The Great Wide Sea by M.H. Herlong Page B

either side of me. The quiet grew. A seagull squawked. The tiny waves kissed the beach. The lizards slithered behind us.
    â€œCome on,” Dylan said. “Tide’s coming in.”
    I looked up and saw that the ocean was crowding out our little beach. The sand crescent was almost gone. Quietly we launched the dinghy. Quietly we puttered to the boat. Quietly we watched the sun set.
    When night came, we sat in the cockpit with Dad and ate the lobster the fishermen had brought while we were playing in the water. Everyone had his own lobster tail. It was way too much. We were dripping butter down our chins and Dad was laughing at us. He kept telling Gerry to wipe his face and then wiping it for him.
    It was fun. Sitting in the dark, dripping butter, and listening to Dad and Gerry laugh.
    Dad asked us about our exploring mission, and Dylan told him about seeing the conch and finding the beach and going swimming.
    â€œBen made us take off our clothes!” Gerry said suddenly.
    â€œYou swam naked!” Dad said, pretending to be shocked.
    Gerry nodded. “It was weird.”
    â€œBut you like to swim naked,” Dad said.
    â€œI remember,” Dylan said. “The beach at the lake.”
    Dad nodded. “Remember that green swimsuit with motor-boats all over it?”
    Boy! Did I remember! Gerry wouldn’t wear anything else when he was two and it was way too big.
    Dad was wiping the butter off his fingers. Then he turned and took Gerry’s hands and started gently wiping the fingers one by one.
    â€œOnce upon a time,” Dad said, “there was a boy named Gerry who always wore a green motorboat suit when he played in the water. Now Gerry had a teeny, tiny, baby bottom, and every time he stood up in the water the suit slipped right over his behind and down to his knees. An old man, who was Gerry’s dad, fussed at a beautiful woman, who was Gerry’s mom.”
    Did Dad really stop to catch his breath or did I imagine it?
    â€œâ€˜The boy needs his string tied!’ the old man said. Poor Gerry came to him, crying and dragging his suit around his ankles. The old man hoisted the suit, adjusted it around that teeny waist, and pulled on the strings. Nothing happened. The strings were just decoration!
    â€œ ‘Just go without,’ growled the old man. But little Gerry refused. He cried and tried to play in the water while desperately holding up his suit. The beautiful lady laughed. The old man laughed. And little Gerry cried and cried.”
    Then Dad really did stop talking. He turned and looked straight at me.
    â€œAnd suddenly,” Dad said, “out of nowhere came Gerry’s biggest brother. Within a second, the brother’s suit was off and he had tossed it in a ball to the beautiful lady. He scooped up little Gerry. The middle brother caught Gerry’s suit as it fell to the water and then stripped off his own suit and brought them both to his mom.
    â€œAnd the three boys marched into the water butt naked. And the mom and dad weren’t laughing. They were smiling and being very careful not to look at each other because their eyes were all glittery. Then the lovely lady’s fingers touched the old man’s hand and without turning her head, she said very quietly, ‘I’m sure glad there’s no one else at the beach today!’
    â€œAnd then they laughed and laughed and the boys played and played. And that’s the story of how Gerry learned to swim naked. The end.”
    â€œIs that true?” Gerry asked.
    â€œEvery word,” Dad said, and leaned back to gaze at the sky. “Orion,” he said. “Dylan, look. There’s Orion.”
    Dylan looked. We all looked. Orion was bright, especially his belt.
    I closed my eyes.
    And that was the golden day. Afterward I remembered Orion and the dripping butter. I remembered the naked butts skipping into the water. I remembered the splashing, backwards free falls. I remembered