A Tidbit of a Story

Jenny.
The sun is laying a hot, sticky blanket over everything here, making the tourists swarm like flies. The beach near my house in packed like a can of tuna, with heat waves bouncing off the sand. The little alley ways that lead to the beach from the streets are littered with sandals that people kicked off before heading out toward the water. Mum says I should enjoy the sun, and go out with Charlie and sail. Yeah, right. I would much rather be here, on Lempel Golf Course. I kick off my high-tops and shove them in my bag. The grass in crunchy and dry—but the golf course in finally empty this summer. I drop my bag into a sand trap, the one next to the palm tree so I can remember, and I start to run.
At first, my throat burns from the heat, and also from the fact that this is the first time I have had a chance to run on the courses. Mum told me to jog on the sand, but running on the beach is not the same as here, on the Astroturf—illegally. Normally I sneak in through the driving range, and then scurry behind the row of eucalyptus that fences in the golf course. No one has caught me yet, and Mum doesn’t know about it.