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You could find us on the water

Sun-baked boats

Hand-me-down cutoffs

Tourist tank tops

Crawdads and ice cream

Laughing, splashing

Deep brown tans

Nightcrawlers and catfish

Up all night

Mosquito bites

Crickets

Soothing crickets

Soaked to the bone

And they smiled for a change

Our joy lifting the burden

Of us

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Baskter Mode stitched a copper coin into every shirt he owned. He took care so nobody would notice. Sometimes he would hide it in the collar, others in the hem. It really just depended on the shirt. In the beginning, if he couldn’t make it seem invisible the shirt had little chance of being worn and it would end up in the trash. Color, fabric and patterns made concealment easier. Over time he started favoring dark and heavy, expensive clothing. Pants and shoes also had to match the shirt so as to not draw attention to his shirts. It changed the way he looked.

People started to notice.

And that was a problem.

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Brandel was born with a small seashell embedded in the muscle just below his left ventricle. There were many theories as to how it got there, and even a few attempts to remove it. But it wasn’t causing him any pain or problems, and overtime everyone lost interest. Eventually it would just become a curiosity for new doctors.

“A shell?”
“Yes. It must be in my records there.”
“It is. Does it hurt?”
“Don’t even notice it.”
“Huh. No clue how it got there?”
“Nope.”
“Mind if I give it a listen.”
“Go ahead.”

The doctor would lean in and place his stethoscope on Brandel’s chest. Brandel’s heart made a unique sound as the shell bounced back and forth.

There was usually a chuckle, and often a, “Well, I’ll be.”

He just played the game. He was used to it.

Occasionally strangers would recognize him from his Wikipedia page. He was polite and answered their questions. He would pose for pictures and then return to his day.

He wished he could tell them how a tiny shell just showed up inside him while he was in his mother’s womb. But he didn’t know. She died a few years after he was born.

At night, when it was quiet, and his breathing was shallow, he could hear it deep in his chest. Click, click, click. It was comforting.

It was all he knew.

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