A Visit to the Gulf Coast

It was hot, it was humid, but it was gorgeous! I'd spent the day driving from Houston to Galveston, TX. I'd spent time on the beach after a fantastic lunch looking out at the pier turned amusement park. I'd watched school groups as they raced across the street barely kept in check and in the crosswalks by the teachers and chaperones as they desperately tried to keep the children's excitement at bay. I'd wandered through some gift shops and walked out on a large rock jetty and watched the muddy waters of the gulf coast churn.

Now I stood on another pier, just a little farther up the coast. I stood on the black and white checked walkway and listened to the screams coming from the roller coaster that roared overhead. I sipped my icy cold coffee drink as I wandered the Kemah Boardwalk of Kemah, TX. Although it was still quiet yet, there was an air of expectation of the amusement park. It was growing late in the day and families would  start to arrive as the work week drew to a close. I watched the Ferris wheel make a lazy circle only partially filled with amusement makers. I wandered the shops, enjoying the slightly cooler air while wondering why on earth they only had swamp coolers instead of air conditioner.

 Before long I found myself back outside wandering along the waters edge feeling the cooler air coming in off the bay and enjoyed the view of the water, the people passing by and the movement of the various rides. Several seagulls sat perched on the rails of the boardwalk as well as precariously balanced on the streetlights. There were a number that hung nearby watching closely for someone to drop some breadcrumbs or a treat of some kind just for their consumption. Then it happened. The trigger that turned the peaceful scene into potential competition for Hitchcock's The Birds. An unwitting passerby decided he wanted to feed the fish and purchased some food from a gumball style machine. The coins clinked, the gears ground and the young man pulled the food from the machine that fell into the bottom.

I could almost hear it, the cry of "Mine" much as in Finding Nemo coming from the seagulls. They came out of the woodwork, there were so many and they hovered, clambered to get to the young man with the handful of fish food. He had no shot in feeding the fish. He, his parents, and sister looked up and around with fear at the greedy birds that had surrounded them. I thought to myself, it might be time to move on. I don't want to get pooped on. As if my thought conjured the bird droppings, a white streak zinged through the air to plop just to my left.  I turned to hightail it out of the area before I became an unlucky target. Just as I turned the corner I saw the boy shriek "Go away" as he flung the food far away and his family headed in the opposite direction. There was certainly a lesson in that moment. Don't feed the wildlife, especially when there are seagulls involved.