DARLENE SEO
On the Edge of Seventeen
T
he sky smudged into a shy pink as it wrapped the sun, already skinny-dipping across the horizon. We met just in time to watch the moonlight sit on the swings, coast down the slide, and crash into a million pieces on the sand. As our glasses tipped, the moon tilted steeper to fill every tiny cup of blue blossoms along the waterfront, its intoxicating beam splashing at their brims. Swooning in the night, the happy dolphins frolicked at the surface of the sea, and the waves stumbled onto the bay, sending us the ocean breeze, heavy with salt. It tickled our red noses and cooled our flushed faces. Before we knew it, the sun had sobered up and peeked out from behind us. As its morning rays groped the shore for the clothes it had stripped off on a whim last evening, we sat laughing a little louder than before until the earliest tailwind whisked you away.
28