childhood days on the beach

Gitanjali

by Gitanjali

Story

The chimney rises, just as if it were still on duty, red bricks in a round, slightly offset, piled over each other. But the chimney does not smoke any more; smoke will never rise again because the adjoining factory grounds are empty and deserted, abandoned to decay.

“This was the old chocolate factory,” my sister says, and now I, too, remember. Grandmother used to take us here now and then, it was a day´s trip from the city and a real treat, it was as far as we xould travel in those days, and therefore a wonderful holiday for us children. This was the beach where we used to walk in the carefree summers of our childhood. We loved to swim, we searched for shells and crabs in the shallow water, romped and spluttered and splashed each other wet. The water was warm and clear and we could watch myriads of colourful little fish. Sometimes we frightened them with too quick a step and they rushed off in a hurry. Sometimes grandmother pushed us far out to sea on the yellow air mattress and we felt like the sailors of Columbus on their journey across the wide ocean. We looked back at the shore, at the small ribbon of the sandy beach, and at the factory perched high up on the plateau; we could see the chimney and the white smoke, and it always smelt of chocolate. Later in the afternoon, grandmother would urge for departure; we would plead and beg and dawdle and only come out of the water when she promised us a bar of chocolate or a few pralines from the factory on the hill.

Now, almost thirty years later, my sister and I stroll once again along the beach; we remember the seaside holidays, the shells and the crayfish, and the delicious chocolate in the evening. Children play and romp in the sand, they flounder about in the water, they splash and laugh and enjoy their summer days leisure just as we enjoyed ours.

I sit down on a stone and watch them. A little bit wistful, I remember the times with grandmother on the beach, and with a little regret I think that the children today can no longer enjoy the wonderful chocolate from the old factory.

© Gitanjali 2021-02-09

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