The Boy in the Bay
She had been sitting on the rock, wanting to think deep thoughts, because that’s what one does on a rock by the sea. For some reason, that color of contemplation only works in cooler weather. Why can’t I be lost in thought in a bathing suit in the sun? I can, but I’d look too content.
Maybe something will come to me. She hadn’t had an assignment for two weeks. Now that she had one, her mind was completely blank. Sometimes those things they say about creativity are true, but she hadn’t believed it. This is a job, she thought. I’ll just get it done, it’s a fucking job. But she had been totally unable to write for the last two weeks and anything she’d tried to get her mind going had failed.
She detested the image of creative writers that she saw around. Self-interested, navel-gazing, too-fashionable recent graduates convinced that they were changing the world with their mediocre stories and well-curated social media platforms. As she was sitting on the rock, it occurred to her that at that moment she looked a lot like someone’s profile picture.
Maybe a little online branding wouldn’t kill me, she thought. She could have Dave take her picture on the rock, do her makeup and put on some nicer jeans. She banished the thought almost immediately. What she needed was inspiration to write now, not to drum up business for future jobs.
The water is choppy today, she observed, a little confused. It always was on a windy day, but it wasn’t that windy out. In fact, the breeze might be pleasant, if not for the cold. But she could see whitecaps to the other end of the bay, past the boats in the docking station about fifty feet away. She breathed into the wind, closed her eyes and felt the discomfort of the cold on her bare skin.
That’s why at first, she didn’t notice the boy.
Maybe about nine, she thought when she saw his face, which had been nibbled just a little. He doesn’t look like he’s been here long. And who would dump a body in this bay? It was too small. He was face-up, floating just to the left of her rock, caught on the jagged edge of the coastline. There was no investigation. She simply opened her eyes and saw him.
I should call someone, she thought vaguely. That’s what I should do. She had left her cell phone in her car, afraid she might drop it…
