Date Published: 02/28/10

The Coast By Esther Attueyi

Descriptive piece about the Coast---as a metaphor for our home country Nigeria

1st half is a good beach; 2nd half is a beach that has been crashed by an oil tanker.

The white, chalky cliff stretched out for miles bending and twisting like a slithery snake. The wind blowing harshly whipping anything in sight, the sea a turquoise-green color that was contrasted to its highest point. It was such a scene of pure harmony.

The crystalline sand was a fine silky texture. The wind picked up the sand as if to ask it to dance. The sea grass waved in the dunes, there were little rock pools just by the bay with tiny tadpoles flickering by just to say hello, mini starfish waving their fat arms. The entire beach was filled with crisp, clean air that cleared any negative charges flowing through. The sky was a dome of blue, protecting the earth, fusing with the clouds to create delicate white tendrils, looping across the sky. The seagulls were dive-bombing catching silver slippery fish, letting out a shrill, mournful cry when the fish had slipped out of their beaks

The sea was a strong teal color, in its turquoise depths, the fluorescent sea life waved about as though to welcome you into their abode. Glistening coral, dyed the colors of the rainbow, glistened under the warm rays of the golden sun. Flounders burrowed themselves under the soft bed of grains. Protons and microbes floated along the sea-hill. Orange crabs walked among the ocean floor, looking for things to do. Grungy eels poke their heads in and out of dark cracks to scare it neighbors out of their wits. Tropical fish swim as one shoal, searching for a comfortable place to eat algae. Dolphins back flip in happiness and screech for the pleasure of freedom. Life under the sea is a beautiful one and we should learn to cherish it.

Twenty years on the beautiful beach that once was is no more. The beautiful coastline is now an arch of bone-white rock. In the distance the once crystalline sand was now a heap of dark-red sand mingling with gooey sticky oil.

The sand felt horrible sticking to your feet and you couldn’t wash it because it was like a child clinging to its mother, it just wouldn’t let go. The wind was hard and sharp blowing fiercely like it didn’t want you around. The once breath taking sea water was now a stretch of sticky intoxicated water that was repulsive. The last echoing cries of the gulls filled the air as one fell down, lifeless, never to be revived again. The seaweed was wilting and floating at the surface, coming from nowhere heading anywhere. The disgusting smell that enveloped the air was coming from a nearby dump which smelled of a fishery.

The sea’s beauty has been polluted with the intoxicating debris that gradually suffocated every life-giving breath the sea wanted to take. Greasy oil clogs the ocean floor penetrating through every crevice of the ocean. The fluorescent coral has been replaced by an ashy coral that has given up on its life. With one last heave the tired and worn out ocean let out one last breath and died.

May Nigeria not die.

Esther Attueyi is a 13 year old Nigerian at Broomwood Hall School London UK