I,Katie have had a few requests lately to see if I could get my stories published. I dunno how I feel about that, they are mostly for my personal amusement, but if I get enough positive feedback from those who have read them and from any short stories i post here maybe I will consider it.
So here is something I got 17/20 for in an English exam back in 2003. The topic was Happy memories or moments or place? something like that anyway.
The water dripped off my nose as I flopped into the cool wet sand. My hair felt wiry from the salty ocean water and my back was beginning to burn. I felt so fresh, so alive. I dug my fingers deep into the sand and began to create my sand monument. Beside me he flopped with his board, he had obviously just been dunked by a wave as his breathing was heavy and there was a graze on his knee but he was grinning from ear to ear.
I dug deeper. The wall around it grew higher. The shallow pool of water at the bottom of the hole eroded the walls creating an overhang which i quickly smoothed out to avoid collapse of the sand structure.
The ocean was gushing behind me and occasionally I felt its cool kiss on my toes. I could hear amongst the crashing of the waves laughter, the
skwark of seagulls, cicadas humming. It was the song of summer, of magic memories passed and yet to come. Of an innocent childhood when I was pure and oh, so happy. Even now the sounds echo around my mind as if a piece of it exists there frozen in time. As I grow older the sound of summer remains my sanctuary and my hole in the sand with its walls is my mastered creation and now he is with me too. His childish manner, such a contrast from the boys at school. He's a person who makes me smile just by a simple glance. He rolled over onto his belly and began digging in the hole too.
The hole was almost as deep as my arms could reach and about as wide as that too. The walls around it curved gently, the outer wall creating a wind break to protect the inner wall from the ocean breeze whipping up the sand. The water pooling at the bottom was almost ice cold, numbing my fingers while i felt the sun burn my back. This was easily going to be the biggest structure I had created. Years of perfecting, of experimenting, to create just the right shape to avoid collapse.
He followed my lead, recognising my understanding for the design. It made me feel good to see his recognition for this minor accomplishment. I didn't get noticed much for the big things I do, but for him, to notice my refined expertise on such a childish thing left me feeling in good spirits.
Our time had ended, the sun was setting and the tide was coming in. We leaped into the waves to wash the sand off our arms and leghs and out of our swimwear.
In the morning the hole would be gone, washed away with the high tide. I looked at the carefully crafted structure as he wrapped his arm around my neck. The song of the summer began to sing its lullaby.
