Aulden opened the door and, along with Janice and The Wind, entered an enormous underground chamber. At the far end of the space was an Olympic size pool crowded with people who were playing and swimming.

Beside the pool was a throne on a platform, and sitting on the throne was a distinctively handsome man with a strong presence and a large build. Aulden felt that the man had the appearance and bearing of the great tenor Pavarotti. The Wind encouraged Aulden, "Talk to the man."

Aulden approached the throne, and verbally stumbled, "What… who… what is your name?"

This wasn't the proper way to address a king. Aulden hadn't even introduced himself. The fellow on the throne, however, answered graciously, and said, "Anthropomorphically, Poseidon."

Aulden didn't understand why, but he felt afraid of this kingly fellow. Maybe his discomfort had to do with the presence of the people in the pool, or a fear of authority figures. Aulden responded, "Anthropomorphically? Cut the big words! I'm not impressed!" The Wind repeated, "Just talk to him."

Aulden sat on the edge of the platform and said to Poseidon, "Come down here. Sit here." Poseidon did just that: He sat next to Aulden who then asked, "What do you have to teach me?"

Poseidon liked that question, and said frankly, "Enjoy, live!" Then with more enthusiasm and more volume, he repeated himself, "Enjoy! Live!"

There are people who would raise a glass and cheer at Poseidon's advice, but Aulden felt fear and anger when Poseidon spoke. Aulden said, "That doesn't sound right. What about responsibilities?"

Poseidon again said, "Enjoy! Live!" and motioned his hand toward the pool, "Look at them!"

The people in the pool had stopped playing and were watching Aulden and Poseidon. They now appeared to be not-so-happy, in fact unhappy as if they were prisoners. Aulden noted, "They don't look like they're enjoying themselves."

Poseidon said, "Oh, but you're different. You know how to enjoy."

Aulden answered, "I don't believe you, and I don't believe you're Poseidon."

"Not Posei…" the man seemed surprised, and he stood up and said, "I rule the waters of the unconscious!"

Aulden answered back, "No you don't! You live in this underground room. You said your name is Poseidon anthropomorphically. Who are you, really?"

Poseidon suddenly turned into a big seahorse. The Wind and Aulden watched him swimming in air, hovering. Aulden said, "Okay, come back Poseidon." He returned to his human appearance.

Aulden didn't know what to ask next. The Wind said, "Just sit with him." Aulden focused on Poseidon, "What you say sounds good - enjoy, live - but why are you down here in the basement, then, in the dark?"

He answered, "Because you forced me down here. Because you can't let yourself enjoy and live."

Aulden reasoned, "Enjoy and live sounds good, but what happens to responsibility? The responsibility to do what's right?"

Poseidon answered, "That's the dilemma!" He said it joyfully and grinned.

Aulden had to think this out, and he stood and took The Wind by the arm, leading him out of earshot of Poseidon. "Do you think those people are being held captive in that pool? I can't just walk away from this without helping them. We can't leave this guy here on this throne."

The Wind kept his gaze on Aulden without answering. Aulden called out to the people in the pool, "If any of you are here against your will, you can leave now." They apparently wanted to leave, because they fled from the pool and became a frantic mob at the door, struggling to exit.

Poseidon stood menacingly. This was the moment of confrontation. Aulden didn't want him to escape, and he shouted to The Wind, "Block the door!"

The Wind positioned himself between Poseidon and the people who were rapidly leaving. A change was coming over The Wind, and he became translucent, partially in human form and partially taking the form of an airy haze. Poseidon smiled and shouted, "So, it's water versus air!" and he transformed into a liquid pillar. As he did, The Wind became a tremendous cyclone, wrapping around the pillar and sweeping it up so that Poseidon was imprisoned. Subdued, Poseidon surrendered.

The Wind returned to human form, and Poseidon, defeated, did the same. With all the excitement finished, The Wind shouted, "Water versus air, ha!"

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Long ago, when Aulden took the Myers Briggs Personality Test, he learned that he was an introvert intuitive. Perhaps Aulden would have understood his negative reaction to Poseidon if he'd known that Poseidon was an extrovert sensing type. They were exact opposites. If Aulden thought in Jungian terms, he would have known that he needed to assimilate Poseidon - to befriend him.

Aulden had Poseidon as a prisoner, and he wanted advice on what to do with him. He didn't see Poseidon as a psychological complex. He saw the fellow as a nuisance, an opposite, and these opposites did not yet attract.

Aulden asked the Bus Driver to take them to someone - anyone - who could give them advice. The bus delivered them to a house on Sunset Drive in Seaside, Oregon, where Aulden delivers mail in his job as a postal worker. Of course Aulden was still lost inside his own head, so what he saw was an imaginal house on Sunset Drive.

The person who answered the door was a woman Aulden had seen in a dream the night before. In the dream, she introduced herself as "Detail," and she spoke in a Jamaican dialect. At the front door of her house, Aulden looked at her and said, "Detail?" The woman responded, "Do I know you?" He answered, "We met in a dream last night!" She looked at him with suspicion, responding, "Oh yes!" and adding, "We did?"

Aulden said to her, "I think I'm supposed to come in and talk to you."

"You think?" she asked, "What makes you think?"

"Because the bus dropped us off here, and I met you in that dream," Aulden said with flawless logic.

She responded, "You'll have to do better than that," and she slammed the door. From the other side of the door she said, "Now go away."

Shut out, standing at the front door, Aulden laughed and he turned to The Wind for advice.

The Wind said, "That is what we call 'a gatekeeper experience.'"

Aulden thanked him by saying, "That's very informative. What does she want me to say?"

The Wind asked, "To get past the gate?"

Aulden nodded, "Yes, what does she want me to say so we can get in, past the gate?"

The Wind informed him, "I can give you a clue. 'What does she want?' is the wrong question."

"Okay," Aulden asked, "How do we get in?"

The Wind advised him, "Think about what you just asked."

Aulden rubbed hand on his chin and thought. Then he slowly spoke, as if thinking it through, "I asked 'what does she want me to say?' and that's the mistake. I shouldn't worry about what she wants. I should say what I want." With more conviction he added, "And I shouldn't have said to her, 'I think.' I should just say 'I want.'" Aulden asked The Wind, "Is that it? Is that how to get in?"

The Wind said, "Remember the Bum at the restaurant? He wanted everyone to help him. You be the Bum." The Wind repeated his advice, "This is one of those times: You be the Bum."

The Wind followed him, along with Janice and Poseidon, to the door and they straightened their clothing, composing themselves, and Aulden said, "You know in Canada 'bum' means ass."

The Wind answered, "Yes, well, here it means beggar."

Aulden knocked.

Detail opened the door just a crack, and Aulden simply said, "I want to talk to you. I'm lost. I need help and I want to talk to you."

She answered, "Come in."

He asked, "Really?"

She replied, "Really."

The four of them - Poseidon, Aulden, The Wind and Janice - sat on a couch facing a picture window with an ocean view. Detail sat in front of the window, facing them, and Aulden asked her, "Do you own this place or do you rent?" She seemed amused at the idea, the whole place being imaginal, after all, and she said, "It's mine."

Aulden explained the dilemma, "Poseidon is kind of a hedonist. All he thinks about is 'enjoy, live!' and I'm… not. I'm kind of abstaining these days. So, I'm not really comfortable with him… I think we need some kind of… I don't know, relationship counseling." Aulden was surprised he could even say that much, with the discomfort he felt about Poseidon and about being here. He glanced around the room, expecting to see some kind of voodoo altar, but it looked like a pleasant, normal family room.

Detail asked Aulden, "Is that really the problem you want to talk to me about?"

Aulden said, "Well, Poseidon needs a place to live."

Detail counseled, "Stay close to him. You're afraid of him. Don't be." To Poseidon she said, "What are we going to do with you?" Turning back to Aulden, she asked, "Do you think I have all the answers for you?"

Aulden answered, "Yes!"

She continued, "Do you think I'm going to travel with you? Oh no, no, no - I'm not going nowhere. What do you have to say to me, Poseidon?"

The big fellow looked smaller than before, slumped over and depressed. He told her, "Well, I always say, 'Enjoy, live,' but he doesn't listen to me."

Detail asked Aulden, "Is that true?"

Aulden explained, "Sometimes it doesn't sound right to just mindlessly enjoy, live."

Detail commented, "He didn't say 'mindlessly,' but mind gets in the way. Mind does get in the way." Then she turned to Poseidon, saying, "Where will we put you? You're going to be close to him. We can't put you off in a corner."

Aulden voiced a concern, "I don't think he can submit to the group."

"Submit?" Detail responded, "What a word to use."

Poseidon joined in, "Submit? No - I'm bigger than that. I can fit in if you fit me in."

She asked Aulden, "Can you fit him in?"

He replied, "That's why I came to you."

Detail pointed out, "I can't fit him in. You have to do it… mindlessly."

Aulden thought about this, and said. "That sounds possible, if he doesn't try pushing some kind of sexuality agenda into his 'enjoy, live' thing. He needs boundaries."

Detail repeated that word, "Boundaries."

Poseidon also said it, "Boundaries - that's the problem."

Detail explained, "You want to fit your libido into boundaries but he's bigger than your boundaries. So he goes busting out. What are you going to do with him?"

Aulden answered, "I can't just let him run free."

Detail asked, "Why not?"

Poseidon also demanded, "Yes, why not?"

The Wind interjected at this point, "If I may say, he would run rough-shod over the boy."

Detail agreed, "Yes he would. What do we do?"

Aulden contemplated, "That's what he is, isn't it? He's pure libido, and up until now I couldn't figure out what scared me about him. Can any box be big enough to fit him into?"

Detail pointed to the view of the ocean outside her window, "This box is big enough." Poseidon loves the ocean, and he smiled at her comment.

Aulden asked, "If I put him in a box so big, wouldn't he have too much power?"

Detail spoke firmly to Aulden, "You're bigger than this!" Motioning again to the ocean, she repeated, "You're bigger than this."

"But wouldn't we be back where we started?" Aulden countered, "With him out there and me up here?"

Detail said, "You need to put Poseidon where you can reach him, and you can't reach him in the depths of the ocean. Widen your boundaries bigger than the ocean."

Aulden said, "We still don't know what to do about Poseidon."

Detail answered, "You go down to the Beach. You'll find a tropical beach house. Go have yourselves a talk down there. Go now."

He felt as if the conversation was complete, and said, "Thank you, Detail.'"

She smiled and told him, "Go on. Keep him close. Trust your intuition. You go now, and find that beach house."

As he walked to the door, in a moment of uncertainty, he asked, "But, Detail, won't Poseidon be able to go back and hide in the ocean? He's an old seahorse."

She answered, "He won't have to go unless you send him there. You be a friend."

The four travelers strolled down Sunset Drive until they came to the beach at the bottom of the hill. The stars were so bright overhead and the night breeze so comfortably warm, they sprawled out on their backs forming a big "X" with their heads in the center, and they talked.

Earlier in the week, Aulden attended a religious celebration. Aulden now asked, "What did you think of those people who did the solstice ceremony, Wind?"

The Wind was analytical, "It didn't hurt anything. You already knew everything they could teach you."

Aulden asked, "What did you think, Janice, about the solstice?"

She answered, "It felt nice: the people around us, and the night sky - like tonight."

Aulden asked, "What do you think, Poseidon?"

Poseidon answered, "Maybe it'll get us laid."

They laughed, and Aulden was happy that Poseidon could say the things that he'd have considered unspeakable. The sound of the waves on the beach comforted them; bonded them.

Aulden said, "You add a perspective, Poseidon."

He responded, "Hey - I'm not all about sex. I said, 'enjoy, live.' That's not just about sex."

"Tell me then," Aulden urged him, "Tell me about other ways."

Poseidon explained, "Lighten up. Cast your line out. Be around - be present. Undertake to live. We got a lot of livin' to do."

Aulden agreed, "Okay, and not just about sex."

Poseidon affirmed, "Possibilities!"

Aulden asked, "Why were you hiding in the basement?"

"You put me there," Poseidon told him, "Forced me there!"

Aulden pointed out, "The Wind is cautious about you."

"Okay," Poseidon offered, "Hey, I'll evolve and grow!"

Aulden negotiated an agreement between them, asking, "What do you think of what he's saying, Wind? Enjoy, live?"

The Wind, after much thought, conceded, "Let's give him a chance. We don't always have to agree with him. You have to trust yourself enough to be open to possibilities."

Aulden winced at this idea, but said, "Okay."

The group found the beach hut for Poseidon. It had a Gilligan's Island look: bamboo door, thatched roof, dirt floor. Aulden was trying to find the right words for a goodbye. He said, "I love your enthusiasm for life, and your joy."

Poseidon didn't look at all joyful. His shoulders were slumped as if he'd been scolded, and as he glanced around the beach hut he looked like a child who was being punished. Aulden wanted to ask where that other person was - the Poseidon who was bold and audacious, but he couldn't open that topic.

Aulden said as a goodbye, "I'll visit you soon."

~ ~ ~

Three weeks had passed. Detail's advice, "Keep him close," stayed with Aulden throughout those weeks. He walked through the sand toward Poseidon's hut.

Aulden could see Poseidon in the distance, clothed in a Hawaiian shirt, baggy shorts, flip-flops and a big straw hat. Poseidon sprinted to him and gave Aulden a bear hug.

They walked together to the hut, and Aulden asked him, "Are you lonely here?"

Poseidon tried to brush off that thought, "There's plenty for me to do."

Aulden persisted, "You're restless. Are you restless?"

Poseidon confessed, "Maybe a little."

Aulden said, "Sit with me."

Poseidon proudly exclaimed, "Look - I made a bench!" The bench was a log that had washed up on the beach. Poseidon had dragged it to the hut.

Aulden noted, "You went from ruling the waters of the unconscious to living in a beach hut by the ocean."

"I still have the waters," Poseidon commented, "I can swim with the fishes."

"Could I go swimming with you sometime?" Aulden asked.

Poseidon smiled, as if meaning no offense, and said, "You're much too repressed for me."

Aulden said, "I know you have a giant's energy. I couldn't just leave you to sit in this beach hut. I think something big is coming and I'll need you with me."

"I hope so," Posdeidon responded.

Aulden questioned, "Are you happy here?"

Poseidon didn't answer. The two of them sat side-by-side on the log and watched the ocean. Finally, breaking the silence, Aulden said, "I want to help you be happy."

Poseidon implored, "Let's do something."

Aulden suggested, "Okay. Come with us on the next journey!"

Poseidon's enthusiasm was building, "I will. Just give me a moment to dress for it!" He stepped into the hut and within a few seconds returned wearing the Hawaiian shirt with a sports coat, slacks and the flip-flops.

Aulden surprised at his friend's choices, exclaimed, "You're supposed to be debonair like a king."

The big man answered, "Oh, I am, my friend. I am."

Poseidon then became one of Aulden's three traveling companions, as he still is today.