The two girls set their blanket down on a Chicago beach. Annabelle had never dipped her feet in the waters of Lake Michigan, unlike her friend Sarah who had been there many times before. The girls settled in the sun, letting it burn their pale skin. Annabelle was unaware that she had not applied her SPF 50 sunscreen on her entire back, causing it to burn unevenly.

The girls walked to the edge of the water and started to build castles in the sand. Sarah and Annabelle were unaware that Ms. Walker watched them from a distance under her lime green beach umbrella. Sarah thought of Mexico, a place she had never been, and started building a sand castle in the form of a Mayan pyramid. Annabelle joined her, forming mounds of wet sand into various sized domes.

Sarah was showing Annabelle around Chicago that day. They wanted to go to the zoo later to see the fish pond and the aviary full of tropical birds of many colors. Sarah let the wet sand run through her fingers, forming little towers in the sand. They looked like custard cones, lumpy yet delicate, with their bases wider than their peaks.

After an hour, they gathered Sarah’s blanket and began to walk towards the zoo. Ms. Walker’s children ran to build their own castles by the water as their mother held back her tears. This is where it ends, she thought, thinking about her broken marriage and her thighs covered with cellulite and sunscreen. She watched as the girls’ castles dissolved into the water, a little more with each crashing wave, until there was nothing left of them.