The Mauve Jellyfish
“When they get bigger, they can light up with luminescence.” Once again, I started thinking. How could something like this be so beautiful yet dangerous. I longed to see a big one light up, but I wouldn’t want to see them sting anything. After about an hour, the boat returned to normal, except, or course, for the ocean around it. While everybody else was sunbathing or resting, the Mauve jellyfish were holding a party. It was like all the baby Mauve jellyfish in the world were trapped in a big box and suddenly released here in Mallorca. All around there were Mauve, some about the size of my foot, and others hard to see between their tiny size and the sunlight bouncing off them. They seemed so peaceful, just floating around. I felt so peaceful.
The Diamond Ring By Jessica L., Grade 5 It is hot. Like, super hot. Like, so hot popsicles would melt after three minutes of being in the sun. My feet were BURNING in the Hawaiian sand. My legs are also burning. And my head. I was burning. I walked about two feet to the water's edge and - sweet relief was there in the packed sand. ”I’m going in the ocean!” I called to my mom. She answered,”Ok, but don’t go in for too long. Grandma and Grandpa are almost here with lunch.” Entering the cold water sent chills to my spine. Well, the water wasn’t that cold, because it was in the bright sun. But the lukewarm water still felt refreshing on my burning feet. I waded into the water until I was about knee deep. When you got deeper into the water, the water started to get colder. I decided to stay right where I was. My brother Justin, however, wanted to go into the water neck deep. Which, for him, was only about 5 feet from where I was. “Ahh,” he yelled,”It’s so cold in here!” I rolled my eyes. My dad had said that it was cold like, ten minutes ago. Justin never listens. I turned around and sat on the shore. From where I was on the beach, I had a pretty good view of the water. There were more paddle boards than surfers on the beach that day because of how calm the water was. Little waves rolled over my legs. Little pieces of shell shifted around me. With a jolt, I remembered my brother’s challenge for me. My brother had always liked doing beach challenges. The challenge for 2017 had been finding the biggest, most disgusting pile of seaweed. The challenge for 2018 was to find twenty-three pieces of sea glass. Since we hadn’t gone to this specific Hawaiian beach in 2019, or 2020 because of covid, this was a big deal for him. 2021’s beach challenge was to find the most valuable item possible. Of course, there were rules. You can’t pretend to find something when you already have found it, no breaking (or taking) the other person's object. This year, I really wanted to win. Maybe if I found a pretty shell? No, there are plenty of pretty shells. A coral shard or piece? No, that wouldn’t be special enough. Then, I realized that good things are normally found when you least expect it. So, I started looking. I got up from my comfortable sitting position and started to carefully comb the shore for shells. I found white cracked shells, tiny pinkish peach shells, but nothing unusual. Just P.O.S.’s or
THE CLARION
48