Twelve
The Girl in the Blue Dress
When Seph turned fourteen, he met a girl at the beach. He went to Samedi to listen to his tunes but found a girl with long black hair with big sunglasses dancing in the sand to the Beatles. She wore a navy t-shirt and denim shorts, her skater shoes worn and torn at the seams. Seph smiled, entranced by her movements being in sync to the music. The voice inside his chest inflated, louder, louder, full, until he couldn’t hear himself in his own ears. She started to clap to his song, amazed.
“You’re really good,” she said in awe.
When she said goodbye mid-song, she went across the beach and looked back, saw Seph follow her.
She smiled, shyly but stopped. “What’s your name?”
“Seph.”
“My name’s Carla.”
“Where are you going?”
“To work. Just at the stand
