This summer, please leave the sea shells by the seashore

When I (Nathan Brooks English) was six years old, I snuck a starfish home from the beach and hid it in my closet. I regret that now, as my parents did then when the smell of rotting starfish overwhelmed the house. I regret it also because that starfish had a place and a purpose—and dying in a hot, dark closet next to my Hot Wheels was not it.