Tea and Sand

A Story by Jessica

Hadley, grieving the loss of her grandmother, learns to still find joy in her life. . . even amidst her sorrow.

The sun glinted off the two delicate china teacups nestled in the warm white sand of Folly Beach. Hadley knew she looked slightly out of place sitting on the beach in her pastel blue sundress, beaded flip-flops, and oversized sunglasses, cradling a beautifully printed teapot in her hands. She stared out at the endless waves crashing in from the Atlantic, lost in a sea of yesterdays and oblivious to the laughing children, barking dogs, and sun-bathing teenagers all around her. She and Ka-Ka had normally never come out to the beach at this time because of the crowds. But Hadley wasn’t ready yet to repeat things exactly how they were when Ka-Ka was with her.

A child’s squeal jolted Hadley out of her reverie, and she set the teapot down, trading it for a matching cup. Lifting it close to her face, she studied the coral pink seashells and daises etched on the cream background. Ka-Ka had been so delighted when she found this set on a trip to Tybee Island. Hadley still had the text from her saying she had found the perfect set for their beach teas. Afternoon beach teas had been their tradition ever since Hadley had moved so close to Folly Beach where her grandparents lived. For the past 6 years, she had met Ka-Ka here by the clump of daises every Thursday afternoon. Both would be dressed for a casual tea, sunglasses in place to ward off the glare of the late afternoon sun against the white sand.

“Ah, Ka-Ka,” Hadley sighed. Cancer was a vicious thing. She had known that when the diagnosis was first given, but even so, it was never supposed to claim Ka-Ka’s life. “It wasn’t supposed to go like this. It wasn’t,” Hadley mumbled for the umpteenth time. Yet here she was on a Thursday afternoon, alone on the beach, with two teacups because she could not resign herself to bringing only one. Because that would mean it was real. That Ka-Ka really wasn’t coming to another beach tea. And although Hadley knew it was true, deep down she did not want to accept it, or perhaps she could not. There had simply been no question in her mind about what to bring to this tea party. A teapot of French vanilla tea and two cups.

Tears blurred her vision. What am I doing? This was a bad idea. She began to collect her things, angry at herself for ever thinking this would be good for her, when out of nowhere she remembered Ka-Ka’s constant phrase of encouragement to her. “Enjoy these special days.” Hadley fell back to the ground, barely noticing the tea sloshing out of the pot. She blinked against the stinging in her eyes and worked to swallow past the sudden knot in her throat. She certainly had not been enjoying much of anything these past few weeks. “These are special times. . . enjoy them.” She could just hear Ka-Ka’s sweet voice. See her radiant smile. Feel her soft arms wrapped around her in a warm embrace. The tension in Hadley’s neck and shoulders eased, and she closed her eyes, lips curving in a smile of remembrance. She tipped her head back and leaned backwards against her arms propped on the sand. She slowly inhaled the salty air, feeling it fill and expand her chest with a breath of fresh life.

“O.K., Ka-Ka. I will,” she murmured softly. “It will be hard, so very-“ her voice broke. After a few seconds, she regained her composure and with a little cough, continued. "-So very hard without you. But I will enjoy these special days because I know you would want me to.” Wonderful peace slowly filled her as if Someone were pouring warm honey into her soul. Her smile grew, and she pushed her sunglasses to the top of her head.

As she poured herself a cup of tea, she could just imagine Ka-Ka sitting beside her, gracefully sipping her own. “It’s a beautiful afternoon, Ka-Ka. You would love it. But instead, I’ll just love it enough for the both of us.”

© 2014 Jessica

Author's Note

Is her character believable enough? Is she relatable?
Constructive criticism anyone?...would love to hear it!

My Review

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Reviews

Will Neill

Jessica, I always make sure before I make a comment that I never look at what everyone else has written, so I read your story with great interest. Each good short story or book takes us on a journey so to speak, a journey of emotions, love, hate, vengence, a sense of loss or a great achivement. In this story you have brought us to the tragic. In so far as that you have done quite well. Only minor things make it flawed, you have fallen into the trap of word repeating-take a look at the first few lines for example. You tell us that Hadley is sitting on Folly Beach-but repeat the word beach quite soon after, I would have used a simple 'there' instead-some times its better not to over discribe. Look at all the other places were you have done similar. Also I would expand Ka-Ka a bit more, we should know her back story and how close she and Hadley were, hook the reader with a remebered conversation they had and use it to inroduce subtle information. create symphay and push the emotions without over doing it. I think that true life gives us endless stories to write about and thai is were yout talent lies.
Well Done.
Will

Posted 11 Years Ago

11 Years Ago

Thank you for your suggestions! I always welcome feedback to help me improve. I agree with what you .. read more

Justin

that was really good :) it has a great story :)

Posted 11 Years Ago

11 Years Ago

Thanks Justin :)

11 Years Ago

your welcome jessica, keep it up :)

Grace Marie

I really liked this. The one thing you could work on is fleshing out the emotions a little more. Right now I get a sense of what Hadley if feeling but not enough to really connect with her.