A day at the seaside
A shell
for the roof
A little story in two parts.
Suawi and the shell for the roof
Suawi had chosen her spot carefully: right by the sea, beneath a parasol and within easy paw’s reach of her blue bucket. She had been building her sandcastle for a good hour. It had towers, a grand gate and plenty of room for visitors. Only the steps had turned out a little crooked. Suawi had promptly declared them a slide. Now only the most important thing was missing: the pink shell for the tallest tower. Carefully, she lifted it up. With such delicate work, a single sneeze could change everything.
When the shell was finally in place, Suawi leaned back. Sand clung to her paws, her tummy and probably a few places she would not discover until that evening. She admired her work from the left. Then from the right. Then from the left again, because the castle looked particularly grand from there. “A lovely place to live,” she murmured. A seagull screeched. Suawi looked up. “You may look round. But you’ll have to wipe your paws before you move in.”
Then a wave rolled further up the beach than the others. The water crept around the outermost tower, filled a small hollow and drew back, glittering. Suawi kept perfectly still. Then she leaned forwards. “Oh. A moat.” She really had not expected that. Just in case, she moved her bucket a little further up the beach and laid the spade beside it. The next wave was already on its way. Suawi watched it approach. “That’s quite enough now,” she said kindly. “I didn’t order a cellar.”
The first guest
The next wave did indeed stop in front of the grand gate. As it drew back, something moved in the moat. Suawi leaned forwards. A tiny crab sat between two shells. It raised a claw, lowered it again and took a few steps sideways. “Here for a look round?” asked Suawi. The crab did not answer. It was already heading for the entrance. Suawi sat up a little straighter. Her very first guest. Luckily, she had fixed the shell on the roof just in time.
The crab stopped at the gate. A small heap of sand blocked the way. Suawi recognised it at once: the remains of her first set of steps, which she had meant to deal with later. “One moment, please.” Carefully, she pushed the sand aside with her spade. The crab waited. Then it turned round, scuttled around the tower and disappeared through a narrow gap in the wall. Suawi watched it go. “Of course,” she murmured. “The side entrance.”
A little while later, two tiny eyes peered out from the shade beneath a shell. Suawi was now lying on her tummy, her chin resting on her front paws. That way, she could watch her guest without knocking over a tower. “You’re welcome to stay a while,” she said. “It’s cosier in the shade anyway.” Then something occurred to her. She looked at all the tiny tracks in the sand and sighed softly. Wiping paws was probably going to take rather longer with this visitor. Suawi decided to finish writing the house rules tomorrow.
That’s all for today.