South Core Banks

Birthday's Eve, 2014

The bottom of my feet are blistered and the tops are burnt.
But they've carried me thirty miles on this empty beach.
Tomorrow is my birthday...Twenty-Seven...
For four days. Just me.
And the sand. The sand. Everywhere.
The sand. Crashing Waves. Steady Sun.
I saw a dead dolphin the other day.
Looked like his brain had bloated and exploded out his blow-hole.
The jellyfish on the shore are an unnatural electric blue.
Poor Flipper.
For miles and miles, no sign of human existence.
Except for half-deflated, sad, ragged birthday balloons.
Dozens of them.
I imagine a six year old letting one go...
"Where do they go daddy?" She asks.
"Hmm. To Heaven I guess." The gentle reply.
But I know.
They land here. In the sweltering heat.
Amongst the dunes, grass, jellyfish and dead dolphin.
It's better she doesn't know.
My feet are red, blistered and burnt...
But they've carried me this far.



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