in this long forgotten beach town we once shared*

Although fifty-three, and retired from the job world, he felt seventeen once that Californian sand sunk between his bare feet. Still cold from the night. Not yet warm from the rising sun. He stood there with the sound of seagulls and the waves. Lashing and clapping back and forth.

Warmth began to caress his back as he stared out at the western horizon. Not able to tell where God’s sea ended and God’s sky began.
The scent of salt and foam in his nostrils. The morning breeze flowing through the short hair on his toes and the tops of his feet. The hair on his neck rustled. In his head he heard his name being called.
“Charlie?! Charlie over here!”
He turned his head left as he scratched and itch on the back of his left hand. He saw a boy with bright red swim trunks running across the sand. A yellow plastic shovel and orange plastic pail in his hands. The largest smile ever to exist stretched across his small face.

A girl’s voice laughs and then playfully screams. “Chuck, no!” And he looked out into the shallow water and saw a teen boy with black trunks with a red stripe, standing waist-high in the water. A gorgeous brunette riding on his shoulders. He takes a deep breath as the girl screams again, “Chuck, no!” And they both fall back into the water.
She pops back up. A long white shirt, now drenched, slings to her body and reveals a pink two-piece underneath. She soaks her head and pushes the hair back from her face.
The teen boy resurfaces and laughs.
“Chuck, you dick!” She yells as she splashes water into his face. He catches a lot of it in his mouth and spits it back out in her direction.
She splashes him again and he lunges forward and grabs her.
They kiss and embrace.

“Charles? Hey you okay?!” The man looks to his right and sees two men in their twenties gazing intently out at the waves. A man emerges with a black body suit and a red surfboard. His left hand bleeds profusely.
“Dude, you all right? That spill was hardcore.”
“I’m good,” says the man.

In his head he hears a soft voice.
“Charlie...? Do you love me...?”
And he turns around to look behind him and instead of seeing the bright burning sun he sees a glowing moon. A moon lighting two people lying by a fire. Chills run up his spine as he sees the two lovers embraced in a gray blanket.
The man reaches down and grabs the woman's hand. His left hand squeezing her left. A small sparkle shines off of the two gold bands on their fingers.
“Of course I love you.”
The man smiles. Then a tear falls as he hears a door knob turn and open.

“Honey wake up!” His eyes open and he sees a woman standing before him. He sits up in his twin bed and looks at the gray-haired woman, leaning in the doorway.
“Charlie, honey, get up. Your father and I wanna take you and Billy to the beach. You wanna go?”

The kid lays back down and pulls his gray blanket over himself.
“No. I don’t wanna go. Not today.”
And he goes back to sleep. And sleep has him. He escapes them all for now.
For now.

* the title is taken from the song "Snowbirds & Townies" by Further Seems Forever on their album The Moon Is Down