I saw him today...

I watched my father walking down the beach today. He had on his straw cowboy hat and his too tight white tee shirt. I tried to look to see his face. I wanted to see his face again. He kept his head turned ever so slightly. My father had on a metal detector and was walking with this kid. He looked to be nineteen and was wearing a crew cut. I noticed the kid also was the same complexion as my father. The boy looked like me when I was nineteen. They were in a conversation. I wish I could have heard what they were saying. I watched his arm slide back and forth over the sand as he talked to this boy. I wish I could have heard his voice. I know this man that imitated my father was about fifty six and the boy was around nineteen. I could see the man telling the boy something he just wouldn't remember. Wisdom was in the old mans words. Disinterest was in the boys ears. I wonder if I imagined them. If, with hundreds of people around, I imagined myself in youth walking with my father days before he left... I started to cry. Nobody had noticed when I apologized. I don't know why I apologized. I took a swim and tried to forget...