Sandpiper by Samantha Barclay
Stones invade the beach. Not slowly. Last week you could play in the sand and walk for miles. Mummy said there were Sandpipers running by the shore. Maybe they are like the Piedpiper luring the young with tuneful magic.
Pipers of sand sweeping and scooping drifts of soft gold. Charming it out into the ocean. Where does it go?
Left-behind-stones (to the screams and tantrums and crying for ‘Sandcastles!’) hide their precious young wards from the sea. Crabs scuttle and dig, shrimp teleport, Gobies skit from rock to rock, Anemones sway with glowing tendrils.
Sandcastles Pipered away fade to distant memory. Calmed tantrums grasp treasures and discoveries anew. ‘Look mummy!’ Presenting coiled shells, a claw and a ‘good rock’.
Rolling waves arrival say ‘Tides are turning’
Time to go.
Ebbing with the tide, fish, birds and man.
Retreating to higher ground mummy points ‘look Sandpipers!’
Not like the Piedpiper!
Comical, stoney, bobbing, runners! Back and forth. Don’t touch the foam.
Next time we’ll jump the waves!
Tucked up and tired. Visions of sea currents bespeckled with gold curl around kelp and waft through vast shoals. Carried by music only subaqueous souls know.
Where does it go? Maybe the Sandpipers know.
Next time I’ll ask them as we jump the waves.
Samantha Barclay is a new writer with a passion for stories which capture and create magic for children. She loves wildlife and being in nature absorbing the precious moment with her family.
Watercolour by Samantha Barclay
Tags:
Thank you so much for Publishing my short story and getting a piece of my work out for people to read. It’s so excited to see it on the website. I hope everyone enjoys reading it! Sam x