The Sand House, the Wave and the Little Girl
A Short Story
With shoes in one hand and memories in her heart, Katie was walking on the beach when she saw a little girl making a sand house. She was about seven years old. Katie stopped and watched the little girl for some time.
She noticed every time the girl finished making the sand house, a wave would come and crush it. What surprised Katie was the girl never looked disappointed. She would start making another sand house in the same spot.
Katie loved the little girl’s passion. However, she thought it would be better if she told the girl to move a little bit away from the ocean to avoid the waves. So, she went up to the girl and said, “Hello.”
The girl looked up, said hello, and continued making the sand house.
Katie said, “Hi, I am Katie. What’s your name, and where are your parents?”
“Over there.” The girl pointed out in the right direction and continued, “My name is Hope. It is nice to meet you.”
Katie looked to the right and saw Hope’s parents waving to her, so she waved back. She was happy that the girl was not alone, and her parents were watching their daughter. Now that she was relaxed, she decided to continue the conversation with the girl.
Katie said, “Hope, I have been watching you for a while, and I could not help but notice that you work so hard on making a sand house, but it all gets crushed by the wave. So, don’t you think you should consider moving a few steps backward?”
Katie paused for a moment to see the girl’s reaction, but she was busy making the sand house. Katie wondered if the girl had understood what she meant. At that moment, the girl said to Katie,
“No, I am not going anywhere. This is my spot. When I first came here two weeks ago, I started playing with the sand. As I did not know about making sand houses, I started talking to the sand, and we became friends. As the days passed, we grew comfortable with each other in a short time and relished the moment. That is how I learned to make sand houses. The wave and the sand were friends, and eventually, the wave became my friend too. So, it also started playing with us. So, what you thought was crushing, is actually our little game. I enjoy it because of two reasons. First, I alone make the decisions, and nobody can interfere with that, and second, it helps me improve my art skill.” The girl said. Her big hazel eyes looked excited.
Katie could not believe that such a young girl can talk so wisely.
Teaching has no age, and one can say the same thing for learning as well. The One who wants to learn about life should look around. There are plenty of lessons everywhere. The Universe wants to teach us, and it wants us to learn something new every moment, Katie thought.
Katie had come to the beach this evening to quiet the noise of her broken life. Her marriage was gradually falling to pieces, even though she and her husband loved each other dearly. The long-distance relationship takes extra effort, but Katie was tired of doing it all by herself. She had decided to give up on her relationship.
But all that changed after listening to the innocent and wise words of the little girl. Katie thought,
I am like this little girl. My marriage is the sand house, and my husband is the wave. I was under the impression that I put effort into making our marriage work, and my husband, like the wave, crushes it. But I should look at it from the little girl’s perspective. My husband and I are friends, along with our marriage. All three of us are on the same page. My husband does not crush my hopes and efforts. He is just playing along.
Katie looked at Hope, who was preparing to leave with her parent, just like the setting sun was saying goodbye to the Earth with the promise of a new day.
She waved goodbye to the girl. The girl waved back and left.
Katie watched her leaving and whispered, “Thank you, Hope. Just like your beautiful name, you brought a new light into my life. I am going to play with my two friends now.”
©️ K A Simran 2020. All Rights Reserved.
Thank you for reading. If you enjoyed this , explore a few of my other poems/haiku/stories.