The Girl Who Did Not Like Seashells

The girl who did not like seashells was a girl with long hair and two large brown eyes.

No one understood why she did not like seashells. The parents of the girl who did not like seashells told her that seashells are really beautiful, and everyone loves them and children even collect them, but the girl who did not like seashells just shrugged reluctantly and said she was sorry, but she did not understand why everybody got excited about them.  She really didn’t like seashells.

What she liked was the new kid who came to the neighborhood two weeks ago, and he was a boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself.

The girl who did not like seashells walked around for two weeks with what she felt and kept it to herself and then confided the hush-hush secret to her best friend, the girl who could not keep secrets.

But the girl who could not keep secrets could not resist telling the girl who had to know everything, and she told it to the girl who knew how to use her charm to get things.

And so on and so on the secret spread until all of them knew, even the boy who did not love to talk about others, the girl who felt terribly unpopular, the boy who picked his nose in public places – all of them knew that the girl who did not like seashells liked the boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself. Only the boy who liked to be silent and smile quietly to himself did not know it.

Then one day, the girl who did not like seashells made an unplanned trip to the promenade after lunch and saw the boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself on the beach building a sand castle together with his best friend, the boy who was mentally mature. And so she stood there for about half an hour, without the boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself noticing her looking at how they dug and built and tightened the sand.

Then, quite by accident, the boy who was mentally mature caught the girl who did not like seashells standing and looking at them on the promenade. And he thought to himself a bit, and then decided to leave. He told the boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself that he had to go since it was late. And the boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself said he thought he would remain just to finish the palace, and then he would go, too.

So the boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself remained alone, and the girl who did not like seashells understood, took off her sandals, and went to the beach.

She stood next to him for a couple of minutes until he noticed her, then she offered to help him build his palace.

They were on the beach when the sun started to fall. And the boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself suggested they build a canal around the sand palace.  So they dug a canal, and once, when their fingers almost met accidentally in the sand, the girl who did not like seashells felt her heart beating a beat or two stronger than all the rest.

Then the boy and girl started to run back and forth into the sea to bring water to the canal, again and again.

Finally, they stood looking at the palace, which looked really nice and cast a long shadow on the beach.

They stood and looked at the sand castle they had built, and just before the sun touched the water, the boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself bent down and picked up a nice little seashell, cleaned it, and gave it to the girl who did not like seashells.

She looked at his hand for a moment then took the shell.

The boy who loved to be silent and smile quietly to himself paused and smiled to himself quietly.

And the girl who did not like seashells began to love seashells.