Sea Lion Shores the preacher in a t-shirt told me i could be a leader

A stream of names. His mouth parted in dismay. 

I'm Gavrel, he blurted. And I'm sorry Dinah ran off...

He wanted to make like an ostrich, bury his head in the sand.

But just a few feet away from him the spindly cross lay on the beach like a talisman from an alien civilization - and the sand no longer seemed so welcoming.

It's all my fault, he said miserably, although he wasn't sure what to believe. He cast an anxious look to the forest and prayed earnestly for the wellbeing of another for the first time in his harrowing life. Please, let that kid come back in one piece...