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Most of the beach by the city's waterfront was disgusting.  You first notice the human debris, like plastic and broken glass and ripped shopping bags tangled in weeds.  The larger human debris is completely disheartening, like tires and bicycle parts and dumped appliances.  The industrial debris is more disturbing and harder to pinpoint, usually, but in most locations, it has been causing algae blooms, petroleum smells, and even black goo to wash repeatedly up on the shore and muck up the water.  The natural debris, while natural, still assaults the senses, especially the dead fish, rats, and sometimes even larger animals.  You could argue that it is not really natural debris because they were killed by the industrial debris, but, still, they break down eventually.

There is, however, a secret beach, where the currents seem to circulate independently of the polluted water from the city.  No smell, no garbage, no black goo.  Occasionally a dead fish, but not often.  The sand is soft and still safe to walk on with bare feet.  The water is very shallow and warms up faster than most other parts along the lake shore.  It is as perfect as it can get along this particular body of water.

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The beach sand was hot, and usually crowded nearest the lake.  Up higher, however, there was a narrow, sandy path between the clusters of sharp grass to an oasis of bright, clean sand.  It had a view of the lake and the mountains beyond, and it was angled so the throng of regular beach-goers weren't visible.  You could barely even hear them if you lie down on your beach towel.  But is was very hot, and lying up there for too long would make you sweat, so the best solution, nine-year-old Peri found, was to walk carefully from your oasis to the main path and take a long run straight into the cold, mountain lake.  Best to yell when you got close to the others at the beach so they stayed out of your way.  Run into the water, legs pumping higher as the water slowed you down, finally flopping in a semi-dive to soak your heated shoulders and hair, letting the silence of the water fill your ears, feeling the sun's heat triumphed by the water's cool embrace.