One day on the beach

We were sitting on the sand when we heard them, whispering voices back and forth among the dunes behind us. We fell silent, holding our breath, listening. Nothing save the suck of the waves along the strandline and the yelp of distant gulls. Overhead, the sky was thickening. We packed up and walked back through the dunes to the car. And there, carefully placed on the bonnet, were a perfect scallop shell and a single stalk of marram grass.