Crabs In A Bucket

Beach bums thats what she called us as we walked along Long sands beach York Beach Maine.  I wore sandals and she wore flip-flops removing them while walking holding our foot wear in our hands.  Low tide brought a drastic change between water and beach area.  Draggers hadn’t combed the sand of debris brought in from the last high tide leaving sporadic clumps of seaweed.  We were walking looking for sand dollars.  “When I was young my grandfather used to bring me here and we would look for sand dollars they would be scattered around everywhere,” She told me. I continued looking lifting up seaweed searching around the wet clay sand. Walking ahead of me she found a sand dollar first picked it up and I found several immediately after.  They were decent sized and were like something that I would have bought at a souvenir shop. “These are small” she told me  “They look normal to me” I replied.  “No, I know what I’m talking about when my grandfather and I would come here the sand dollars would be huge and there would be lots of them.”  We walked further along the beach.  The clay was smooth with some water worn rocks and boulders popping through the surface of the uncovered area. 

On the sandy horizon small puddles shimmered with the reflection of the sun.  In the far distance there were the rock barriers and retaining walls that lead to large vacation homes and mansions.  I took a few steps in front of her and found a starfish on the ground.  I picked it up and it was limp but living.  Without telling her what I found I started to walk toward the water.  “Where are you going?”  I turned around showing her what I had found.  “I found a starfish it’s still living, I’m going to put it back into the water.” She looked at me skeptically, “Why don’t you keep it, we can dry it out and use it as a decoration.”  I shook my head, “No, we have several sand dollars I’ll call this my good deed for the day.”  She shook her head comically, “Your so stupid.  What does it matter if you keep it or put it back in the water?”  “It matters to this one.” I told her before walking into the water chest deep then released the starfish.  She stood in the distance waiting for me and when I reached her she had a smile on her face, “Your all wet.”  “I feel better about myself” I gave her a kiss on the lips proud of myself.  “I think that it will bring good luck back to us.” We walked further along the beach where she noticed two dried starfish side by side.  She picked them up and smiled like a giddy child.  “What did I just tell you?” I said to her.  She put the starfish in the back of her khaki short pockets reached for my hand and I led her to the edge of the water.  We stood were the tide was coming in with the water covering us past our ankles.  Slowly the sand erosion started to sink our feet in the sand. 

I looked to her smiling, “I used to do this when I was a kid.”  She leaned her head on my shoulder and we stood there for several minutes.  It was mid morning and the weather was warm and sunny.  The Maine waters were tolerably cold.  We arrived there to spend the Fourth of July week in the York beach and surrounding area.  When we walked to our car we placed our starfish and sand dollars in the console of the vehicle. “Where to now?”  “Union Bluff I want to have lobsters and steamers while I am here.”  She told me before grabbing my hand and giving me a kiss on the lips. 

Later that afternoon we were in our hotel apartment putting away the things that we had bought during the day along with a couple of bottles of wine for later that evening.  We were going to be meeting up with her aunt and uncle at a restaurant in Ogunquit for dinner.  “There’s supposed to be karaoke at the restaurant today.”  I said to her.  She shook her head in semi disgust, “You better not! You’ll make me throw up.”  “Is it because the last time?”  I said before laughing.  “I don’t like it because all you want to do is sing and then you were pointing at me and yelling “I’m looking at you beautiful blonde in the front row.  It was embarrassing.”  I laughed.  “Really?  I thought that was the best part.”  We relaxed for a while later changing making our way to Ogunquit roughly a half hour driving distance away.