RANCHERO BY THE SEA

The moon has been full, pushing today's tides to near record highs; so I went down to the beach early this morning to watch. Someone, I'd like to think it was a child, had built a miniature village of sand and shells and other stuff that had washed up in the high surf. All around was the giant world of big buildings and big people, mostly surfers hurrying out to catch big waves, and boardwalk and pier. Behind me Ocean Beach was waking up slowly in the early sun. Out beyond the pier the blue Pacific was stretching all the way beyond Hawaii to Singapore and Japan. A warm day was beginning. When I blocked out of my sight and out of my mind all of the big world, the lilliputian village of sticks and shells and sand and small stones became so real it seemed inhabited. Finally, the longest wave of the morning washed over it like a tsunami, and it was gone.