COVERED IN DAISIES

30. WE FOUND IT!

There were children giggling and shouting, as they played in the sun.

"The beach is indeed a place for relaxation, happiness and tranquility." I said as we both laid under the coconut tree breathing in the salty air of the ocean, and enjoying its cool breeze.

We had asked about the boats from the resort managements in the morning, and were told, all the boats were out for maintenance. So we had to change our fun plans.

"Let's do something fun." she stood up and swirled her hair, getting rid of the sand in her hair.

"Okay. What do we do?" I asked.

"Just relax and lie down." she smiled.

In the next minutes, she made me lie down on my back, my face facing her, my arms and legs closer to my body as possible.

"Daisy? What's this? It doesn't look fun to me." I took in sharp breaths.

"Just relax James. Trust me." her smile broadened.

'Trust me' she said it again. The last time she said that, I regretted trusting her.

She started covering my body with the sea sand, starting from my legs through to my face. She covered every part of my skin with the sand molding my body to look like the statue of an egyptian mummy.

"How do you feel?" Daisy asked, after she was done blanketing every part of my body with sea sand, leaving just my face uncovered.

How did I feel? Well I should say it was comforting and relaxing. I felt at peace and unbroken, as if I was being born once again from the womb. But all I could say to her was, "It's nice, you should try it too." I smiled, not moving a lot of muscles on my face, because I didn't want the cocoon around me to break.

I could still see her beautiful face, her eyes that she once used to communicate with me, which she still did. Her mood elevated, as she stood there with her award winning smile.

"Being born again, huh!" she said and smiled. I smiled too.

"I know how it feels. My dad and I used to do this whenever we went to the beach. He always said the beach was his favorite place." Her smile faded.
In that moment, I was astonished she spoke about her father. I thought she didn't want to hear about him anymore. I thought she didn't even want to hear the word 'father' anymore. What changed? Her faded smile said otherwise. Like even though she didn't trust him anymore, she still missed him.

"I now see where you got the love for the sea from." I smiled, thinking she would smile too. She smiled, but it was forced and fake. Well mine was fake too.
She sat beside me, as I was still clothed in the warming sand, allowing me to get lost in my own reveries just as she was doing.

This silence and peacefulness continued for a while, until we were both distracted by some passerby who looked at us; particularly me with interest, and even got closer to take pictures of me, as I laid there still clothed in the sea sand.

It felt like I was a celebrity in that moment, as the lights from various cameras kept flashing on my face. I felt a flush of happiness, and an inkling of joy in my heart, seeing her award winning smile once again; the genuine smile of course.

Daisy took a defiant joy in it, as she helped strangers take pictures with the egyptian-mummy-me lying on the floor.

After some moment of enjoying peacefulness and the celebrity lifestyle for a while, she finally helped me break the cocoon of sea sand I was covered in.

"James, watch over there." she pointed to a group of folks a few distance from us, trying to cover each other with the sea sand too just like we did.

We both laughed.