Strolling the Beach Flats

When the tide went out in the late morning, the sand flats were laid bare to the heat of the midday sun. We would trek for great distances along this warm flat sand. Walking in our bare feet, the wet sand felt wonderful. Small rivulets of water would trickle from the upper sandy areas down to the flats, creating shallow streams and pools an inch or two deep that we would dip our feet into. The water rushed past and around our soles and we settled a little deeper into the shallow water. Tiny baby fish would dart around, temporarily trapped in the pools until the tide rose again.

As we continued our aimless stroll, we watched the seagulls dive and soar through the air, riding the warm current of air, and looking for anything interesting. We would hear them call out to each other and imagine what they might be trying to say. When the gulls were on the flats, not far from us, they would eye us cautiously as we walked by.

There were many treasures along the beach, sand dollars being one of our favorites. We liked the baby ones the best, maybe because they were the most pristine, their round flat shells without blemish or damage. Red and orange starfish we would find too, and then there were the most amazingly clear jellyfish. How does something clear survive? What are they made of? So many things to wonder about.

There was a long section of beach without any houses, just woods right up against where the beach sand began. This was my favorite place. It seemed like it may have been that way since before there were any people in this part of the world. Still a wild place, still undiscovered. When we had walked far down the beach, we noticed the tide beginning to come back in, and we knew that our warm flat sand would soon be covered with cool deep water. So we would turn back, and plan what we would do next on that summer day.

Casey Wilds