Jim’s feet reluctantly made contact with a small tidal pool that was just in front of the shoreline. He hated stagnant water, but figured that this was the least invasive way to get acclimated with the temperature of the sea. Jim wondered if hepatitis or a bacterial infection would agree, or if Woody was beyond the point of being saved. No one could ever accuse Jim of not covering all the bases. There was a hilly, four foot gap between the pool and the ocean. The wind barely rippled the hairs from his shins, and the sand that rested beyond the edges of Jim’s naked feet was dry and undisturbed, healthy circulation was still a distant moon rise away. Jim drifted back to the boardroom and thought about the extra cost of his thin, cotton dress socks. For most occasions, smooth, soft skin was certainly worth the $20 upgrade. And now thanks to his daily habits, he could feel every droplet of water and every flake of salt as his mind considered the craftsmanship of every seam. Jim rarely felt so alive and excited about a purchase. He surveyed the closest set of waves, they looked smaller with every forward push. On second thought, he was the better man, and each rush of water up the shore was proof that everyone already knew. Looking down, there were reflective purples and pinks that a younger Jim had only seen in a pack of crayons. In the distance the low lying clouds sat atop the sea, like icing on a cake. In the heavy air, Jim could smell enough perfume, to know that feminine eyes had found him. His back was now warm to the touch, even though the sun remained high and well endowed facing his resurgent front. So this is what the frontier had felt like, open spaces and automatic love- just like the displaced chunks of foam, no one cared at what point they had fallen, until what was left was no longer good enough to have or to hold. Squirming possibilities gave way to restless motion and then contaminated bare skin, the insides of the puddle were shifting, mirroring Jim in a manner that was both muddy and ordinarily fraught. He thought he heard Woody laughing, and surmised that the ladies preferred a man who enjoyed the benefits of thicker socks.