The breeze smelled salty and so very fresh. She inhaled deeply and happily. The sun felt warm and comforting on her face and arms as she leaned on the window-sill on a bright summer day. It was the place they always came to in the summer – away from the noise and bustle of their town residence. Her heart always leapt in glee when the first sounds of the waves reached her ears on the approach to the seaside. The sound embodied peace as well as a promise of hours of relaxation or sport as one chose. She loved soaking in the sun and could usually be found leaning on this particular sill for it was her favourite part of the cottage.
Her enjoyment of the sea was in no way diminished by the fact that she was blind. In fact it made her even more sensitive to the nuances in the sounds of the waves crashing on or embracing the shore depending on the tides high and low. She could hear all the children at play around her. She could feel the gritty sand beneath her feet and the delicious coolness of the water playfully splashing at her. Her laughter would ring out joyously when she felt the waves sucking the sand out from under her feet so that she lost her balance just a little. Her mother always fretted and worried but for her who had never known sight, the lack of it seemed a part of her existence and something to be accepted and not obsessed over.
Her mind painted vivid images of the blue seas and the bright sunshine till she felt herself lost in that cheerful world within. How she longed for the cottage and the bay during the months in town! Each time she returned, she would go to her special place and lean contentedly against the sill once again, feeling curiously complete. Each time it was a true homecoming.
Note :Written as part of an exercise for my book club
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