Hard Bargain
Nimrod International Journal, Vol. 49, Spring/Summer 2006
Emma’d thought the seal was dead at first. It floated fifty yards out, one flipper extended from the sea. Unusual. For the hour she'd walked the shell- and garbage-studded beach, she’d kept an eye on it, until its flipper moved, a casual flap against the soft blue water, and she realized the seal was alive, intentional, happy. Her walk drew to an end when the dunes leveled off to reveal aging condos and the low sea wall fronting them. Three small figures sat on the steps carved into the wall. One, her father — she could always recognize her father — began to wave his arms above his big straw hat. Something to show her. Must be the seal, she thought, that dark flipper above a flat sea. Her father waved in a dramatic sweeping motion that called her in; she lifted an arm in acknowledgment. He’d always liked to show her things. Even now, this seal. Over a tiny crest in the sand, just before she’d leave the water’s edge for the condos, she came upon a scattering of her kids’ possessions. Lazy thing, she thought at the flipper, where is your family?
Oil painting “Poppies,” courtesy the artist and Amy’s friend Ann Hogle