Twice in a Lifetime

Her grandmother slid a pair of pink-rimmed sunglasses on her face. “I had coffee. That’s all I need now. I’ll eat something when I get back from my patrol.”

“Why don’t you let me fix you some scrambled eggs first?” And talk to me while you’re eating. “Surely the turtles can wait that long.”

“Georgia Lee, I’ve been taking care of myself for a good long time, and I don’t intend to stop in the foreseeable future.” She walked toward the stairs, the red pail swinging. “Course, you could come along with me to look for nests.”

She was just as likely, or unlikely, to get something out of her grandmother on the beach as anywhere else. She followed her toward the beach.

“It’s early in the season, isn’t it? Have you found any nests so far?”

“Well, it’s May already.” Miz Callie set off along the dunes. “We haven’t found any on Sullivan’s Island yet, but they’ve spotted quite a few over at the national seashore. And two on Isle of Palms.”

There was the faintest thread of envy in her grandmother’s voice. She, like the rest of the turtle ladies, wanted to be the first one to spot the marks that showed a turtle had nested in the dunes, depositing her eighty or more eggs in the sand.

“Maybe today will be your lucky day,” she said. “For finding a nest, I mean.”

Miz Callie smiled as her gaze scanned the dunes. “I’d purely love that, to find a turtle nest with you. It’s been a long time—maybe since that summer before you went off to college.”

Georgia’s mind slid automatically away from the memory of that summer. Don’t think about that. Remember other times, happier times.

She tilted her head back, loving the warmth of the sun on her face, the scent of the sea teasing her nose. “I’d forgotten how much I love this place.” The note of surprise in her voice caught her off guard.

“You always did, from the time you were a little bitty child.” Her grandmother slowed, as if she didn’t have quite enough breath for both walking and talking. “You should come more often. Why did you stop?”

Again her mind shied away from the memory she’d never shared with her grandmother. “I got older. Life got complicated.”

“It does. Believe me, I know. Are you so surprised that I want to simplify it now?”

“I guess not.” Except that this quest her grandmother had embarked on was likely to provide plenty of complications. Didn’t she realize that? Maybe she did, and she just wanted the other parts of her life settled so she could save her strength for the battle over Ned’s name.

Miz Callie stopped, staring at the gentle ruffle of the waves. The tide was going out, leaving long, shallow tidal pools behind—a favorite playground for children. In an hour or two, they’d start appearing on the beach, little family parties of a mother or a set of grandparents laden down with chairs, umbrellas, maybe a cooler, ready for a few hours on the beach with the kids. The air would fill with the excited voices of the young.

“We fall into the rhythm of the ocean when we’re born here,” Miz Callie said softly, almost as if she were talking to herself. “Maybe that’s why Bodines never really thrive away from the sea.”

Her grandmother had a point. Her brothers had followed the family tradition and gone into the Coast Guard. They couldn’t conceive of a life that didn’t involve the sea.

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