By Marilyn Kays
The Des Moines Marina and park area continues to be a place of startling events.
I was walking along the park bulkhead when, suddenly, at my feet, ten wavy fingers grabbed my attention. Was someone calling for help? I thought briefly about looking over the railing but decided against it. I hurried to the small walking bridge so I could see what was going on.
There, almost hidden from everyone in the park, was a person doing balance and strengthening exercises on a giant pile of rocks.
From the park, all I had seen was that brief flutter of fingers above the bulkhead.
From the tide pools, I watched from a distance for about 30 to 45 minutes as he stretched, balanced on one foot, and worked with exercise bands, sometimes with his arms in the air on one leg. It looked like something I might have seen on the TV program “Fear Factor,” only this time the scene was a pile of barnacled rocks at low tide.
The longer I watched, the more the rocks began to look like a natural open-air theater. I could imagine people gathering along the tide pools to watch an outdoor performance of balance, strength, and nerve.
One more unexpected turn on an ordinary morning walk.
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