When it got good daylight, Daddy pulled over on the side of the road at a picnic table and Mama and Evelyn and Maw cooked breakfast. Mama has a picture of us huddled around the table eating. We all have on coats and Maw has a head rag on her head.
When we got to the prison we went through one set of gates and they locked behind us. We went through another set and they locked too. A guard searched the picnic lunch we had brought to share with Uncle George and took away the knife we brought to cut the ham.
My brother and I didn't care about Uncle George or the picnic so we were glad when at last Maw hugged him goodbye and we were on our way to see the ocean.
When we got to Pensacola it was already dark. Daddy rented a cabin on the beach. When we got out of the car, I was amazed at the sand. I had never seen so much sand in my life, white sand that looked almost like snow. It was deep and filled my shoes until I could hardly walk. I pulled off my shoes and ran up the slight rise and there it was. Spread out before me as far as I could see in any direction was water. Black water topped with white foam. And as the water came up onto the shore there was a loud roaring and when it went back there was a soft tinkling of tumbling seashells. The wind blowing off the water was cold and moist and salty tasting. And hanging right on the horizon was that same silvery moon I had left behind that morning. There was a silver flecked path leading straight from me across the water to the moon. I felt the urge to follow it across that beautiful eternal sea.
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