Member-only story
SHORT TALES
Looking for the Ideal Sand Dollar
A little girl's search for perfection
Ali called the sea urchins sand dollars. She found them at low tide during the morning. She often dug along the shoreline with a plastic shovel to uncover them and put the ones with the legs back in the seawater.
Ever since Ali was a little girl, she searched for the perfect sand dollar but has yet to find one. They were either chipped or not completely round. However, she still put them in her bag for her mother to place into a large glass bowl as a living room decoration.
"I keep looking," Ali said, "but I haven't found the perfect one."
"That's not going to happen," said Grandpa. "There isn't anything perfect in this world."
"Yes, there is," said Ali. "Our cat, Pudgie, is perfect. My mother is perfect."
Grandpa laughed. "If you say so, Ali, but you'll waste your time looking for the perfect sea urchin — they don't exist."
Ali got upset by Grandpa's words and cried to her mother in the kitchen.
"Oh, don't mind, Grandpa," said Ali's mother. "Grandpa's jealous that he can't go to the beach with you anymore because of his bad hip."
