Later, Though the Dinner was Delicious, They Didn't Enjoy It

"Let's stay and watch the seals go out to sea," Lousie cried out. Pytor raised his eyebrows the way he did when he disproved.

"Oh, I don't know. That could take hours. They'll go out when the tide is up to the cliff."

The seals were about ten feet from the cliff. There were over one hundred of them lying on the sand like sacks of grain. They lay almost on top of each other. Occasionally, one would roll over, or shuffle forward, soon to become still again. About twenty feet above them, on a cliff protected by Montery Cyprus, sat Louise and her boyfriend. Their faces were aglow in the light of the sun, which was enjoying a leisurely July descent over the Pacific. Lousie leaned back on her hands, her gaze fixed on the seals.

"We should stay. I have never seen a whole flock of seals go out to the ocean before. And what else do we have to do? When will we ever have the chance to do this again?"

Pytor leaned back on his arms.

"So you think it is "a flock of seals?"

"Mmmmm.... A pack of seals? An assortment of seals? A seal of seals."

"Do you really want to stay? It will take a long time," he reflected.

"I do. It will be fantastic."

They sat. It was early in the evening, not yet six o' clock. The seals would be there for a long time.

"Look!" She pointed at the ocean.

"What?" He had been looking elsewhere.

"When the waves crash down over that reef the sun backlights the wave and all of the seaweed makes silhouettes."

"I don't see it."

"Well, you have to wait for a wave."

"I'm waiting."

They sat and she stared at the waves. Sometimes the waves would land a little further on the shore and splash the seals. They didn't mind enough to move.

"Hey! Did you see that?" She asked him.

"What?"

"The seaweed illuminated!"

"I missed it. Sorry. I was thinking about something else." He lay back and looked up at a cloudless pale blue sky.

"What are you thinking about?"

"Oh. Nothing. We don't have to talk about it."

She took a sweatshirt from her bag, bunched it up into a ball, lifted his head and then placed the shirt under it.

"Are you thinking about work?"

"If you don't mind, I'd really rather not talk about it."

"Is everything OK?"

"Yes. Everything is fine. Enjoy the seals. We are here for the seals."

"If you are sure everything is okay."

He pulled a corner of the sweatshirt over his face. She leaned too look at the seals. The tide had splashed over a bundle of seals particularly close to the ocean. They lifted their heads from their lazy slumber.

"Pytor! I think the seals are going to move! They are moving."

"They aren't going to move until the tide is fully in. That will take a long time."

"But they are moving. Oh. No. Only one of them moved. Oooh, Pytor, I think I see a baby one."

Pytor remained lying down.

"Pytor, do you mind that we are staying? I mean, are you OK?"

"Yes. Please enjoy this moment. I am enjoying lying here and when the seals finally do move, I will look at them with you."

"I'm going to count the seals."

"Great." She counted them forwards and backwards and got different counts each time. Pytor started to snore. Lousie rested her hand on his thigh and squinted into the sun. She frowned, then smiled. Her lips moved and silently formed words of love, and then she smiled again. She ran her fingers up and down the inseam of Pytor's jeans. He slept.

As the tide came in, the seals inched closer to the cliff wall. "They are so lazy," she said aloud. "Just so so lazy."

The sun seemed as lazy as the seals. It barely seemed to move. She watched the seals as they propelled themselves forward with their short flippers and muscular bodies. Once they were in the water, they were so graceful. On land they were clumsy and comical. Yet, in order to conserve energy, they stayed on land resting for as long as possible before returning to the sea to fish until low tide again.

She lay down next to Pytor and took the sweatshirt off his face. The sun was lower in the sky now, and his dark stubble cast long shadows accross his face. Lousie stroked it absentmindedly and accidentally fell asleep.

Pytor rolled over onto her. "Wake up, Lou! I'm a seal! It's time to wake up!" Lousie opened her eyes. The sun was gone. She peered over the cliff and the seals had gone, too.

"We missed them."

"We did." Pytor pulled her back towards him.

"No. Let's go. Its cold now." She broke from his grasp and stood up. He looked up at her. Her black hair stood out against the bright but sunless sky. Her face was dark.

"You really wanted to see them go into the ocean."

"Yeah."

"We can try to see them again." He offered, standing up as well.

"I guess so. Let's go." They started walking and he noticed she hugged herself in the cold. He handed her the sweatshirt and as she pulled it over her head she tripped on a branch and scraped her knee. Blood stained the hem of her skirt.

"Shit. This is new," she muttered.

"I knew it was a bad idea to stay," Pytor said.