3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
Having walked too far on a hot day with no breeze, I flopped face down on my red beach blanket. Past the lifeguards' 5pm final whistle, most people were gone except for surf fishermen, me, and a family with watermelon themed chairs and matching beach umbrella.
Uncomfortable, I turned onto my back to watch the clouds when I heard a voice say, "The eagles are thirsty." My mind immediately thought of spy books, movies, and TV shows where simple phrases are used as code for something far more sinister.
Silence for ten minutes, clouds gathering and dispersing, putting on quite the show until I heard the voice again, "The eagles are more thirsty." Curious, I looked and saw a boy with a yellow bucket solemnly going to and from the ocean's edge with water for two seagulls.
Like the boy with the clamshells, this kid's mother tried to get him to do other things by repeatedly saying his name, Preston, telling him what to do so she could take photos. He was even younger but on a mission to take care of thirsty eagles.
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