We Are All Crew

Thank you to my dear friend JL for inspiring this one by asking how Seb celebrates Earth Day. The title is from one of my favorite quotes: “There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.” – Marshall McLuhan

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He could tell from a distance when it happened. Far off along the shoreline, Seb stood braced against the wind under the clear blue sky. His feet were wide apart, his shoulders thrown back, one of his green-gloved hands clutching his steel stick as if it were a harpoon, and the trash bag dangling from his other fist like a victorious hunter’s prized kill. (Of course, Zain didn’t intend to share that comparison. Seb would hate it.) From where Zain was, he couldn’t make out his facial expression, but he just knew Seb was glaring gloriously. Not at the ocean. At the island, with all its inhabitants and tourists.

Then he spun on his heel and stalked back towards Zain. Small explosions of sand flew up each time his feet hit the beach. Sunlight glistened off the wet spike at the end of his stick. It truly looked like a weapon now. Zain licked his lips. Yes, come to me, my boy.

The view only got better and better until, a few yards away, Seb threw the trash bag down next to a rock and stabbed the stick into the sand so hard it vibrated when he let go. “Look at this!” he said, snapping his gloves off.

“I see it,” said Zain. He let his gaze have free roam from Seb’s gorgeous face, flushed with anger, to his toes, and every inch in between. “Nice.”

“No, it’s not, and stop ogling me, you salaud!”

Zain grinned. “Babe, that’s like telling the ocean not to be wet. Especially with you….” He swept his hand through the air, which he felt was enough of an explanation.

Seb’s chest rose and fell as he pointed at the trash bag. “Look at that,” he demanded. “It’s full! From just that stretch of beach! Do people not know this is supposed to be paradise? And don’t give me that ‘it washes up from elsewhere’ merde, because a lot of it was Hawaiian brands!”

“It’s awful,” Zain agreed, still smiling. “Why don’t I take a video of you lecturing them all about it, so we can post it to YouTube?” And I can have this on film.

“Like it’ll help.” Seb looked down at the trash bag in disgust. “People just don’t care what they’re doing to the earth or the animals.” His lower lip stuck out as some of the anger clouded over with sadness.

“Aw, habibi.” Zain pulled his own gloves off and stuck them in his pocket before he came forward to catch Seb’s waist. “A lot of people care. You and I do. That’s why we’re out here, right?”

Moving into the circle of his arms, Seb sighed. “But it never gets any better. I swear, every year is worse and worse.”

Zain had to admit, he didn’t remember managing to fill an entire bag with litter quite so quickly last year. He rubbed Seb’s pointy shoulder blades and chewed on the problem.

Suddenly, Seb tensed against him. “Z, there’s people behi–” His breath caught in Zain’s ear. “Oh.”

Zain kept a firm grip on his boy as he turned them both sideways so he could see what was so unusual about these people, other than the fact that they’d come to one of Oahu’s most secluded beaches early on a Sunday morning. He half-expected to get an eyeful of naked bodies.

But while they were barely more than specks against the lush jungle mountains surrounding the cove, they all clearly had clothes on. He counted five of them in total—two adults and three children—before he spotted what Seb had seen. The man was carrying a black sack, and the kids darted across the sand, occasionally bending to pick things up and running to deposit whatever they’d found into the bag. The woman swung a stick that looked metal.

“Didn’t you already go down there?” Seb asked.

“No, I never got that far.”

As they watched, the woman raised her arm and waved at them.

Zain returned the greeting. Then he smiled at Seb. “See, babe? We’re not the only ones who care.”

“I guess not.” His lips turned up, too. “They remind me of my family. We always took litter gear whenever we went to the beach.”

“Hippies,” Zain said fondly. He jerked his head at Seb’s trash bag and his own, half-full one, a few yards away. “Let’s go take care of these. I think they’ve got the rest covered.”

“D’accord.”

They each gathered their bags and sticks in one hand. Then Zain grabbed Seb’s free hand with his and intertwined their fingers as they walked between the tide pools. He let his mind replay Seb advancing on him like the bringer of hellfire. Yeah, handling the garbage would have to wait a while when they got home. “I love Earth Day,” he said.

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Learn about plastic pollution and how you can help end it. Seb will thank you.