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One evening, while we were in Alabama, we found ourselves at a pocket-sized public beach-park in the town of Daphne. The sun was just beginning to think about setting.
Cypress trees had been cooling their ankles in the water since before we arrived.
Already at the little park were two girls, maybe eight and ten years old, and someone who could have been their mother, but I took to be their babysitter or their aunt (because they addressed her by name). This woman had a baby in her arms and a cell phone in her hand.
The girls ran about leaving tiptoe footprints:
As we passed one, who was mounding sand in a great pile, she said to me, "Hi! What's your name?"
I told her my name and then made the mistake of reflexively asking her hers. I regretted it immediately, as she looked uncomfortable and shot a glance at the woman with the baby. Oh right! She shouldn't tell strangers these things, I thought. So to get over the awkwardness I said, "That's quite a sand castle you're making there."
"It ain't a sand castle, it's a cake!" she declared.
"Mmmm, it will be delicious!" I said.
She nodded.
"Come have some cake!" she called to her sister.
We couldn't stay for cake, and anyway, I'm not sure she would have offered--though perhaps offering food to strangers is less dangerous than accepting it from them. But maybe the pelicans shared their feast.
Cypress trees had been cooling their ankles in the water since before we arrived.
Already at the little park were two girls, maybe eight and ten years old, and someone who could have been their mother, but I took to be their babysitter or their aunt (because they addressed her by name). This woman had a baby in her arms and a cell phone in her hand.
The girls ran about leaving tiptoe footprints:
As we passed one, who was mounding sand in a great pile, she said to me, "Hi! What's your name?"
I told her my name and then made the mistake of reflexively asking her hers. I regretted it immediately, as she looked uncomfortable and shot a glance at the woman with the baby. Oh right! She shouldn't tell strangers these things, I thought. So to get over the awkwardness I said, "That's quite a sand castle you're making there."
"It ain't a sand castle, it's a cake!" she declared.
"Mmmm, it will be delicious!" I said.
She nodded.
"Come have some cake!" she called to her sister.
We couldn't stay for cake, and anyway, I'm not sure she would have offered--though perhaps offering food to strangers is less dangerous than accepting it from them. But maybe the pelicans shared their feast.
