Encountering another mind

Yesterday my son and I went scuba diving off the coast of Kaua’i, which was pretty cool.

But what was better – holding a medium-sized octopus in my hands for a couple of moments. It flashed through four or five color changes in those moments, jetting water to press against my right palm that cupped its bulbous head, while a couple of tentacles suckered themselves to my left. Their velvety insistence seemed an unexpected counterpoint to the gentle effort its head made toward escape.

Perhaps humans are not the only ones whose bodies and heads seem to have minds of their own.