The stone lay unnoticed for quite some time
After being deposited upon the lake bed
By the ebb flow and movement of a glacier
Only just today being washed up upon the beach
Soon drying in the soft sunlight
Until it looked like any other smooth bit of limestone
I searched the sand for suitably flat-ish stones
Finding several
I handed half to my son
"It works best if you throw side-arm
Like this"
I said as I demonstrated the slightly awkward looking method
And we were rewarded by seeing the stone skip across the calm water
Four big skips
Followed by an almost uncountable number of mini skips
So close together that the spinning flat stone
Almost appeared to be zipping along the water like a boat
Until the water grabbed ahold of it
Taking it from our sight into the shallows
My son took one of his rocks and mimicked my movements
Though his first try propelled itself into the water at an angle
Like a missile
The water making a 'Gallulp!' sound
As the stone made a fast dive entry
He was not impressed
And made his distressed face at me
To which I smiled and made a 'watch me' gesture with the rock in my hand
Side-arm throw letting the stone spin off the end of my fingertip
Letting it rotate like a spinning plate
Bouncing off the surface of the water satisfyingly several times
My son selected another stone from his small pile
Slowly drawing his arm back to the side
Swinging around and releasing with good form
The stone spinning away from him in an unpredictable direction to the right
But skipping three times upon the clear water
Making us both cheer out loud
A couple more throws by both of us
And our handful of rocks was gone
Leaving nothing else to do but to look for more
With the Spring sun warming the backs of our necks
As we walked the water's edge with our heads bowed
Scanning the sand in front of our feet
Looking for just the right stones for skipping
After being deposited upon the lake bed
By the ebb flow and movement of a glacier
Only just today being washed up upon the beach
Soon drying in the soft sunlight
Until it looked like any other smooth bit of limestone
I searched the sand for suitably flat-ish stones
Finding several
I handed half to my son
"It works best if you throw side-arm
Like this"
I said as I demonstrated the slightly awkward looking method
And we were rewarded by seeing the stone skip across the calm water
Four big skips
Followed by an almost uncountable number of mini skips
So close together that the spinning flat stone
Almost appeared to be zipping along the water like a boat
Until the water grabbed ahold of it
Taking it from our sight into the shallows
My son took one of his rocks and mimicked my movements
Though his first try propelled itself into the water at an angle
Like a missile
The water making a 'Gallulp!' sound
As the stone made a fast dive entry
He was not impressed
And made his distressed face at me
To which I smiled and made a 'watch me' gesture with the rock in my hand
Side-arm throw letting the stone spin off the end of my fingertip
Letting it rotate like a spinning plate
Bouncing off the surface of the water satisfyingly several times
My son selected another stone from his small pile
Slowly drawing his arm back to the side
Swinging around and releasing with good form
The stone spinning away from him in an unpredictable direction to the right
But skipping three times upon the clear water
Making us both cheer out loud
A couple more throws by both of us
And our handful of rocks was gone
Leaving nothing else to do but to look for more
With the Spring sun warming the backs of our necks
As we walked the water's edge with our heads bowed
Scanning the sand in front of our feet
Looking for just the right stones for skipping
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