Fast Times at the Shore
This time I was certain I had it wrapped up pretty tight. It wouldn’t get away, not this time. I’d keep it right there under my watchful eye, and if it made a run for it, I’d catch it and bring it back. That was the plan, the same plan I used every year of my youth. The same plan that never worked.
Summer at the shore, you see, is slipperier than a greased piglet in a mud wallow. You just can’t get a good grip on it, and before you know it, it’s gone, and it won’t come back. Seems there’s only a week or two between the Fourth of July and Labor Day. That’s the way it is here, and that’s the way it’s always been.
Some people down here breathe a sigh of relief once the last tourist heads out. There’s something to be said for that, but mostly I hate to see them go. Most of my summer friends and coworkers always disappeared by Labor Day or sooner. Yep, it’s quite a bit easier to get around the island, but it’s still a funny feeling to be filled by emptiness. Even worse when you know school sits there waiting patiently. At least I don’t have that to deal with any more.
It’s not over yet, though; we still have a couple more weeks. Maybe we’ll still get around to actually doing some of the things we had planned. I always had big plans for the summers here, but sitting around watching the seagulls poop on the pilings interfered with some of them.
I went crabbing twice this year and caught a bunch of crabs, none big enough to keep. My fishing line hasn’t been wet in over a year. That new reel I bought two years ago still needs spooling, and that could still happen, but I’ll probably just stick with the old one for now.
We’ll miss some of the seasonal businesses after they close, especially the ones that sell food, whether eat in or takeout. Those things that tell us summer is here. The extended season keeps some of them going until about Columbus Day, some only on the weekends. The atmosphere’s not the same though. The wait staff can’t wait for it to be over and the customers keep hoping to reel the summer back in, but it’s long gone. Sure, there’s football, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s, but then that dark stretch comes along; that time when the sun doesn’t really shine again until about April or so.
And so it was in the beginning that the end was already near. But maybe the brevity is what makes everything so special. We have no long, hot summers here, and if we did we probably wouldn’t like them very much.