Babe Blocker - May 29

For the record...I was writing. Computer difficulties kept me from posting. But these next two entries are being posted late - but were written, as promised, each day.....


There is a green hedge with magenta flowers that's sits on the white picket fence in front of the beach house. On the other side of the fence is the boardwalk, open to the public, including large families dragging coolers and drunk men chasing after girls riding bikes in bikinis.

I sat in one of the cushioned lawn chairs and the view was spectacular. Nothing but blue skies. I couldn't see the people walking on the boardwalk. Occasionally an unusually tall man walked by, but even then I could barely see the top of his head. Even better, I couldn't see my two children playing with grandfather in the sand just a few feet beyond the boardwalk.

My brother, Christian, came out of the beach house and asked my mom when she decided to put the hedge up. Actually, he asked, "Why did you put up the babe blocker?"

"The what?" My mom asked.

"You know, the babe blocker. The big green thing that keeps me from seeing the girls riding bikes in bikinis."

I laughed at the new term. Probably one my two brothers thought up sitting in lawn chairs as teenagers stretching their necks to catch a glimpse of tan shoulders and neon straps.

"It's meant more to keep people from looking in." My mom said.

"I like it," I said.

"Because it keeps people from looking in?" My brother asked.

"No because it keeps me from seeing my babes playing in the sand. I almost feel like a single girl with nothing to do but sit in the sun all day."

"What are you going to do tomorrow when we aren't here?" My mom asked, noticing that I was slipping a little too deep into sweet solitude.

"Watch them," I said as I closed my eyes and tried to enjoy the beauty of the babe blocker for a few more minutes.