The deep, heavy mud sucked the boot right off her foot as she ran. The mud oozed between her toes and creeped up her ankle as she steadied herself with a bare foot just long enough to see the panga passing far behind her. Quickly she freed herself from the other boot, abandoning the pair in the mud of the bank. The rising tide may soon fill the boots with the dense water of the bay but she did not care. She struggled with every step as the mud seemed to consume her little feet. When she paused for a breath she saw the panga land on the opposite point. Panicked, she fought her way to road. The sand adhered to the mud that coated her bare feet as she sprinted to the house. Men were unloading squid from the panga letting it slide from their arms into the bed of Poncho’s dirty old pickup. She sneaked behind the house unseen to wash. When her father came inside five minutes later smelling like the sea, he found her sweeping the floor as little girls should while her brothers still played along the shore.