A beautiful bubble was around them

Yesterday morning I went early to Manzanilla with a friend. I was going to shoot some footage, but ended up shooting nothing and just 'blowing with the wind'.

When we first arrived at Manzie, we were sitting on different parts of a fallen coconut tree. I was sitting at the lower end, facing the western part of the beach. In the distance, through the mist of sea spray, I could see two figures approaching us, holding hands and walking closely together. They appeared to be two young girls, but at that distance I couldn't be sure. At one point they stopped and one girl lay on her back on a fallen coconut tree. The other girl bent down and began to kiss her. This being Trinidad, where such a thing is not a common sight (or not seen at all in public), I thought: "Hmm, maybe it's a young boy and not a girl. Or (if they are two girls) maybe they think the beach is deserted and no-one can see them."

As if they heard me, they looked up and saw me facing in their direction. They stopped kissing and the girl who was standing simply started to stroke the stomach of the reclined figure. Even from a distance, it looked loving and gentle. Eventually the reclining figure got up and they continued walking towards us, holding hands. As they got closer I could see that they were indeed two young women in their late teens or early twenties.

My friend and I looked at each other and smiled, agreeing verbally how beautiful they looked. Not beautiful in a physical way (per se) although they were, but there seemed to be a beautiful bubble around them ... as though they were so content with each other that they just didn't care who was there or what any member of the public may have thought. They passed by us and greetings were exchanged.

They continued strolling slowly up the beach, holding hands, saying nothing to each other, yet looking like they were conversing deeply, like two old people who had been together for ages. Every now and then they would glance at each other then look forward and continue walking, their steps gracefully choreographed in natural unison (left, right, left, right). At times their hands would separate and they would just drift closer together so their bodies were touching. Then one would reach out and absently touch the other one's hair or bottom or back. It was all so natural that I could see they were not being showy, trying to add shock value or make any statements. They were simply in their own world of each other.

My friend and I sat there, unable to take our eyes away as the two girls calmly passed by a group of men sitting at the edge of the sand. They did not let their hands go, they did not quicken their steps. In fact they even paused and embraced lovingly before moving along. The men, even though they were facing the girls and must have seen them, did not ogle or follow them with their eyes and did not call out or say a word. There was no Pastor-Cuffie-meets-Elton-John moment as they came off the sand and disappeared near the carpark.

I said to my friend: "It's so beautiful and innocent that the men can't say anything."

(Some Trini men are the type to call out things like: "Pssssssst! Dahlin' ah could join yuh?! Dahlin' ah could convert yuh?")

After a while the girls reappeared and strolled back up the beach, past the men and a few other beachcombers. They looked peaceful, still holding hands and every now and then looking at each other. They passed by us, glanced and smiled and kept walking on in their beautiful bubble, eventually disappearing among the coconut trees.