Esther’s Beach Sketch

Esther and Lionel sit on the dry sand to draw. Esther opens her sketchbook and looks at the grey rocks.

A gust lifts the corner of her page. It flaps across her pencil before she can finish a line.

Lionel puts one smooth pebble on the corner. The page stays down there, but the other side lifts up.

Esther turns her book so the wind comes from behind. Lionel finds another small pebble on the dry sand.

They put a pebble on each top corner. Both sit on the blank edges, away from Esther’s drawing.

Now the page lies still. Esther draws the wide rock, then adds a thin line where the water meets the sand.

Lionel looks at the drawing and then at the beach. “You have got the shape of that rock,” he says.

Before they leave, they put both pebbles back. Esther closes her book with the finished beach sketch safe inside.