It was already there when I arrived.

No instructions. No indication of what came before or what might come after. Just the ladder, standing in the place where the water meets the land, in the light that belongs to neither day nor night.

I stood and looked at it for a long time.

The questions came on their own. Do I climb? What am I climbing toward? Is it safer to wait, and if I wait, what exactly am I waiting for? What if I climb and there is nothing at the top? What if I wait and the tide comes in?

What if the climbing is the point, and the destination was never the question? I leave the ladder here for you. The light is the same as when I found it. The choice is the same.