Collecting Seashells at the Seashore

Maria and Lisa were best friends. They shared a two-bedroom apartment in Hollywood.
Maria was a clerk at a clothing store, and Lisa was a clerk at a supermarket. Their hours aried,
so they didn!t get to spend a whole lot of time together. "ut last weekend both were off work.
#Let!s go to the beach,$ suggested Maria. #That!s a good idea,$ agreed Lisa. #%hich one&$
#%ell, ' would prefer an uncrowded beach, because ' think '!e put on a few pounds recently. '
don!t want any boys seeing my fat.$ #(h, please,$ said Lisa. #)ou eat so little. (unces don!t turn
into pounds. How about *uma "each& That!s pretty far north of Santa Monica "each, so it!s +ust
right,not too crowded and not too empty.$ #That sounds good,$ said Maria. The drie to the
beach took more than an hour. %hen they got there, the hot and sunny Hollywood weather had
become cool, windy, and oercast beach weather. "oth of them had been to the beach many
times before, so they were not surprised by the change in weather. They put on their +ackets,
shoes, and socks, and headed north to hunt for seashells. %ithin an hour they had collected about
-. beautiful shells into a plastic bag. They were still walking slowly north when they heard a
roar. They turned around to see a four-wheel /ll Terrain 0ehicle coming rapidly toward them.
The drier braked at the last moment. Sand flew onto the two girls. They both screamed. The
drier was wearing a +acket that said "each 1atrol. He got off the /T0 and started yelling at
them. #%hat are you two doing here& Can!t you read& The signs say 1riate 1roperty. They say
2o Trespassing. 3et out of here before ' write you a ticket and hae you arrested.$ #%hat!s your
name&$ Maria stood defiantly. #'!m going to report you to the police. )ou!re not a real patrol
officer. This is a public beach. Those signs are phony signs put up by homeowners who think
they own the beach.$ #My name is 4ohn Smith. 5eport me to whoeer you want. 2ow get out of
here or you!ll be sorry.$ #)ou can!t make us leae. This is a public beach6$ yelled Maria. The
man got back onto his /T0 and started driing in circles around the women. The /T0 was
spraying sand and water all oer them. He was laughing. They started running back south. %hen
the /T0 drier saw that they were leaing, he droe off. #4ohn Smith. / phony name to go with
a phony uniform,$ said Maria when they slowed down to a walk. #%e!re going to the police
station and make a complaint. ' hope they put him in +ail.$ / few minutes later, Lisa asked,
#%here are the shells&$ #(h, gee, in all the e7citement ' left them back there. '!m sorry.$
#2o problem,$ replied Lisa. #There!s plenty of seashells in the sea.$
#)eah, +ust like there!s plenty of +erks on the shore.$