Early Morning Pier

The pier stood in the sea and let its legs get wet.

It stared out at the dirty ocean and wondered when the sun would show its face. It had been a cold night and the sky had been laid bare without a blanket of cloud to protect it. The moon began its slow descent out of its comfy chair and lumbered off to its bed while the sun hid beyond the horizon and thought about climbing the ladder to his deck chair. For a few moments the pier stood alone considering the day ahead.

At least the pier thought it was alone...underneath its dripping beams and supports a huddled figure lay blinking under a ragged beach-towel. What had once been techni-coloured stripes were now mere suggestions of a beach holiday in the sun and ice cream cones from singing vans. This towel seemed to have soaked up the memories and the good old holidays and forgotten them over the years, discarding them among the pebbles and shells that made up the shore line. Its final memory was wrapped around a small girl who should’ve been tucked up in bed, not surrounded by harsh cold pebbles and an unaware pier.

She lay blinking at the empty beach and remembered that today was another day on her own wrapped up in the final thoughts of her abandonment. Cold legs, numb feet, painful toes cramped into 3 pairs of socks and white Adidas trainers. A lack of breakfast was nothing new and she sat staring out at the sea contemplating her day ahead.

Pier and girl sat amongst pebbles and dead starfish.

The sun trundled towards his deck chair and the day dawned.

(Photo by me, 2008)

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