With lips bluer than robin’s eggs, he stood as still as his shivers would allow, looking out at where sea and sky met, forcing his thoughts away from the water caressing his midriff.
They watched him from the shore. Some of them shouted at him at first, but they soon got tired of that. In fact, they soon go tired of the whole thing and one by one they left.
Twenty minutes after the last one left, his eyes closed and he slumped into the water. Coughing and gasping, he struggled to his feet and looked at the shore, fearing jeers and laughter. The silence was somehow worse.