated to a corner of the whale's stomach to talk.
   
This guy's crazy, one of them said. We should kill him!

   
Kill him? said the other man. Isn't that a bit extreme?
   
Extreme? the other said. This guy's insane! Who knows what he might do to us in the middle of the night?
   
And finally, the other man agreed.

   
Okay, the two men said, and they spent some time deciding how best it should be done— then they did the deed. They strangled the third man in his sleep with their bare hands.
   
And then they rolled him out into the deep.

   
And the strange thing was, the next day, the men were saved! A whaling ship happened to catch the whale, and when they cut it open, they found the men inside.
   
They took them back to land in a helicopter.
   
And when the copter landed, the two men were famous. News crews came from all around, and they gathered about the two men and showed them on TV.
   
And after that, they were busy as could be.

   
They went to many places and did all kinds of things, had many romantic encounters and got product endorsements. On the surface, they were rich, and their lives were all but perfect.
   
But sometimes, at night, things got bad.

   
Because sometimes, at night, the two men dreamed dreams, and in their dreams, they saw that third man— they saw him as he was as they fell down through the water.
   
I don't know, he just kept saying, how we'll ever find the bottom.

   
And try as the two men might to ignore these awful dreams, the dreams didn't go away— they just got worse.
   
So the men stopped sleeping.
   
They began to deteriorate.
   
Until one day, they called each other on the phone.

   
I'm having these dreams, both of the men said.
   
Me too, me too, they said.
   
About the man, about the man, about the man, they said.
   
We have to go down there, they said.
   
   
So the two men hired a ship, and walked on up the plank, and they sailed on out to the middle of the sea. And they put on their diving suits, and climbed over the side, and resolved to dive down all the way.

   
And so the two men dove down. They dove and dove and dove. They dove until it grew dark and then went black. They dove until it was colder than the coldest cold they'd known.
   
And they never once thought about going back.

   
And finally, after many days, the two men reached the bottom. They shone their lights around and walked about. They looked around and looked around, but there was nothing there.
   
But just then, a whale came swooping down.

   
And this time, when the whale came down, the two men weren't afraid— they'd been through this whole thing before.
   
But this time, when the whale opened its mouth, it didn't eat them.
   
Instead, the third man emerged from its mouth.

   
Hello, the third man said, as he stepped down to join them there at the bottom of the sea. I'm so glad you made it! I hafta say, I was a little worried. I was starting to think that it was never going to be.

   
And the first two men looked at the third in surprise, and then they looked at one another. And after a while, they all started to laugh— and their laughter came out in big bubbles.

   
And those bubbles full of laughter rose up— and up and up— until finally they reached the surface of the sea.
   
And there they broke through— and then just kept on rising.
   
But to where, is a mystery to me.

Ben Loory's latest collection of stories is TALES OF FALLING AND FLYING. He lives in Los Angeles.

Read Hannah Kauffman's 2½ Questions interview with Ben.

Detail of photo on main page courtesy of asrai.

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