Wait For Me Where The World Ends

The Walk

The weekend was grey but no rain so I took the opportunity to do some sketching for my art A level. There wasn't much to sketch so I ended up giving up and hunting though my unpacked boxes for my old Olympus camera my Grandad has left me.

It wasn't the best up to date digital camera with all the mod cons, it was scruffy, scratched with piece of duct tape helping keep the film roll in that needed replacing every time you wanted to refill it. But I loved it, my Grandad had taken it all over the world on his travels and left it to me to carry on, though bleak and empty Searchers End probably wouldn't do it justice.

"Take the dog out with you" my Mum called from the kitchen, she was sitting at the kitchen table looking through her fashionable glasses at the laptop screen.

"Poppy" I sighed, hoping she wasn't going to be a nuisance if I spotted any wildlife to take photos of.

She was out the door and down the steps like lightening.

I called her back but like usual she was doing her own thing, sniffing around the long grass and wagging her tail frantically.

I didn't walk on the path but down onto the beginning of the beach where there were less dunes. I snapped a couple of photos of our house from there, it looked grand and I tried to imagine it when it had first been a guest house. Mum and Dad certainly had their work cut out.

I heard Poppy bark and I looked in her direction, she had a stick in her mouth, looking pleased with herself and she wasn't bringing the stick to me.

Cam stood there waiting for her so she trotted back to him and placed the stick at his feet, tail going for him to throw it again.

I began to walk over, pausing to get an action shot of the game of fetch. He was laughing at her and I couldn't help think his smile was beautiful, the kind of smile that looked like he didn't have a care in the world. Without thinking I looked through the viewfinder and directed it just at him. Clicking once and winding it on, he looked up at me just as I touched the button, he waved the stick before throwing it for my dog again and began to walk forward. He was wearing the same over sized black knitted jumper as last time with the worn out jeans and the trainers.

"I'm not trying to steal your dog honest" he grinned at me and seemed a little different from the first time we had met.

"Could have fooled me" I joked, smiling back at him as Poppy came back with the stick in her jaws.

"Animals just like me, my Aunt's cat is constantly hassling me" he smiled again, taking the stick and flinging it away from us.

I watched Poppy's four legs bolt after it and skid on the wet sand, making me chuckle.

"So what are you up to?" He nodded at the camera.

"Oh, just messing around really, photos for my art course" I lifted the camera again "smile!" I clicked the shutter again,

"Ah! I hate my photo being taken" he laughed, covering his face with the palm of his hand.

"That's too bad as I have a couple now" I replied winding the film on again.

"You fancy a walk?" He asked, sticking his hands in his pockets in a slightly shy manner.

"Yeah, why not" I agreed smiling.

We walked on the beach for a while in silence with Poppy running around our feet. There was a cool breeze and I was glad I was wearing my scarf.

"Aren't you cold?" I looked at him and he glanced back shaking his head.

"Nah, I don't feel the cold"

I laughed a little "Lucky, I hate feeling cold"

"So you do photography at college?" he asked sounding interested.