Sitting on a towel atop the sizzling sand,I’m warm, wet, and a little tiredAbsentmindedly searching for shells with my damp, sandy, handI look up to see the wine-dark ocean chomping its foamy mouthGobbling at the jam of people skittering around the beach clutching their boardsAnd gulping for a breath in the waterPretty sure it is about to take my brotherInstead it just gives him a free joy ride

I push my pink cheeks in, feeling for a burnSandpipers rush to pick clams out of the murk, jumping back from the wavesSeagulls shout and bicker over a half-full bag of DoritosMom snaps at us to hide our snacksMy little brother defiantly holds up a Pizza Flavor-Blasted GoldfishHoping to lure a bird to his handCheese dust staining his tiny, pruny, fingers

My cousins, with salt-soaked hair and rough red sand rashes,Beckon me to Boogie Board with them,And to search for sand crabs with Grandpop(Even though Nana yells at him “not to go out too far!”)

When we come back, I sneak a second soda and a bag of Popchips from the snack bag,Hiding them from Mom behind my cousin’s drip castleI watch as her hand dips into the bucket,Then lets the wet drizzly sand dribble through her fingers,Shaping tall towers of mud

A moment later my two little brothers bumble over the castleLike little dragons careening into warm, wet, hugs from Mom