Aperçu du sujet
My love for the outdoors didn’t end with winter. I must have been fifteen when I told my father, "I love to go beachcombing on Crane’s Beach. I want to see if I can live like an Indian down there for a week. I’d like to do it by myself.
My love for the outdoors didn’t end with winter. I must have been fifteen when I told my father, "I love to go beachcombing on Crane’s Beach. I want to see if I can live like an Indian down there for a week. I’d like to do it by myself. Would that be all right?" Crane’s Beach, a lovely, sandy stretch five hundred feet wide with sand dunes seventy feet high, 5 was sculpted into steep, curving sides on the windward north. Although dunes change their shape with every high wind, they gradually sloped to the south. The side was too steep to climb because our feet wouldn’t hold, and if we tried, the sand flowed downward into a miniature avalanche. By then my father had gotten used to my strange ideas of adventure. He didn’t 10 oppose the idea, but he didn’t like my going there alone. "Can’t you get somebody to go with you? Can’t you get Eddie to go along?" "I asked, but he’s going on a trip to Maine with his parents. And anyway, I can take care of myself." In those days, no one worried about strangers or abductors. I knew my father was concerned about my being alone in case I got hurt. "I’ll be fine, Father," I 15 assured him. I was tall for my age, already nearly six feet, and broad shouldered. I looked sixteen or seventeen. "Norman, I’m not sure that’s a good idea." "Why not? I’ll be perfectly safe. It’s summer and there’s no danger down there. I’ve been on many daytime picnics at Crane’s Beach. Father, this is important to me. I’ve read 20 about how the Indians used to live. I want to go and not take anything with me. I want to see if I can live off the beach." "What will you eat?" "I’ll live like the Indians did. I won’t get cold, you know. I’ll have plenty of good wood for a fire. And I know how to start a fire by rubbing two sticks together. Mainly, I’ll eat 25 clams. The Indians did it for centuries. Certainly I can do it for a week." "What about water?" "I can get my water where the deer do." I had learned that I could find water by tracking deer, which was fun. […] "Please, Father, I want to see what it’s like to be absolutely alone."