Sunday, August 21, 2011

Lone Walker

Gusting afternoon winds were sending sheets of sand swirling down the beach. There were times when visibility was reduced to less than a hundred feet.

Beach goers had erected wind breaks of all kinds: chairs turned on edge, towels stretched between chairs, boogie boards set like pickets in a fence. Motivated Mom and I had tilted our umbrella on its side and placed our chairs within the striped shelter.

From out of the swirling sand came a bikini-clad woman strolling casually down the beach.  She appeared from the "white out" the way Clint Eastwood appears from the heat vapors on a barren desert. While everyone else was huddled in shelter from the stinging sand this one woman strolled the beach without so much as a pair of sunglasses to shield her eyes.

I watched as she approached, passed, and then disappeared back into the blowing sand - wondering at her ability to withstand the onslaught.

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