Stick Castle

 

“What’s that you’re building?” I’ve just gotten out of the water and Keller Beach is hopping! Radios blasting Motown, buff boys playing bean bag target practice, and a little girl, sitting with her mom right behind us, balancing a stick in the sand.

            She’s very serious. It is a work of art. Ian chimes in, “It’s a stick tower.”

            Mom chuckles, “A stick fortress”?

            The little girl stares at us all for a moment, then gazes seriously at her stick before announcing “Stick Castle”.

            We all laugh, “Of course,” I say.

            Mom nods, “She knows it!”

            And she does, going back to her balancing of the stick in the sand, carefully bending the top of the stick this way and that to get just the right effect. The stick is maybe 2 feet tall and seemingly nothing special. But she sees something the rest of us don’t.

            A Castle.

            I remember the sandcastles I and my sisters constructed on the shores of Huntington Beach. We’d fill our brightly colored plastic buckets--lime, tangerine, aqua-- full of water and sand, then drain the water out and pack the sand in tight. When it was just right, we’d turn the buckets upside down and create a mound of sand for the castle. We’d continue this process until we had a healthy number of towers, and then we’d create a moat around our castle, letting the sea whoosh in and out of its circular confines.

            There is nothing like being a kid at the beach. And, today, at Keller was no exception.

            “Have you been in the water?” I ask Stick Castle Architect.

            She shakes her head. “My boys already in the water,” Mom announces pointing toward the shore, “but she don’t wanna go in. Last time we brought the boogie boards, the blow-up dolphin. She don’t want none of it. The dolphin, it just sat here on the beach, sunbathing.” She gives a boisterous guffaw.

            I smile, “It’s a beautiful day. The water is warm,” I encourage Stick Castle Girl.

            She stares up at me for a moment, still holding the stick in place, before going back to her castle project.

            Mom is on the phone, “We down here at Keller........ Yeah, you should come down....... No, I don’t care what they say.....there still Corona.....”

            I’m lying in the sun now, covered in towels, thinking about this new day of “Californian is Open”. Of course, I’m happy to not be wearing a mask today. But on the other hand, I have some anxiety over Governor Newsom just announcing several weeks ago that June 15^th would be the day that everything could go back to normal. No more masks. No more social distancing. No more worry.

            Yet....how is this possible? Even with 70% of Californians vaccinated, that leaves 30% who aren’t. The virus is still here. Won’t it just attack this 30%? Or will the 70% keep enough of a barrier so that the 30% will be protected?

            I don’t know. I’m not a scientist. I’m assuming that Newsom has the data. He is always on TV with his pie charts and his experts. They must have all decided that June 15 would be the day for some reason.

            And yet...what of Stick Castle Girl? She can’t possibly be vaccinated. She’s so little. Maybe 4? I know that kids this young won’t have any vaccine till who knows when.  I am relieved that Mom seems aware of the danger. Is keeping her daughter safe.

            But how? The beach is crowded. The kids are running around, laughing and playing as kids do. Even Stick Castle Girl is off down to the water now, running with her brothers. Having a blast.

            And she should. You’re only a kid once. The Beach is the best. A time to run, swim, play and build.

            “You ready to head out?” Ian asks, starting to back up his chair, umbrella, swim gear.

            “Sure.” I’m sitting up now, watching Castle Girl as she comes racing back from the water, a grin so wide that it’s contagious.

            “How’s the water?” I ask her.

            “Good,” she exclaims, before plopping on the blanket next to mom and resuming her work on her castle.