Shells
Still half awake, I stretched my arms, yawned, and looked around the beach through the sandy car window. The gulls barked at one another as they sailed above the sea. The waves glimmered as they scattered the sun’s rays, reflecting them every which way.
"What a beautiful morning?" I thought to myself.
Asher, in the passenger’s seat, was still asleep with drool sluggishly escaping down the left side of his chin. Trying not to wake him, I hesitantly opened the car door. Sand-filled shoes are one of my greatest peeves, so I removed my shoes and left them in the car. As soon as I stepped out, the balmy, California breeze heated my face. Ah.
Taking a deep breath of the salty air, I glided my feet through the toasty sand — one of the greatest feelings in the world. After making my way to the sea where water was bubbling on the the shore, I stood just in front of the sea to watch the waves inching up the coastline, then disolving into the sand. Each one became quicker, larger, and closer as the minutes passed. Soon enough, the wave had completely engulfed my feet; it devoured my ankles, then pulled away just as fast as it came. I felt my heels sink deeper into the sand as the wave captured the shore out from under me. I took a step out of the water, my dripping feet became magnets to the sand; I was a human churro.
Beautiful rocky walls had created a small plash filled with seawater. A tide pool.
I leaned over the crystalline water to see the the delicate, peach-colored shells at the bottom. Attempting not to stir the sand, I reached my hand in gingerly. I snatched the three pinkest shells I could find and brought them to eye level. Ripples grew as I pulled my hand from the pool. I cautiously dabbed the rosy shells with my shirt. The chill water had made them cool to the touch.
I held the largest up in my fingertips, focusing on the way the lustrous salmon shell morphed to white as soon as it was touched by the radiant beams of sunshine.
Lovely.