Whoosh.

Whoosh. Crash. I shake my head as I pop out of the clear blue-green water, salt on my lips, hair slick, my little sister's hand in my own. She smiles at me, and laughs as a littler wave comes and whacks me in the face when I'm not paying attention.The water is cold, but not cold enough to make you shiver. The salt tingles on my cheeks, and another wave rolls up, foamy and white at the crest, maybe a foot above my head. JUMP! I smack my chest into it and a feeling of euphoria spreads through me. My little brother splashes me with the sea water, and my dad calls to him, "Merboy! leave your sister alone."

"Dad!" I'm shouting over the water and smiling like an idiot, jumping over waves as they come. " Dad, Hollis is a rat, not a merman." Everyone smiles and giggles and another wave comes, bigger than the rest, but I don't dive in time and it sweeps me with it in its course for the shore. This is my favorite thing about the beach. Sand swirls, limbs are everywhere, a jumble of body parts. Is that a sand crab or a shell? Seaweed in my hair, lungs begging for air. Finally, the wave lets me come up. Most people are scared by this, terror is all they feel when they almost drown in nature's roller coasters. I run out, and dive right back into the cool clear water, reminded how much I am in love with life, ready for the next wave.