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A recount of my childhood visits to the beach. |
Lake Murray ___________ Beaches and lakes always held a special allure and mystique to me, as a child ; as well, no doubt, most children . My earliest recollection : Lake Murray, west of Marietta, Oklahoma. There was something about driving by to find a spot to park , something unseen and indefinable to my deceptive, un- trustworthy eyes. That first view of a wide expanse of sand . Far off, echoing music, usually rock from myriad radios, all competing for what number one would rule the airwaves and ears of all , on a weekend outing to the winds and water .The water…….. nebulous, shifting. A transmigration of white, dark yellow sand to an unknown entity; at once tranquil, and with potential hidden menace as lifeguards, stationed high , kept watch.For a helpless, struggling child, who had perhaps placed too much confidence in his or her newly acquired swimming abilities. Yes. The sand and the water: Sunlight winking off the eddies and currents as if stars reflected from a night sky , which was still hours and hours away. Speeding boats and other watercraft beyond the buoys sent turbulent waves to the shore . Cheap plastic rafts and inner-tubes would brave the crests. The usual result: was spilling its young passenger who none the less shouted and screamed with sheer delight and joy. The gulls would sound there strident cry from so very high up in a pristine, clear blue sky . And accompanying the raucous pulse of radios and a smattering of boom boxes: an acrid, cloying smell of charcoal, then the more pleasant aroma of sizzling meats : hotdogs, hamburgers, bratwurst. When the long afternoon faded to dusk, we would have a brief respite, a recess from the sun.Cherry sno-cones were my favorite.Or even grape, sometimes , or vanilla. The smell of coconut tanning lotion still vivid in our noses, we ride back home, tired and ‘sunspent.’ My breath flowers out, condenses on the car window.A brief fog, then it disappears, a ghostly fade , then it reveals: the first faint stars peeking out from the sky,pulsing , awakening ; these just further suns than our own, in all reality. They seem to laugh softly, whisper sweet lullabyes as I drowse in the backseat. And I see , once again the majestic sunbeams dancing and twinkling, through the shimmering heat waves, on the tranquil, dark blue ebbing and flowing waters. |