Paraphernalia Stories

Once upon a time there was a baby and his father who lived full time on an ocean going freighter moving "Made in China" tools from Hong Kong harbor to the Port of Los Angeles. One night, the father was strolling with the toddler, just beginning to learn to walk, on the deck of the monstrous ship. All at once a rogue wave swept over the boat and washed the baby and his father off the deck into the cold Pacific....never to be seen again.

I'm not normal. Walking along the beach the other day after a storm that brought up huge waves, I found a pacifier in the seaweed and debris. I don't think about the litter and trash that is polluting our beaches from who knows where. I think about the story behind the pacifier.

I think about the male or female baby in far off lands who somehow lost his or her comforting rubber and plastic binky off some ocean going freighter that his Mom or Dad worked to keep him/her fed and sheltered. Or maybe Tsunami debris from Japan or an eroding dump in the Caribe islands, cascading into the sea.

There must be a story attached to this and other pieces of humanity that wash up on the shores of our beaches. I just try to fill in the blanks.