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Becomes the Meaning Blossom is the third book in the Becomes the Happy Man series. As in Becomes the Happy Man and Becomes God's Silent Prophet, the man, the young man, and the boy lead interrelated stories.

The man returns to the neutral land where as a young man he had fought in the war and was wounded and recovered from his wounds but did not fall in love. He returns to the neutral land as a man to fall in love. And he does.

The young man journeys to the big city of his homeland to find what the big city holds for him. He commits himself to living in the big city for one year. And he does.

The boy moves with his mother to a sparsely populated area of his homeland so his mother can get treatment for her addictions. Just as the boy gets adjusted to his new life among the mountains and deep forests of his homeland, a young man from the big city arrives for treatment. The young man from the big city causes problems that only the boy can solve. And he does.

And so the man changed his future.

The man sat in the boat and navigated the boat. But instead of choosing between going to the land to the north, the land of snow and ice, and continuing on to the neutral land where as a young man he had fought in the war and been wounded and recovered from his wounds without falling in love, the man chose a different future.

The man did not need to find a desert anymore. He did not need to find God anymore. He had already found a desert. He had already found God. He had found both in the future of the second time around. He did not know he had already found a desert and already found God because the man could not remember the future. He could not remember the future of any times around. The man did not know he had already found what he had been looking for the second time around, but he knew he no longer had any desire to find a desert or to find God.

So the man changed his future.

The man turned the boat around and navigated it back to the island where he had been stranded and where he had repaired the boat and where he had buried the sailor’s corpse which he had found drifting in the water shortly before he had left the island.

The man no longer worried about what the authorities of the neutral land would say when the man entered the port in the sailor’s boat with the corpse of the sailor in the boat. The man did not know why he no longer worried about this. He had even forgotten that he had worried about it before. The man just felt it was the right thing to do. He could not leave the sailor’s corpse buried in the sand of the beach on the island. He decided he would take the corpse back to the sailor’s homeland, the neutral land where the man as a young man had fought in the war and been wounded and recovered from his wounds but had not fallen in love.

The man arrived at the island at night. The man arrived at the island at night and slept until first light.

At first light, the man woke up. The man woke up and watched the early glow of the sun grow stronger over the horizon. Then the man ate more of the food he found growing among the trees. Then the man drank some water.

The man dug in the sand until he found the sailor’s corpse. It did not look so bad. It hadn’t been buried long, after all. The man pulled the sailor’s corpse from the ground and dragged it to the water. The man dragged the corpse to the sea and rinsed the sand from the corpse.

The man thought about three other corpses he had handled and cleaned and arranged long ago near the place where he had no longer lived with his mother because the man he was to call father had arrived. Four corpses if he counted the medium-sized beast.

The man thought about many of the corpses he had seen in the war, but that had been war, and he had not had to handle them. His only job had been to make them.

The man finished cleaning the sailor’s corpse, and he put the corpse into the boat.

The man rested. The sun had risen above the horizon by the time he had retrieved and cleaned the sailor’s corpse.

The man ate more food and drank more water, and then he pushed the boat back into the water and set off once more for the dead sailor’s homeland.

But the boat did not go to the dead sailor’s homeland. A great wind arose, and the man could not navigate the boat against the wind. The man tried his best to navigate the boat against the wind, but he could not. He was too new at navigating the boat on the open sea.

When the man realized that the more he tried to navigate the boat against the wind the more risk he ran of swamping the boat and perhaps meeting the same fate the sailor had met, the man turned the boat with the wind and navigated the boat where the wind drove it.

The wind drove the man and the boat with the sailor’s corpse away from the dead sailor’s homeland and toward the man’s homeland. The wind had apparently changed the man’s future for him. Instead of returning the sailor’s corpse to the dead sailor’s homeland, the man found himself navigating the boat toward his own homeland.

The man wondered what was in store for him there.

But the wind did not drive the man and the boat and the sailor’s corpse back to the man’s homeland. It only drove them toward the man’s homeland. Toward the man’s homeland and to the islands beyond the horizon of the man’s homeland.

The wind abated when the boat neared the outermost island of the group of islands beyond the horizon of the man’s homeland.

The man was tired. The man was tired from fighting the wind for so long, and then he was tired from navigating the boat driven by the wind for so long, and then he was tired from the sun fading beyond the horizon. The man was tired as he was always tired at that time of night.

So the man slept. The man pulled the boat onto the sand of the outermost island, and he secured the boat, and he slept.

The man woke at first light and sat for a long time looking at the glow of the sun growing over the horizon. Under the glowing sun was the island. The main island. The larger main island where so much had happened so long ago. The man looked at the island and did not think much about the island, but he felt much about the island. He feared and loved the island. But he did not love it as much as he would have if he had remembered the future of the first time around. He would have taken the boat directly to that island and found the other beautiful woman and made her his wife if he had remembered the future of the first time around. But the man could not remember the future—not the future of the first time around and not the future of any times around—so he did not love the island so much as he could have.

The man feared the island and he loved the island. He loved it as far as he could remember the old man and the beautiful woman and the girl, but he did not love it so much as he could have. The man still did not remember what he had agreed to forget about the deaths of the beautiful woman and the girl, but he still did not love the island as much as he would have if he had remembered the other beautiful woman from the future of the first time around. He couldn’t, so he didn’t.

The man feared and loved the island. He feared and loved the island as he watched the glow of the sun grow stronger on the horizon.

The man wondered what he would do now that he had arrived at the island. He was not superstitious. He did not believe some force had driven him to these islands beyond the horizon of his homeland for some mystical purpose. The man agreed that the wind had changed his future. But the wind had only changed his future to the extent that if it had not risen he would at that moment have been sitting on the beach of the neutral land instead of on the beach of the outermost island of the islands beyond the horizon of his own homeland.

Intent. The man did not believe the wind had any intent to drive him to this place instead of allowing him to continue to another place. So the man decided he would put the boat back into the sea and continue to the neutral land where he would fulfill the future he had already set out to find.

But before the man could push the boat back into the water, a man in a red uniform emerged from the trees and asked the man for the time.

The man asked the man in the red uniform if he was an officer.

The man in the red uniform said he had been an officer in the war. He said he had been an officer before and during the war and would the man please tell him what time it was.

The man asked the officer in the red uniform if he had been an officer for the army of the land to the north, the land of snow and ice. And before the officer in the red uniform could answer, and before he could ask again what time it was, the man said he did not know what time it was but he could see as well as the officer in the red uniform that the sun had just risen over the horizon, so would the officer in the red uniform accept sunrise as a close enough answer for what time it was.

The officer in the red uniform said he could see it was sunrise as well as the man could but he wanted to know what time it was and he wanted to know if the man had a time piece.

The man said he did not have a time piece and he never cared to know the time by a time piece as he could tell the time of day well enough by the position of the sun and the intensity of the light.

The officer in the red uniform said it was too bad that the man did not know what time it was.

The man asked why.

The officer in the red uniform said it was just too bad. He had hoped to know. He said he had been on the island since the war and the one thing he missed all that time away from civilization was knowing what time it was by his time piece. He said his time piece had stopped working long ago and he had hoped the man had known what time it was and yes he had been an officer in the army of the land to the north, the land of snow and ice.

The man said he could not help him with the time but he could help him get off the island and back to civilization if he wanted.

The officer in the red uniform said he would think about it. Then the officer in the red uniform looked in the boat and asked if the man’s friend was asleep.

The man said no he was dead. Then the man asked the officer in the red uniform how he had come to be on the island.

The officer in the red uniform said he had hidden away on the island after his army had devastated the land beyond the horizon.

The man said it had been his homeland.

The officer in the red uniform said it had been war.

The man said yes it had been.

The officer in the red uniform said he had not wanted to return to the land to the north, the land of snow and ice. He said he could not live anymore under the repressive government administration.

The man told the officer in the red uniform that the repressive government administration no longer ruled the land to the north, the land of snow and ice. He said the officer in the red uniform could go home now without threat of the repressive government administration punishing him as a deserter.

The officer in the red uniform asked how it had happened.

But the man could not remember the future of the first time around, so he did not know what the other beautiful woman had told him about how the commander in the red uniform had survived the attack that had wounded the young man and how the commander had returned to his country and died fighting to overthrow the repressive government administration and how the people had risen after his death and overthrown the repressive government administration. The man could not remember it, so he did not tell it to the officer in the red uniform. But he did tell the officer in the red uniform that he had heard from the other law enforcer in the place he had lived that the repressive government administration had been overthrown long ago.

The officer in the red uniform asked the man how he knew the language of the land to the north, the land of snow and ice.

The man told the officer in the red uniform a short version of the whole story of his time on the island with the old man and the beautiful woman and the girl. He did not tell about swimming to the island. No one ever believed him. He told a short version of the whole story about another officer in a red uniform and soldiers in blue uniforms.

The officer in the red uniform said it had been war.

The man said yes it had been.

The officer in the red uniform said did he mean the main island near the horizon under the rising sun.

The man said yes that island.

The officer in the red uniform said sometimes he saw smoke rising from that island.

The man said it was possible. Maybe another deserter. Maybe a refugee from his homeland. Maybe a fisherman. He said he couldn’t know for sure because he had not visited the island since the war. The man asked if the officer in the red uniform had seen anyone since leaving the army and hiding on the island. Had he seen anyone since the war.

The officer in the red uniform said no. He said he had seen boats but he had always hidden because he was afraid of being caught and being sent back to live under the repressive government administration and being punished by the repressive government administration.

The man said the repressive government administration no longer ruled the land to the north, the land of snow and ice.

The officer in the red uniform said the man had already said that.

The man said it was still true whether he had already said it or not.

The officer in the red uniform asked the man what he was doing with a dead body.

The man told the story of the storm and the death and the wind driving the boat away from the neutral land that the dead sailor had called his homeland when he had been alive. The man did not tell about burying the sailor’s corpse and navigating the boat away from the island. He did not tell how he changed his future the first time and went to the land to the north, the land of snow and ice. He did not tell how he had changed this future the first time and found a desert and found God. He did not tell because he had changed his future since then, and he could not remember the future of the first or of any times around. So he did not tell about changing his future the second time and returning to the island and digging up the sailor’s corpse before he had set to sea and then the great wind arose. The man just told the simple story of the storm and the death and the wind without all the extra details.

The officer in the red uniform asked what the man would do with the sailor’s corpse now that the wind had changed his future.

The man said he would still take the sailor’s corpse to the sailor’s homeland, to the neutral land where the man had been wounded with the commander in the red uniform and where he had recovered from his wounds but had not fallen in love.

The officer in the red uniform said the corpse would not last so long.

The man said there was nothing he could do about it.

The officer in the red uniform said yes there was.

The man asked what.

The officer in the red uniform pointed to some plants and said the island had those plants with waxy leaves, and the waxy substance could preserve a corpse. Not permanently like most cultures preserved the dead for burial, but long enough for the man to get the sailor’s corpse to the sailor’s homeland.

The man asked the officer in the red uniform how he knew about it.

The officer in the red uniform said preparing corpses according to his culture’s rites had been his job before and during the war.

The man asked how long it would take to prepare the preservative.

The officer in the red uniform said maybe too long. He said there might not be enough of the plant to make enough of the preservative.

The man said one of the other islands had many such plants. The man did not tell the officer in the red uniform about finding the pure yellow on that island, but he remembered the island had many of the plants with the waxy leaves he had used to make waterproof containers for the pure yellow and for the powder he had made for the beautiful woman to color her face.

The officer in the red uniform asked how the man knew so much about the other islands. He said he thought the man said he had been on the main island in the distance near the horizon under the rising sun.

The man said yes he had been on the main island. He said he had visited and explored all the other islands too.

The officer in the red uniform asked how the man traveled between the many islands. He asked if the man had had a boat.

The man said he had swum.

The officer in the red uniform said he did not believe it. He asked how the man had arrived at the main island.

The man said he had swum.

The officer in the red uniform said no he meant how the man had arrived at the main island from his homeland beyond the horizon.

The man repeated he had swum.

The officer in the red uniform said he didn’t believe him.

The man said he didn’t have to believe him. Then the man asked the officer in the red uniform how he traveled among the many islands.

The officer in the red uniform said he didn’t. He said he didn’t and he hadn’t.

The man said he didn’t believe him.

The officer in the red uniform said it was true. He had everything he needed on that island, and he had never left it.

The man said wasn’t he curious about what was on the other islands. The different foods. The different resources.

The officer in the red uniform said yes but he also imagined other people who would turn him over to the repressive government administration.

The man said he didn’t need to worry about that anymore.

The officer in the red uniform said he was reluctant to let go of his fear.

The man said it didn’t matter anyway because now he could take the officer in the red uniform to the other islands in the boat, and he could see for himself the other food and other resources, and if they were lucky maybe they would find another person to confirm what the man said about the fall of the repressive government administration.

The officer in the red uniform said they should get the sailor’s corpse out of the boat. He said he could care for it well enough to last while they went to the other island that had many more of the plants with waxy leaves.

The man asked the officer in the red uniform where he lived.

The officer in the red uniform said he lived anywhere.

The man said hadn’t the officer in the red uniform built a permanent place to live.

The officer in the red uniform said no the island gave him everything he needed and he had never made a permanent place to live. He said he had a few favorite places to sleep but he had not made a permanent place to live.

The man said what about when the cold weather came.

The officer in the red uniform told about the cave where he stayed in the winter where he could have a fire and keep warm. He said that was the place they would take the sailor’s corpse because in the warm weather, the cave was cool.

So the man and the officer in the red uniform took the sailor’s corpse to the cave where the officer in the red uniform slept during the cold weather and were it remained cool even in warm weather.

Then the man and the officer in the red uniform got in the boat and traveled to the island where the man as a young man had found the pure yellow. But the man was careful not to show the officer in the red uniform the pure yellow. He showed him the large plot of plants with waxy leaves, but he was careful not to show him the pure yellow. He did not know why. He just did not want to share that resource with the officer in the red uniform. But he did not mind showing the plants with waxy leaves to the officer in the red uniform.

The officer in the red uniform built a fire. The man watched the officer in the red uniform build a fire, and he thought about how little curiosity the officer in the red uniform had and how little ingenuity he had shown about building a permanent place to live on his island. But the man did admire how quickly and how well the officer in the red uniform built a fire. The man thought that perhaps if a man knew how to build a fire so quickly and so well then he wouldn’t need a permanent place to live. But then the man thought there was much pleasure in curiosity, and there was much pleasure in ingenuity, but he still admired the how the officer in the red uniform could build a fire so quickly and so well.

The man gathered plants. The man gathered plants with waxy leaves. The man gathered many plants with waxy leaves for the officer in the red uniform to make the preservative for the sailor’s corpse, and he gathered many more plants with waxy leaves to make a container to hold the preservative for the short voyage back to the island with the cave where the sailor’s corpse lay.

While the officer in the red uniform created the preservative from the first batch of many plants with waxy leaves, the man prepared a basket from the stems of all the plants with waxy leaves, and then he sealed the basket by lining it with the waxy leaves from the second batch of many plants with waxy leaves he had gathered. The man thought about curiosity and ingenuity while he made the basket, but he still admired the officer in the red uniform for how quickly and how well he could build a fire and how well he could extract the preservative from the plants with waxy leaves. He admired these things in the officer in the red uniform, but he could not comprehend his lack of curiosity and ingenuity.

The man finished the basket, and the officer in the red uniform finished extracting the preservative from the plants with waxy leaves. The officer in the red uniform poured the preservative into the basket, and the man covered the basket with an ingenious lid he had created for the short voyage back to the island, back to the island with the sailor’s corpse.

The officer in the red uniform grabbed the man’s arm and pointed across the water to the main island.

A thin column of smoke rose in the sky over the main island.

The man fell to his knees as though struck down, and he wept.

The officer in the red uniform stood apart from the man in silence and let the man weep.

Then the man stopped weeping and asked the officer in the red uniform if he wanted to go find out who was on the main island.

The officer in the red uniform asked the man if he was up to it.

The man explained about it being the exact scene he had witnessed moments before the old man and the beautiful woman and the girl had died. The plants with waxy leaves, the ingenious container, the pure yellow—but he did not tell about the pure yellow, he only thought it—and the ominous column of smoke rising over the main island. The man said he was okay. He said it had been a shock. It had been unexpected and the memory struck him hard. He asked again if the officer in the red uniform wanted to go to the main island.

The officer in the red uniform hesitated for himself, and then he hesitated for the weeping man, and then he said yes. It was time. Curiosity had finally gotten the best of him.