Day-bag
Joshua Lee Shimmen

“On the beach, there is a gelatinous tube curled in the sand. It is transparent, the sand beneath it as visible as the flecks scattered on top. It sits unshrinking in the ocean breeze. I point at it with my left hand and hold the baby with my right.
‘Moon snail,’ I say.
The baby looks at me with a confused expression. I am seven months sober and this is the first time I’ve been allowed to take the baby out by myself …”