Staged for my benefit

I stood and watched as if the whole affair was being staged for my benefit.     The bird known as a seagull stood facing out to sea, first on one webbed foot then on the other.      

The water washed through my toes and as quick as it came it receded: causing my feet to sink slightly into the sand.     Not so the bird.      It began by lifting one leg up then placing it down: not advancing from where it stood-followed by the other: carrying out what looked to me as a dance.

Up down, up down - the left foot.

Up down, up down - the right foot.

I watched as this ritual continued for some five minutes; at times the bird stopped the stamping and turned its head down and then poked its beak into the sand.

Head down, head to the left-  beak into the sand.

Head down, head to the right - beak into the sand.

Then without warning or applause or an encore: the one bird show was completed.       The seagull flapped its wings: tossed back its head and was gone. 

Without looking back: I continued on my way…