Seashells Just Lying Around Down Here

The sand is cool Because the day is young. My first day on a beach. I am excited! Barefooted. Smelling the ocean for the first time. I look down and see a seashell. Just lying there without a price tag. I look around to see if anyone will care if I pick it up. It is pretty. Wait. There is another one! What? These are just lying around down here? I look up toward the hotel. No one seems alarmed, so I put the first two I find in my pocket. Pretty soon both pockets are bulging. The next day I bring a plastic bag to the sand with me. I am a little more discerning now. Oh, this one is chipped. I throw it back down into the sand. That one is not as pretty as the other one. I lug about six pounds of shells back to the hotel where my husband informs me that if I fill my suitcases with more stuff we will have to pay an extra fee. I do not care; these will remind me forever of that first moment on the beach when I realized seashells are not bought in stores.