Memories of Blue Coral

The beach is full of people, after all it is a sunny day and the water is warm and clear. Locals and tourist come and go, walking on the hot sand, and enjoying the summer day. Plying by the shore, Fabian, builds a castle with his brother, with the wet sand that feels in his hands like melting ice cream. He doesn’t know it yet, but a piece of blue coral is something he will have in common with some of the people who are in that exact same beach at that same time.

Fabian will be walking on another beach years later, with his parents and his brother, and his father will find a piece of blue coral. They will look at it with excitement, and this single moment will become his favorite family memory. After his parents pass away, and he and his brother get older, he will keep the piece of blue coral. But Fabian doesn’t know that yet, and he just scoops up the wet sand to build up his castle.

A few yards down, Celine looks at her daughter swim with her husband, and she smiles. She is not sure where the time went, but her daughter is nine now, and she is almost as tall as her, and her laughter has the strength of the sun. Her husband and daughter swim, and to Celine they look as if they were dancing in the water. She opens up her purse and makes sure she still has the piece of blue coral she found when she was nine, and imagines her daughter’s smile when she gives it to her.

Robert has had a bad day, but now that he thinks about it he has had a bad week, and a bad month, or even a bad year, and if he is honest he has had a bad life. He is hot, he is wearing a suit and heavy shoes, and he knows well he shouldn’t be walking on the sand. He had to work on a Saturday, and while everyone else enjoys the beach, he goes from door to door selling encyclopedias. And on top of that, he lost a bet with another salesman, and now has to walk on the sand wearing a suit and getting his nice, but heavy, shoes wet. Suddenly, he steps on a rock, and when he looks down he realizes is a piece of coral. It is blue coral, as blue as the sky, and he thinks maybe his day is not going so badly. Maybe life is going to be alright.