A DAY BY THE SEA

I thought I'd start the day off with some light entertainment. This is a short story I made up one night while I had nothing to do. I wanted to try and get the sights and sounds across as I see them. I hope you enjoy it.

A DAY BY THE SEA

As I walked alongside the fairground on my way to the beach I spotted the psychedelic, graffitied sign announcing that this was The Waltzer. In passing, a cloying stench of grease and oil spewed from its generator and its thick exhaust chugged erratically like an old tug boat fighting its way upstream. A kaleidoscope of lights flashed intermittently and the music, uneven in scale and tone, pounded out from the huge speakers strategically placed around the rumbling ride. Shrill screams rose above the music as the ride-master declared “The louder you scream, the faster we go”.

The aroma of freshly fried chips suddenly filled my nostrils with the accompanying acridity of vinegar and I thought back to a time in childhood when chips were served in layers of a previous week’s newspaper instead of today’s clinical, plastic trays. I nostalgically remembered the vinegar running down and between my fingers, the print dotting my hands with simulated bruises and the satisfaction, that I somehow felt, by eating ‘real’ potato chips as opposed to the mass produced, genetically modified, frozen variety of today.

Sweet superseded sour as I moved on and the doughnut stall came into view. The doughnuts hung against the side of the van windows looking like primitive necklaces. The sweet, white sugar-speckled, hollowed-middle cakes sparkled in the fading sunlight. A young couple picked up waffles and smothered them in fresh cream; strawberry jam for her, maple syrup for him. In a large silver drum, candyfloss was being spun like a fine spider’s web for a small girl who rapturously leaped up and down, clapping her hands in anticipation.

The sweet, sugary aroma of the fresh dough dissipated as I rounded the corner, to be overpowered by the pungent odour of the dead and drying out seaweed that lay outlining the flow of the previous incoming tide. Small clumps of it were dispersed as far as the eye could see. As I made my way onto the beach I kicked off my sandals in order to feel the soft cooling effect of the sand between my toes. It had been another tiresome and lonely day. I needed to be alone with my thoughts and work out what I was going to do.

I sat awhile. A soft warm breeze fluttered past and a fine scattering of sand was strewn toward the concrete jungle behind me. As I glanced downwards, a hermit crab, the cuckoo of the sea world, scurried past and headed for the nearest rock pool for safety. Seagulls screeched and circled above, then dived towards the rich pickings that had been left by today’s many visitors. Remnants of food, pop cans, cigarette butts, even a dirty nappy had been negligently discarded. In a few hours the sand tractor would arrive to sweep, clean, furrow and level the area and by morning the beach would once again appear virginal, untouched by man or beast.

The sea was eerily calm, the sky free from cloud and to the west the impressive orangey-red sphere of the sun continued it’s descent towards the sea. Vibrant rays of light reached out across the sky, angelic looking, and a walkway of light had been lay down invitingly. Just for me.
I walked towards it.