Hidden World

It was closing in on seventy degrees here today, making thoughts of the recent snow storm fade into history.

I headed down to the boardwalk, parked myself on a bench, and prepared to lose myself in a book.

The insistent surge of the ocean soon had me gazing out toward the water. I was in a near trance when I noticed something amiss. Handrails for stairs - but no stairs.

During a recent beach reclamation project, thousands of tons of sand were shaped into man-made dunes to protect the boardwalk from storm surges. A five foot high by thirty foot wide wall of sand was pushed hard up against the boardwalk. Apparently it was decided just to bury the existing stairs rather than dismantle them.

It made sense. The stairs were no longer needed. The five foot drop from boardwalk to beach was changed to a gradually descending path through the massive sand dune.

But - the handrails for the stairs were left in place. Waist height at the boardwalk, the weathered boards now slope downward only a short distance before disappearing into the sand. A seeming invitation into a hidden world.