Hidden Harbor, by Glenn Lewis
Hidden Harbor
A certain section of beach near Goleta Park that is seemingly inaccessible, often can be found empty, completely devoid of joggers and sunbathers. What you will see there is gulls, mostly, and pelicans, sometimes; although, pelicans prefer to avoid cliff sides. For them, the air currents around cliffs are dangerously unpredictable.
Seen here posing like stalwarts are two pilot pelicans. Both look worthy of being rewarded for their dedication to the cause. What these highly experienced pelicans are good at, and fast at, is special delivery. Their usual cargo will consist of a few clamshell suitcases and perhaps as many as a half a dozen Root People, for whom safe passage is assured between places like Hidden Harbor and the Rootmore Hotel. Hidden Harbor offers Root People important coastline connections to all points inland along Tunnel 101. This root route runs northerly along the West coast for untold miles. California State Highway 101, which runs parallel to Tunnel 101, and is used by Topsiders, is but a copycat version of this most ancient, subterranean low-way.
Root tourists must repeat a vow of silence before accessing certain locations along the low-way. Unspeakable treasures too numerous to mention are supposedly stored in earthy vaults there. If we Topsiders could make ourselves small enough and go to Hidden Harbor, we might like to ride the wooden raft, or enjoy some delicious fish bits and root beer, before paying a visit the Cetacean Center. Who among us wouldn’t wait in line to talk to the dolphins, and hear whales sing? Afterward, why not mosey on down and poke a straw into a nice, juicy, orange citrus fruit? Sand dollars are also free for the picking along the beach, and so are little, clamshell suitcases that wash up there.
The Rootmore Hotel is a fair distance away, but not as a pelican flies, it isn’t. Neither is AmphaCave Theater, where Fiddler on the Root is currently playing. Yes, Root People do enjoy going to the opera, and—no, they do not pay with sand dollars; the price of admission for an adult is only two seeds!
