The Beach.
It was early morning on the beach. The sun was shining softly just above the distant horizon above the sea. The waves broke gently on the moist sand. The sea rolled and hummed serenely, as the waters rode on. Seagulls and other sea-birds flew and darted above the sea, and above the sand of the beach.
Three small children, all aged about ten, were playing on the edge of the breakers. They were Mary, Joe and Paul. They played in their swimming costumes in the shallow breakers, and occasionally one would splash the other with water. They would stroke their hands just below the surface, causing the water to splash and spray their play-mates.
Then they swam about a bit in the shallow water, riding out the smaller waves to the beach with their bodies. They swam about like this for quite a while, until they tired, and then they retired to the beach. They went up to the higher sand banks of the beach, where their parents were waiting and keeping an eye on them, and they dried themselves off with their towels. Then they scampered away again across the sand of the beach to go and play.
They walked along the edge of the beach, where the sand bordered on the waves. Here the sand was firm and moist, and they could walk easily. Their tiny feet left three sets of tracks in the wet sand, which was soon wiped away by the small line of waves that washed out over the sand. They walked side by side like this all along the shore, talking about kids’ stuff, until they reached the rocky escarpment on the edge of the bay.
Here they walked among the rocks, and marveled at the anemones and sea-stars growing in the small pools among the rocks. They kept themselves occupied and entertained with this occupation for a long time. Every now and then one of them would call to the others; “Here, come and look at this one!” Their parents had thought them not to disturb or remove the sea-creatures, so they just looked at them, and sometimes prodded on a bit with a stick, to watch it open and close.
When they had had enough of this exploration, they slowly started to return to where their parents were waiting on the beach. They walked back along the edge of the water, the way that they had come, and found a few solitary tracks that they had left earlier, which had not been washed away by the breaking surf yet.
The sea broke gently on the sandy shore beside them, the wind swept softly about the beach, and the seagulls cried lonely above.
The End.
Copyright – JP Brown – 17/04/2007.
