The bright lights and happy chatter of the Boardwalk fade incrementally with each step one takes onto the beach and towards the rising surf. A hundred yards from the frenetic night crowd and the flashing lights of arcades and restaurants, the darkness and noise of the ocean swells erase everything.
The moon shines down on swirling dark waters, shattering into shards on the uneven reflective surface of the perpetually restless waters. The sand retains the sun's daytime heat, in contrast to the cool waves racing up to wash my feet.
Off to my right I catch a glimpse of dark forms racing and dancing on the edge of the water. I wander closer. Laughter and childish fun. Age slips away in the presence of the infectious excitement of the beach at night. I smile in approval.
I'm nearly among them. A silent and unnoticed presence in the darkness. A shout rings out through the night, "I am the queen of the world!" I search for the voice, trying to make out the crier in the mix of dark quick shapes. "I am the queen of the world!" There she is. She stands far out on the rocks of the pier. Her hair streams out behind her in the wind rushing in from the sea. The water crashes around her, spitting up and around her. "I am the queen of the world!" She is yelling out the words at the top of her lungs. Over and again. "I am..."
I'm captured: standing like a statue. Her form is dark and her face turned away from me towards the on-rushing waves, but I know she is beautiful. It's true. I wish there was some way to show her homage.
She is queen, the whole world belongs to her.
I'm so still that a game of tag comes close enough to spit sand onto my feet without the players being aware of me.
Time to move. I wander away. before I've walked thirty paces, her voice has faded from a triumphant challenge, to a distant, weakening note. It fades in and out whipped on the wind. Another few steps and its gone. Drowned by the overpowering crash of the breakers.
The waters are roaring with powerful mirth. Loud laughter at this joke.
She has lost her thrown.
