noon
Their beds at low tide are full of dead mussels , dormant clams , and awkward sputtering crabs ; the old ones sidling away from you with threatening claws wide open for combat ; the young ones standing their ground bravely , in ignorance . Swish again ! But this time I manage to kill them both -- two fat golden plovers . The Essence of Selfishness shall have her fill at noon , and the pupils of her green eyes will contract in ecstasy as she crunches and gnaws . Now all the bay is alive . Moreover , the sea is sweeping in , filling the bay like a bath-tub , obliterating the causeways under millions of dancing ripples of turquoise . Soon my decoys are out , and I am sunk in a sand-pit at the edge of the sea .