It’s All Maya!

When I went to the Keys with Jackie and Gérard, Patrick asked for only one thing. 

“Can you bring me back some seashells?” he said.

“Sure, Cheri, no problem!” I was already humming the Beach Boys song, “Bermuda, Bahama, come on pretty mama, Key Largo, Montago,….that’s where we wanna go, way down to Kokomo.”

I knew Patrick wanted seashells for his mom; not that we couldn’t go to the beach where we live and get seashells, or even the beach where his mom lives in Normandie and get seashells.  Nope!  The seashells in Florida are suppose to be,….well, seashells from Florida!  What can I say?

So off we went, Jackie, Gérard and I, down the Atlantic, then hopping from island to island, and finally making our way back up the Gulf of Mexico.  Did I find time to look for seashells during the entire trip, you ask.  Uhh,….no!  I finally remembered when we were ready to leave Sandy’s house in Saint-Petersburg and were about to head inland for Orlando before returning home!

“Oh no!” I moaned.  “I forgot to get Patrick some seashells!”

No problem!  Sandy came to the rescue!  She had seashells in her garden that she had picked from some of the wonderful beaches near her home.  She gave me a handful of big beautiful shells; I was relieved that I could give them to Patrick.

“Here’s your seashells, Darling!” I handed them over to Patrick when we got home.

“Wow!  They’re beautiful!” Patrick carefully took them into his hands.

“I thought you would like them.” I said, relieved that I hadn’t forgotten!

Patrick took them to his bathroom where he already has a whole collection of seashells.  A few minutes later he came back into the living room.  “Uh, where did you get the shells?” he asked.

“In Florida.” I said, a little hesitantly.

“I know,” he said, “but what beach?”

“Uh-h….”  Okay, so until now I had omitted the facts, but I didn’t want to lie to him, so I told him, “I only saw little shells that weren’t very pretty, (uh hum) so Sandy gave me shells that she had found.”

Patrick started laughing.  “Ahh!  That explains it!  There were cigarette butts in one of the shells that someone had used as an ashtray.  Now that you said Sandy gave them to you, it all makes sense!”

Maya Muses:  Okay!  Yes, Sandy smokes, but how was I to know that I should check out the seashells before putting them into a plastic bag!

Photo Credits:  Jackie’s Photos and Flickr