My eldest started to panic—Why is it not moving, Mommy? Let’s put it back. It’s probably so scared! We tried to revive it in the water, but its lavender body floated in the incoming tide, spectral against the white marble that lined the beach. There had been too much stress, too many hands holding it out of the water; it was all just too much for that creature who prefers solitary senescence, the slow and steady stage of not moving much at all and just taking in the world and water around them. Everyone grew quiet. Some students slipped away to gather up their towels and leave.
