Footprints

by Stefanie Shapiro

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Her lithe body sprawled across the sand, caking her in dirt, grit, and purity. Her face turned skywards, suntanning, soaking in warmth and light. She walked to the ocean’s edge, dipped her pink-painted toes into the cool, rough waters. Running in wet sand, her footprints erased by the sea.

She was barely fifteen then.

She’d been to this beach countless times. She had lived a full life. She could still remember. Her gnarled fingers pulled off the beach towel covering her legs, revealing her calloused bunions, arthritic feet. She reached for her cane.

She’d make it to the water.