beachcomber

i was hunched in a white hot parking lot,
the pavement seared my feet,
but i ignored them. i was digging at
a metal rainbow and i was determined to wrest it
from its paved clutch.
beads of sweat rolled down
my forehead and my fingers cracked and bled,
but i kept on digging at it. i grunted and cursed under my breath
my wife came up from behind,

"let it alone you dingbat, you're playing with fire"

"you're a real sour apple, im sticking with my gut on this one Xena"

"suit yourself, you're going to end up like greg, covered in mud and hexed by voodoo" she said.

i kept right on digging and finally it came loose. i rolled it around in my palm and it jangled like a prism in my eye.
suddenly i felt that something was terribly wrong, i turned around and the cars were gone, and the clam shack was gone, and the umbrellas were gone, and the beach was gone, and where was Xena? oh now i felt foolish, i loved Xena more than I love myself, and now i'd fallen for the oldest trick in the book. the old, "shiny bauble in the reeds" bit. there was only black clay and some dead, rustling grass. just when i really began to sulk, a giant seagull swooped down and opened it's mouth and everything in the old world poured out of it, back to the way it was.

"Are you coming sweety", Xena said. i took her hand and we walked off towards the ocean.