Well.
"Can I play games?"
"No."
"Why?"
"Because we're walking on the beach and I don't want to run out of batteries."
The battery bit was a lie. I knew our walk would last for less than an hour. And plus, I rarely get some complete alone time with him, away from everything.
"Oh look, this is mama's favorite seashell."
"Let me see."
"Here."
"I want to give it to her."
"Okay."
"Can you hold it?"
"Sure…I think we need a bag though. I can't hold all these seashells in my hand. Do you see any loose bags around here?"
Unfortunately, there were a lot of bags strewn around the beach area. All along the way, him and I tossed plastic and glass bottles that were near the shore toward the soft, grainy sand area that is farther away from the waves.
"Okay, here's one bag that isn't torn."
We continued to walk with no destination in particular. I had some black tar stuck on my right foot that I scrapped away on the mossy rocks. I don't know how some of it ended up on my fingertips.
We passed by kids that were about his age, three of them. They were looking at something that was being washed over and over again on the shore.
I was as curious as the children. I looked over at him as his face lit up.
"It's a crab!"
It sure was. And the three boys were trying to catch it but their attempts were uneventful. He was a bit older than them.
"Here, give me that."
He took the plastic shovel from one of the boys and managed to drag the little crab out onto the dry sand. The three boys were ecstatic.
One of the boys flipped the tired crap onto the flat surface of the shovel and skipped away to show one of the two women who were sitting on the wooden benches facing the beach. We saw him shove the crab between the two women and heard both of them yelping.
"Take it away!"
I was suddenly embarrassed. I smiled and waved. They waved back and laughed. All was well.
We continued our walk.
But before that, he went up to the three boys.
"Put it back into the sea."
They did.
All is well.
MP3's...
Moldy Peaches - Anyone Else but You
Nick Drake - Pink Moon
Camera Obscura - Let's Get Out of this Country
Belle & Sebastian - Piazza, New York Catcher
at 8:30 AM
5 Comments
I love your beach/sea posts. I guess because I love the sea and activities related to it
The state of our sea is so sad! I remember when we were kids, walking around during low tide, you would see so many sea animals..not anymore..
no one seems to care to educate the people about a clean environment..I hope we see some more incentives soon to help improve our sea life!
Fee here! Walks on the beach are veeery therapeutic for me! And sometimes i carry a plastic bag with me to pick up any waste i might find,as expected,i usually come back with a full bag! :(
traveleer: :)
eleventhst: well it's basically trashed right now...if there's any serious clean-up it'd get PRed like crazy...
fee: my love! well, i get a bag for seashells because i love collecting them :) when it comes to trash - especially plastic - i take it and place it in one of those little plastic garbage cans on the beach OR i just throw it really hard away from the beach...i miss you :)
You evoked and resurrected beach scenes from the Kuwaiti part of my childhood.
We used to wade into the warm surf when we swam as children at the chalet, using our toes to feel for the sand dollars (a kind of crustacean/smooth urchin) buried in the sand beneath the water, and then dive to bring them up. Whoever collected the most was the winner. We threw them all back into the water afterwards. I loved the tidal pools at low tide where you could explore and find the tiniest crabs and sea cucumbers alive and kicking, going about their business. My sister once stepped on a spiny sea urchin in one of the pools and had to be taken to the hospital (along with a trip to the bakala where she got a whole bag of kitkats and bafak all to herself)
I think the last time I did something like that was when we went quahogging on the shores of Cape Cod last summer. We got quite a catch, and had delicious stuffed quahogs for dinner that night along with the 2 lobsters we found in the lobster pot.
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