“Please hurry! We need to go!” He was bouncing up and down uncontrollably. Chance was taking too long to make their sandwiches and Sammie grew more and more impatient.
“You don’t even know if you’re gonna like it,” Chance said.
“You told me I would and I want to go now!” Instead of waiting on Chance, Sammie went out to the car and sat. Towels and buckets were in the backseat. Chance walked out to the car with the bag of sandwiches hanging off his arm, sunscreen in his hand. After tossing it all in the back with the towels, he climbed in to the driver’s seat and started the car.

“What’s it like?” Sammie asked Chance. “You said big, but how big?”

“It’s never ending.” Sammie’s eyes widened. The rest of the ride was filled with Sammie’s curiosity and Chance’s shocking answers.

“You ready?” They parked across the street and grabbed all their junk. Sammie was hidden behind a mountain of towels he carried. “Here,” Chance offered, “how about I carry those and you bring the sandwiches?” Now Sammie had a clear view of the beach. Chance made him stay close as they walked down the ramp. Once they hit the sand, he glanced over at Sammie. His face was lit with amazement. The amazement a little boy gets when he enters a big candy store. Or when a little girl opens up her Christmas gift and it’s a puppy. At that exact moment, it was the amazement of a seven-year-old boy from Ethiopia experiencing the beach for the first time. His eyes grew wider and he almost dropped the sandwiches. Chance could only imagine what went through Sammie’s head when he saw the ocean: the waves rolling in to hug the shore and the seaweed scattered on the sand. Endless blue as far as the eye could see. Crashing waves violently broke on each other and salty aromas mixed with dried seaweed, all under the brilliant rays of Florida sun. A new place Sammie would never live without from now on.