Summer of ’42 déjà vu (almost)

 

 

he watched her walking to the beach

followed her with his binoculars

 

she bent over at the waist

to pick up pieces of colored sea glass

 

he did not want to disturb her

he had watched her from the cliff

on many occasions

 

daily she searched for sea glass

always putting it into a small bag

she carried

 

she always wore a white gauzy skirt

one that would show her figure

when the light came through

 

he wondered to himself about her age

did she live here at the sea

or was she visiting for the summer

as he was

 

he hoped one day to “accidently

run onto her” on the beach

perhaps she would talk to him

 

would she ask him his age

would she tell him hers

so many questions for a 15 year

old boy who knew little about women

 

one day while watching from afar

he saw a man and 2 kids walking

towards the woman on the beach

shouting “hey mom, we came to see you”

 

his heart sank

she was older

than he thought

she had kids and a husband

 

he suddenly wished that she

had been a mermaid

and simply swam away to the sea

 

he walked down the beach path

to his bike and  headed to

the soda parlor where he bought

a root beer float

 

he looked at the

teenage girls in the shop

and realized that they did not look

so bad after all