Early Morning

Hey! Sorry I didn't manage to post yesterday, although I haven't been sloughing off my daily writing.

Nov. 1--Rows of white spots trace the five arm-like rays on the underside of the urchin. Turned over with its charcoal gray exoskeleton exposed and its rudimentary mouth gasping for sea water to siphon for both food and breath, it is a pitiful sight. The diver pauses, his light pinning the inverted urchin in its beam, he drifts to the bottom and rights the creature so its dark red dome is up. Grains of sand cling to the short spines of the urchin, sifting off like confetti as it turns in place and then begins to sink into the sand, under it, its short disheveled spines working together to swim the fist-sized creature back under the sandy bottom where it will spend the hours until it re-emerges after sunset to seek food or a mate.

Nov. 2--The bride dipped her chin and shyly peeked under her eyelashes at the groom. He stood stiff and sweating in his black pants and long-sleeved white shirt. Where she looked flushed and loose-limbed, almost languid, his eyes were so wide there was white visible all around the pupil and he was so tense the minister imagined that his bones just might rattle apart if something startled him. The merest hint of a bulge in her belly told of the reason for the haste of this ceremony. The parents of the bride sat in their pew, the mother shedding silent tears, the father glowering dark glances at his son-in-law to be. Once or twice one of the groom's friends tried to joke him into relaxing but one look from her father wiped all smiles away, at least until his daughter's fate was sealed.

I plan to spend some of the weekend with Lennie. See you Thursday!
--Barbara