One Page #36

In the cool blue October dusk, not a cloud passed overhead. The air was still and the leaves lay settled in their places on the tree limbs. The grass stood tall but quietly. Three friends walked down the gravel road toward home. They had been at the beach all day surfing the waves and collecting mussel shells at low tide. They had waved at the passing lobster boats and followed the small airplanes in their course across the horizon. As the light dimmed the air grew cooler and they headed for their warm kitchens thinking about stews and apple pies with vanilla ice cream. Their stomachs growled softly as they walked along in silence. A breeze came up and rustled the leaves that lined the avenue, and the grasses that stood tall, and the hair on their heads blowing it gently away from their faces that shone from many hours in the sun. Their eyes still sparkled from the exertion of running up the sand dunes with their arms laden with towels and picnic blankets. Into town the two of the friends walked in opposite directions towards home while the third went straight on down the main street towards her home on the other side of town. She passed the post office and the library and the grocery store still filled with people gathering ingredients for dinner. The light deepened suddenly and lights flickered on in the stores and the houses. Her house lay at the end of the main street and the front door was open, inviting the cooling breeze and welcoming her home. Inside her brothers crashed about, excited with a day of successful fishing. Her mother and father chopped vegetables and she could smell haddock baking in the oven with lemon and breadcrumbs. She was suddenly hungry, but overwhelmed by all the noise from her family after so many hours on the beach with only the crashing waves and her friends’ quiet laughter interrupting the silence. Her body was tired from swimming and her bag felt heavy on her shoulder. She went upstairs and left her bag by the door. She moved toward the window and looked out over the sand dunes to the ocean beyond. She saw the lighthouse blinking rhythmically and heard the fog horn start up. Rain was moving in. she pulled her hair back into a ponytail and curled up on her bed, quietly content with a long day in the sun. her eyes closed with a sudden heaviness and she fell into a deep sleep littered with dreams of white surf and crabs that were ten feet tall who carried her lightly over the sand on their backs. A woman in yellow rubber coveralls drove by on her fishing boat, delighted to see her riding so high up on the hard shell. They waved to one another. The sunrays licked her cheek and the crabs cackled with jokes only they could understand.