Jamie was minding her own business taking a sunset stroll along the sea when she happened to glance upward. Not too far above her head fluttered a beautiful red leaf. She stared at it for a long moment. Odd, there were no trees anywhere near. What’s more, this kind of leaf didn’t belong to any of the trees in these parts. Odd, too, it failed to fall; it just hung there, wiggling, dancing, jerking a bit. “Catch me,” the leaf’s dance seemed to say. “Go on, I dare you, catch me.”

Jamie was up for this challenge. She crouched low, then leapt high, arm outstretched, fingers reaching...

The leaf at the last instant eluded her, whisking itself just enough upward to avoid Jamie’s grasp.

Feet back on the soft sand, Jamie scowled.

“Don’t got it in yuh?” the leaf taunted. “Go on, give her another go.”

Jamie pretended not to be interested. She took a deep breath, staring down at the sand, then, suddenly, leapt upward again, higher than before, her body straining skyward.

To no avail. The leaf jittered, twisting itself, so that Jamie’s fingers almost but didn’t quite graze the leaf’s slender stem.

“That was a close one,” the leaf admitted, once Jamie was again to ground. “You know what your problem is?”

“What?” asked Jamie, only a bit embarrassed to find herself talking to a leaf.

“Too much clothes. That extra weight weighs you down.”

“Hah, too much clothes! Hah!” scoffed Jamie. “My bikini top can’t weigh more than an ounce. The bottoms half that.”

“That ounce and a half of excess might be making the difference,” the leaf suggested. “Go ahead, strip. What have you got to lose?”

Jamie looked about. No one near. She shrugged out of her bikini top. Pushed the bottoms down and off.

“What a beautiful bare body you have,” said the leaf. “Lovely breasts. A perfect ass. Whew! I’ve seen a lot of bathing beauties in my time, but you ... Whew!”

While the leaf was busy extolling Jamie’s charms, Jamie jumped. Never had she jumped so high. The leaf was right, that bikini had been limiting. She practically soared. But again her hands snagged not the leaf but thin, seaside air.

Jamie landed on her bottom. The leaf laughed.

“When you jumped your breasts bobbled so deliciously. My goodness but that was special, something I’ll remember forever. Your hair, too, the way it flew ... but you know what? That hair could be what’s keeping you from catching me. I bet if you cut it all off.”

“I don’t have scissors with me,” Jamie stated. “Any anyway, I don’t think you’re real. I think you’re nothing but a hologram. A trick of light.”

“Fine,” said the leaf. “I’ll prove I’m real. Hold out your hands.”

Jamie held out her hands.

Slowly, the leaf settled downward. More. More. It hung in the air, no more than a foot above Jamie’s head.

“Go ahead, take me,” the leaf said. “Crush me. Crumble me. Have you way with me.”

Jamie sat there. The leaf stayed still.

“Please,” the leaf said. “I’m begging you.”

Jamie sighed. “What would I want with a leaf?”

“Don’t be that way,” the leaf said. “Come on. I need you to—”

At that instant a gull swooped down out of nowhere, snatched the leaf, and flew off.

“Probably leaf’s going to be in that bird’s nest,” Jamie said to herself, once gull and leaf were out of sight. “A diaper for six bird babies.”

The tide had carried Jamie’s swimsuit out to sea, and the sun had set. Jamie waded out far enough so the waves washed her clean of sand, then strolled on home.