Dead Sea

Shari watched the couple at the next table. Their heads touched as they talked and concentrated on a game they were playing. The gentle breeze lifted the white table cloth. Shari’s eyes moved down ever so slightly to look at the couple's feet. They had slipped off their flip-flops and were playing footsies under the table. Their toenails were painted gold. Shari couldn't remember being in love. Sometimes she dreamed about her first lover and when she awoke she felt that familiar yearning to be with him. Her second lover, her husband, never brought out such feelings. She moved her head with the least amount of effort possible and gazed at the sea. The unearthly blue of the Dead Sea looked like something one might find on Uranus. The stark mountains in the background without a hint of vegetation made Shari feel she was on a different planet. Only the shrieks of the children playing in the pool reminded her she was here, by herself, staying in a resort with fellow strangers. Connected /unconnected.The leaves of the weeping willow tree between her and the couple shimmered in the breeze. The couple had finished their game and each one was leaning back content, two perfect pieces of eye candy. Shari stood up to walk down to the sea. Passing the couple she saw the men had built a heart shaped tower of colored toothpicks between them in the middle of their table. ‘Maybe I’ll get lucky,’ she thought, ‘and have a nice dream tonight’.

296 words