I cannot subdue this creature that flaps wildly against the wind which barrels down the beach.

I lose my grip and it wrenches free, wheeling in defiant flight over churning waters. I watch it collapse in mid-air and dive with the pelicans into green waves.

My Sunday paper is gone.

Alison Cooper is a UK artist residing in Los Angeles. She loves the challenge of culling words to get to the core, and has had her short stories published in Everyday Fiction and 50-Word Stories.