Vignettes of Summer

1. A baby, clad only in a diaper, pats the dog water with her stacking cup. Then she sticks her face in the bowl. A parent picks up the dog bowl and puts it up out of reach.
2. Five children, all wearing long wetsuit-style bathing suits, work together to free a log in the sand at the beach. Once it comes loose, they cheer and follow it into the still water of a cove.
3. Two women, sitting at the dining table after the children have eaten, ask the eldest one to please put a stack of dishes in the dishwasher, as a special favor. Walking into the kitchen a half hour later, one points at the dishwasher. There, sitting on the bottom rack, in a stack, rests the stack of plates and cups. "In" the dishwasher has different meanings to different ages, apparently.
4. Basement door stands open, an electric fan sitting in it, pushing the coolest air in the house around.
5. A camera rests somewhere in a repair shop, waiting for a new focus gear.
   
6. Holding up a finished sweater, a woman raises her eyebrows at her spouse. He looks up from his book, and produces a long, "Oooooooh," as he's been requested to.
7. Sand rests quietly in the parents' bed, left behind from the sleeping child who has been carried out to his own room. Sliding under the covers, the woman decides that she'll pretend she's staying at an exotic beach resort and change the sheets tomorrow.