On the Beach

It’s my daughters’ last night visiting and we hurry to catch the “sunset” before she has to leave. There’s a storm approaching and we hope it will wait until we’re ready to go. The Gulf is calm, with waves creating only small ripples. The sun has set and there’s just a little of the peach and pink remaining intermingled with gray storm clouds. We have our things gathered together to make a hasty retreat should it begin to rain. We are the only ones left on the beach. The newspaper has warned of sharks being spotted just a few miles up the coast and we are carefully watching, since my granddaughter has been going in and out of the water. When Benjamin first arrived, a week ago, he decided he didn’t like the huge expanse of water and would draw his knees up to his chin whenever the water would tickle his toes (I referred to it as “accordion knees”). At this point in his visit he’s decided he loves the water and we have to watch him very carefully. The beach is littered with shells, and Dawn sets Benjamin down on the sand, bending to see if she can find any treasures to take home. Benjamin is heading for the water at a fast crawl. He goes in all the way, finds a piece of mangrove root, turns and heads back to the sand to examine it.