To play "Handshark": Flatten out one hand, fingers held tightly together, and submerge arm and wrist and palm, so that only the fingers are showing above water, forming a handshark fin. Then run this through the water while humming the theme from ''Jaws.'' When you get within range of a victim -- or another handshark -- you shout ''Handshark!'' and pounce, trying to grab your target's arm.

• If you manage to get a good hold, you win. If you miss entirely, you lose.
• If your opponent grabs back and you wind up grasping hands, it's a draw.

It's a silly game, but an entertaining thing to do at the beach.

For those who somehow stumbled in here by accident -- hi! I'm Lawrence Watt-Evans. I'm the author of more than four dozen novels and over a hundred short stories, as well as innumerable articles, comic scripts, poems, and other miscellany. This is my personal website, the Misenchanted Page; the name is a reference to my bestselling novel The Misenchanted Sword.

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