Nouns: Family, soldiers, salt, dock, seagull.

Verbs: Wait, laugh, shuffle, ask, screech.

Pairs: family/wait, soldiers/shuffle, salt/ask, dock/screech, seagull/laugh.

The sun rose slowly, its rays slanting up and over the horizon. And there the family waited.

It was a modern family. The adults seemed oblivious to the rough and tumble antics of their two children, their attention instead focussed on the screens of their phones. An onlooker could easily think that the scene was an accident waiting to happen, with the water reaching hungrily towards land. Just a stumble, a push too hard, and that water would be rewarded. The children were wiser than they appeared, for experience had taught them just how far they could take things and still be safe.

One would wonder what they were all waiting for. The boat sat at the end of the dock; why didn’t they just climb on board?

A screech from the dock and the father glanced up. He stared ahead, a frown on his face. Perhaps he saw them, or maybe he just sensed something that wasn’t quite right, for he called the children to his side in a tone that would not be ignored.

The soldiers shuffled forward. Heads bowed, they seemed barely able to put one foot in front of the other. They were exhausted, beaten by time or events. Not one of them gave any indication of being aware of the presence of the family.

Another screech and the wind picked up. Waves rose, lapping and splashing up water whose salt asked the question: which was real? Surely two such different groups did not belong together, so out of time and place with each other, as they were?

Another gust of wind, stronger this time. A seagull laughed as the water broke upon the land, drenching the family from head to toe. They did not have time to react, for the effect was instant. The salt dissolved them, dissipating their presence in that moment and returning them back to the world which they had come from.

The soldiers continued their shuffling advance, oblivious to the ripple in time and space that had just occurred in front of them. The boat sailed away from the dock, heading back out towards war-torn lands, on it’s mission to bring more soldiers home.