"I'll be right back!"
I giggled and ran off, feeling the soft sand break below me, with the big yellow rubber tube tucked under my arms. The sun was stinging into my eyes Thousands of other families were chatting excitedly. My mother's panicked voice --No, Jung-Aa, wait! Go with your sister! -- trailed behind me. I briefly turned around to wave at her, and ran through the wave of people and parasols to jump into the real, murky, blue waves. I probably should have listened to my mom then.
The sea was somewhat disappointing -- it didn't look like the emerald blue ocean that Ariel always played in, I thought. But why did that matter when I was finally here? I hopped past the darkening line of wet sand, over the pile of sticky seaweeds, and across the sand castle a boy was attempting to make. A wave sneaked onto my toes. The Haeundae waves weren't that clean, but the bubbles felt funny. A girl and her father was playing with the waves as well, squealing and giggling as the man lifted her up to run away from the waves.
I carefully watched what other people were doing. I knew I would be okay even if I fell in the ocean. The small child in me smirked and boasted -- I'm the best swimmer in school! But I figured that it would be okay to watch a bit. Never mind, the waves were too interesting! I threw the tube over me, and went off. I bounced along the bottoms of the waves, until I could not feel the ground anymore. The waves felt gentle around me, as it pushed me up and down the current.
Other people around me, all adults or kids older than me, were jumping on the ground. Hmm, I wasn't tall enough to reach the ground at this depth. I pushed myself toward the beach, and started jumping like other people. The rubber tube sqeaked whenever my arm rubbed against it, and smelled weird. My arms did not feel tired at all! I waited for the current, the next wave, and jumped. The wave gently pushed me up, making my guts feel funny. I could not stop giggling. I jumped, got pushed, jumped, jumped, floated, and jumped again. It was the best day of my life.
After jumping countless times, I decided to go back and bring mom and sister with me. They needed to know how fun this was to do. I rode on the currents naturally, which I learned to do after jumping waves so much, and pushed myself towards the beach. The sand hurt against my soft legs, and left marks. I made a mental note to tell mommy and sissy to be careful. Daddy won't need my warnings - he always knew everything.
As soon as I got on the beach, I tucked the yellow tube by under my arms again. I hopped past kids playing with sand, across the seaweeds, and got back on the dry, white sand. The warm, almost hot sand felt nice against my wet and wrinkly feet. I felt tired after all the jumping. I slowly walked towards the wave of red parasols to find my family. But something was wrong. I couldn't find them. A crowd of faces, none of them mom, dad, nor sissy, stared at me. I was lost.
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