Anthem of Summer
By akarppi
- 342 reads
Aubrey slammed her “17 Magazine” over her face and inhaled the faded scent of ink and glossy paper. So bored. How many times had she read this? Probably 100 times today. She turned over and reached for her phone. It was 3:07. Hadn’t it been 3:00 like an hour ago? She skimmed her phone, looking for any news from her friends. There were no missed calls, texts, emails, and no one seemed to be on Facebook. How was that even possible? She sat up and moved the dark curls out of her face. The heat was unbearable. She stood up and walked towards the ocean, tying her hair in a messy ponytail as she went.
Aubrey loved summer more then any other season. She loved the way everything seemed to melt. Time itself became long and drawn out. Days blended together, morphing into a mixture of feelings of possibility, independence and raw freedom. The constant sound of breaking waves, chattering teens, and the slap of flip-flops on pavement was the anthem for this time, the breeding ground for change. Everyone came back to school with new hair, smooth caramel colored skin, and most importantly new interests, friends and even boyfriends. Summer was the safest place to do the socially unsafe: change yourself.
Aubrey loved the feeling of loose sand covering her body, the warm fine grains spilling over her. She loved the feeling of cool sand packed around her when her brother buried her in he sand. She loved the wet mucky sand, which left distinct footprints in the ground, and the very light sand that held little bits of shells that hurt the bottom of your feet if you didn’t run by fast enough. She loved the feeling of a picnic blanket over warm sand, and the grit of the sand in her mouth as she ate whatever her mother had packed her.
But Aubrey loved the ocean more. She loved standing waiting for the waves to run over her, the tiny pieces of sand stinging her ankles as the waves tumbled over her sunburned feet. She loved running through the water; picking up her feet higher the deeper she went, spraying foamy jets of water behind her. She loved jumping over waves, the wall of water carrying her so her feet could not touch the ground, making her feel weightless. She loved diving head first under a wave, feeling the huge movement of water pass over her head. Today, though, the waves seemed subdued. They rolled lazily not parading their high-capped peeking waves. She waded farther and farther enjoying the rhythm of the water, the slight pressure and release of the waves. She dived under, keeping her eyes open. They stung from the salt, and she only saw dark green-blue open space. How big the ocean was! Sometimes it was difficult to separate the ocean from the sky, and it all became one massive layered stretch of blues and greens. It stretched forever. Aubrey loved how detached she could become from the rest of the world. She felt the foam surrounding her when she came up for air. It reminded her of clouds, how thick and fluffy they looked, yet there was no substance to them; her hands went right through them. She inhaled the vaguely sulfuric smell of the ocean as she waded out of the water.
But back on her towel, she felt the boredom she had felt before she had gone for a swim. This was the problem with August. The intense sticky heat was so thick, and it seemed to suck all life out of it. Many people were returning home and preparing for school, while many college kids had started classes already. People were growing tired of the constant irritation of sand on their body, cloths, and throughout their house and car. Many had eaten their fill of soft serve ice cream and funnel cake, and were running out of sunscreen. The tropical colored beach towels were fading, and the bathing suits they had been dying to wear had become old news. And it didn’t help that everyone’s mother was pushing to go shopping for school supplies and urging last minute book report edits. Yes, it seemed as though summer was already over.
She reached for her book. It was what her mother would call a “beach read,” a trashy novel with a fast-paced, romantic plot that always seems to take place on a beach. You could easily lose yourself in a book as bad as this. She tried desperately to immerce herself in the book, but it’s no fun to read about the beginning of summer when your stuck in the end of August. Ok, it was time to go home. She was really depressing herself. She shook the sand out of her towel, and cleaned up all her stuff. She walked down the boardwalk towards the parking lot. She could smell the fried foods, and she was hungry. She bought a large piece of funnel cake and a soda, enjoying the piles of soft fluffy sugar covering the warm spongy cake. Fried perfection. As she walked to the parking lot, she remembered the first time she had come here with her family. She was eight and was terrified of starting at a new school in less then a month. Her older brother Evan was going to Middle School, and the fact she wouldn’t seem him walking around school during the day was unthinkable. Gosh, how long ago had that been? Evan had already been in college for a few years, and Aubrey herself had looked at colleges this summer. She remembered playing on the beach, building sand castles with large moats around them, and the excitement as the moats filled at high tide. She remembered being led to the car covered in wet sand and filled with stories of sand knights and princesses, and the strange notion that their castle would be there tomorrow. Her sweaty thighs stuck to the seat and made slight ripping sounds as she adjusted her position. As she pulled out of the parking lot, she let a little boy and girl run across the street. She couldn’t help smiling. She turned up the radio and rolled down all the windows as she pulled onto the main road. She sang along as the scent of salt and the sweet tall grasses of the dunes filled her car. But above the radio she could still hear the sound of the waves, the voices of teens and little children, and the smack of flip-flops on pavement. And she couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
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