The Beach Safari

           Alan sat on his mat looking out at the waves gently crashing on the shore.  This was his very first time to be on a real beach.  He could smell the saltiness in the air.  The sea gulls swooped and dived at the water all around him as they squawked at one another.  He grabbed handfuls of sand and let it sift through his fingers.

            After a while, he decided he would go exploring.  Surely, he could find some really interesting stuff on a real beach.  Before he had gone very far, he spotted half of a coconut shell.  He picked it up and felt the rough shell.  Then he smelled the inside.  Sure enough, it smelled like a coconut.   He dropped it back on the sand and kept going.

            The next thing to catch his eye was a cup of fruit someone had left on the beach.  He walked up to it and squatted next to it.  For a moment, he simply looked inside the cup.  The fruit seemed to be moving.  Then he realized the fruit was covered with little bugs.  “Ugh!” he thought to himself and moved on to something else.

            He found lots of interesting shells along the way.  Some of these he put in his pockets.  He also found sand dollars and even a sea star, but he left that alone.  He couldn’t remember if the sea star would sting him or not.  He did come across a crab or two.  He watched those from a distance.  Those pincers looked like they might hurt.

            When he decided that maybe he had gone far enough from his mat, he spotted a red and white umbrella lying next to a rock.  He walked over to it and picked it up.  The umbrella had a cartoon goose on it.  The goose had on sunglasses and was riding a surfboard.  Alan really liked the picture of the goose.  He tried to open the umbrella, and then realized why it had been lying next to the rock.  Several of the metal rods in it were broken, and it would not open properly.  However, he decided he would keep it because he really liked the picture of the goose.  Maybe his dad might be able to fix it.

            He tucked the umbrella under his arm and set off in search of his mat.  Wow, he had gone much further than he thought.  When he finally found his mat, he was ready for a rest.  He sat down and pulled out all the treasures he had brought back from his exploring.   He carefully piled them up next to his mat and started watching the waves again.  Maybe he would go on safari again tomorrow, but for now he was satisfied with his plunder.