40
SANFORD FRIEDMAN
him over, spilling him out onto the sand. Stephen paid no attention.
As soon as he had wiped his eyes, he scrambled to his feet again
and ran back into the water, abandoning himself like something inert
until his lover tossed him out a second time. . . . It's like a game,
he thought, lying on the cold soft sand.... No matter how many
times the ocean kicks you out, the sand is always there to welcome
you, dead or alive, and to give you back again, until the ocean's
had a chance to tear you into little pieces and turn the pieces into
sand-until the sand itself is eaten by the ocean, and the land
becomes the sand, and there are no more houses anywhere, and no
more people left on earth ...
Mter surrendering himself for the third time, Stephen staggered
to his feet and stumbled out of the water. He was exhausted and
exhilarated. He filled his lungs with the clean sharp air. He stood
and stared up at the Casino perched on top of the cliffs. For a
moment he remembered the wall marked MEN and the wall marked
WOMEN. He almost toppled over as he threw back his head and
gazed into the sky.... Mommy is the land, he thought, Daddy is
the ocean. "No, that's not right," he said aloud.
((/'m
the land and
Roggie's the ocean." No, somehow that wasn't right either, and
Stephen mulled it over in his head and made it into jingles as he
straggled home:
"Daddy is the ocean,
Mommy is the land.
Roggie is the ocean,
Stevie is the sand.
Stevie is the ocean,
Daddy is the land.
Mommy is the ocean,
Roggie
is
the sand ..."
That night, before he went to sleep, Mommy questioned Stephen
about his marine collection. "What's the matter with you darling? I
thought I asked you to pack these awful shells and things. That's
not like you, to disobey me."
Stephen propped himself on his elbow and deliberated for a
moment. "I don't think I'll take them with me."
"What?"
"I think I'll leave them here."
