Dover Beach

Every time I go to the Jersey beach and see the ocean spread out before me I whisper the opening lines of Matthew Arnold's great nihilistic poem Dover Beach: The sea is calm tonight. For a full reading click here.

Now we are home. We missed you terribly, of course, but mummy and daddy just had to get away by ourselves, little lamb, but now we're back and have you once again in our loving arms.

I'm chomping on some fabulous licorice I bought at Shriver's Fudge House or was it Farlinger's. Anyway my teeth are black and I don't give a damn.

The ferris wheel was 90 feet tall and I forgot I was a grown woman - oh no! - and was riding all by myself. I clung to the bars, a side bar and a bar in the middle, and I watched myself shiver with fear. I knew I was in no danger but I clung onto the cold metal with great desperation. At first I enjoyed the ride upward and waved goodbye to handsome Scott who stood in his warm sweater and warm mustache on the ground below. I reveled at the magnificent view as we climbed higher and higher in the sky. A man and his tow-headed little boy were in the car in front but soon I lost sight of them and could see no one in front of me and of course there was no way I was gonna turn around to look behind me.

I think I'll finish the licorice now I'm so nervous writing this and rethinking the ferris ride. When I was at the top the machine stopped. I knew someone was either getting on or off. Oh shit, I said, this is killing me, I'll ask to get off.

Going down I thought, well, maybe I can ride to the finish but when I saw the young man who was delivering the ride I requested he set me free.

Your lips are white, said Scott putting his arm around me.

Two days in a row we went on the Go-Karts, life dream of mine. You can go as fast as you want w/o getting a ticker. The Go-Karts were a riot. We both loved em. We raced each other and I still can't figger out how Scott won.