Star-Crossed

Small children frolic delightedly in the shallows as a languid shore break washes the white sands with an incoming tide.

Parents and other adults stand, cooling themselves in the deeper water, or sit beneath brightly coloured beach umbrellas staring out across the blue-green gulf waters, occasionally marking the progress of a power boat speeding across the sparkling surface like a skipping stone; the slap of water against its hull and the resonating drone of twin outboards following, time-lagged and out of sync. Others seek shelter from the sun beneath the jetty, and there between the wooden pylons resembling some ancient, weathered colonnade laze contentedly in its shadow.

Some engaged in idle conversation, perhaps of a domestic nature, a tidbit of gossip or news of an upcoming social event or repeat listlessly the rhetorical question so many others had asked during the past two weeks.

How much longer can this heat last?