By Isabelle Turtis ’13

Sasha sat on the cool sand. Her long sleeved covered arms wrapped around her bent legs as her chin rested on her knees. The pale green dune grasses rustled quietly from their mounds of sand behind her and further down the beach a seagull cried. A low layer of clouds was tinted with shades of purple and pink while their edges were outlined with soft orange light from the setting sun. The waves had an almost song like rhythm to them as they broke near the shore line- their sounds a repetition of low pitched rolling base notes. She watched the small waves break and glide up and down the shore and then disappear back into the sea.

Almost like memories of happenings from long ago most of which now were gone.. expect for one.

A small child sat on her father’s lap holding a rectangular dark wood box with a photograph of his twin engine airplane on the cover. She stared at the crashing waves as she lay against his bare chest with his large arm wrapped around her tiny waist.

The crisp green dune grass swayed behind them and the child shivered, her pink bikini still damp. Gently, her father pulled her closer to him. His heart beat slowly pulsing through her back. She closed her eyes and listened as he softly spoke. He told her of a time she could not imagine would ever exist- one when he would not be there and she would not feel his arm around her but still, she promised what he asked.

The sound of a loud crashing wave interrupted her memories. The ocean had turned almost pink as the setting sun’s rays reflected off the low clouds. She wiped the salty moisture from her cheeks and walked down towards the water’s edge.

Smiling to herself, she remembered her father’s warning to check the wind and doing so, she lifted the dark wooden box of her reverie to the breeze and turned it slightly upside down allowing the ashes of the one she loved to scatter on the beach and water – except for one that somehow touched her face.

When her seven year old son saw her walking towards him, he ran to her and Sasha scooped him up into her arms. He asked what was on her face and Sasha answered, “my father just kissed me goodbye for the last time.”