The Book at the Bottom

 

While scuba diving off the coast of Africa, I came across a book lying on the floor of the ocean.  It did not appear to be at all affected by the water or salt.  It was as if it was simply sitting on the shelf of some bookcase.  Because I had diving gloves on, I couldn’t really feel the texture, but by all appearances it was in perfect condition.

I didn’t understand how the paper pages could still be intact.  According to my gauge, I was 83 feet down.  The sunlight was still plentiful, but I couldn’t just stay down there and attempt to read it, so I slipped it onto my scavenger bag and started making my way to the surface.

Back on deck I changed into my jeans and tee shirt, then cracked open a beer.  I sat at the rail and pulled the book from the bag.  It did feel like it was in perfect condition.  Even the cover of the book wasn’t at all warped. It was completely dry.
The title of the book was, The Book at the Bottom.  How appropriate, I thought.  The inside page said it was dedicated to Lawrence Avondale.  I set the book down and picked up my cell phone.  I wanted to Google that name.  Who is Lawrence Avondale?

 

Lawrence Avondale, inventor, artist and author.  The more I read about this guy, the more impressed I was.  He seemed to be into everything and was very creative with whatever he did.

        Apparently, this book was one of his projects.  He developed paper products that were impervious to water.  It was his intention to send this book to the depths of the ocean as a test.  I don’t know when it was placed here, or for how long this test was to run, but it sure was working.  I also didn’t understand why there wasn’t some marker or buoy showing its location, so it could later be retrieved.   Now I felt bad about removing it. 

        I had no choice.  I tossed it over the rail and watched as it floated back down.  The moment I did, I realized I should have kept reading.  Maybe he had his process documented in there.  What was I thinking?

 

 Correction

The person pictured above is not
Lawrence Avondale, but may be his
long-time friend, Tyne Ostrich.
In my documentation for this post
I mixed up the photographs.