Editors, Vineyard Gazette;

Recently, we decided to take a walk to the beach after supper. A young man passed us, then stopped and slowly backed up. I was a bit concerned he might back onto us so we stepped off the road.

He stuck his head out of the window and said, “I’m watching their grill, there are flames coming out of it, there’s a lot of smoke and no one’s around. I don’t know what to do. Should I go to their door?”

We turned to the right and sure enough, the gas grill was inflamed and the house looked dark. We know the owners, went to the door and knocked but nobody responded. We opened the door, heard people chatting happily and shouted until we caught their attention.

They had been cooking greasy fish and maybe had forgotten to turn off the gas. They went outside and took care of it, thanking us vociferously.

We resumed our walk, meeting a woman who said she had been to the beach to watch the moon rise but couldn’t see it. We smiled and kept walking.

Then Tom sat on a rock while I walked along the water’s edge and vowed not to pocket a single shell. In the meantime, we saw the full moon. A young woman sat on the breakwater and howled at it.

In the dusk I saw a shell with a peace sign pattern. Maybe they are common but I’ve never seen any before. Tonight I saw three. I choose to see it as, well, yeah, a peace sign.

I know full well that if that young man had not seen the fire in the grill we might not have looked in that direction either. Who knows what might have happened? You were raised right, kid. Thank you. Peace.

And if you feel like it, by all means, howl at the moon.

Linda Calabrese

Oak Bluffs and Tolland, Conn.