Spectacular Day!

It started great and
just kept getting better.

I was down on the beach
late in the afternoon,
just before sunset,
with a new-moon-soon low tide,
clear, cold air,
and a medium breeze...
perfect to take the pace up a notch.

Beach time, for me, is the ultimate.
Especially solo.
I get to enjoy it in absolute detail.
Today, I was smiling
for the entire duration of the walk.
(Probably looked like an idiot,
but other idiots smiled back!)

Well, ok, there was one moment
where I wasn't smiling...

On the way back home,
where the beach and the train tracks join up,
I probably saved the lives of
two Japanese schoolgirls.

They were standing in the middle of the tracks,
totally engrossed in their camera,
facing down the long tracks,
but completely oblivious to the train
coming 'round a blind corner behind them.

I can see the train
but they can't.

It takes a moment for me to get it:
These kids are roadkill-waiting-to-happen.

I yelled "Hey!"
(do they speak English?)
but got no reaction.

The train is dangerously close.
I yelled "HEY!" much louder.
They look up.
I motion to get off the tracks, NOW,
and point behind them to
a train that will not wait for them to move.

With few seconds left,
they are out of harm's way.

And I went back to smiling...