An endorsement for Venus

It was sunny and Mattie lay on her towel - her knees making a pyramid as her feet dug into the sand. The further she dug, the cooler the sand felt between her toes. She was wearing a bikini and sunglasses, but staying well under the sun umbrella. The shade was her best friend. With her hands behind her neck, she gaped at the clear blue sky hanging over her. Her mother was enjoying a mid-August read beside her. Mattie peeked at her occasionally to try and catch her dozing off and poke fun at her if she did. It was a running joke between the two that the mother would never admit to falling asleep in a public space. Out of the blue, Mattie found herself eavesdropping on the conversation taking place the next parasol over. She couldn't really make out the features of whom she figured were a late-middle-aged husband and wife, maybe taking some time away from the grandchildren. The man wore trunks and a cap to cover his scalp. The woman sat to his left, making it hard for Mattie to get a good look at her, although she could tell she was wearing a flower-patterned bathing suit and her hair was colored red. They both had their backs to Mattie, although she’d occasionally catch them glancing over their shoulders.
“It’s disgusting,” the husband hissed. 
“Oh, let it be Anthony,” the wife’s tone seemed impatient; bored.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. The audacity! Who does she think she is? Hasn’t anyone taught her any better?”
“Just let it go, honey.” The woman shifted in her beach chair, staring ahead into the sea and trying to ease her way out of the conversation.
“And you just know this is learned practice. I’m guessing her mother over there is no better.” 
The woman was done pretending to listen and her head bobbed ever so slightly to the right, so as to suggest a nap might be a good idea for the both of them.
The next time the man turned around, Mattie raised her sunglasses to the top of her head and looked straight into his eyes. Except his gaze was nowhere near her face. He was eyeing her legs, her thighs, her underarms. The look of disgust drawn on his lips was unmistakable. He didn’t even flinch after being caught in the act. Perhaps that was his intention all along. Maybe she’d learn something from it. Finally, he turned his gaze straight ahead and slumped further down into his chair, apparently resigned.
Mattie got up, decidedly, and made a point of walking right beside the old man on her way to the water. She wanted to make sure this wasn’t all in her head, that the man really had been talking about her. As she passed the couple’s spot, making no effort to minimize the amount of sand her feet kicked up with each step, his scoff was carried well into the seabed.
“What are you gonna do,” the woman sighed.
“A perfectly good beach day, ruined,” he pouted.
The man continued to shake his head as Maddie soaked first her feet, then her legs, her torso, and eventually sunk her head under as a cold salty wave rose above her and drifted towards shore. “If I drowned, that man would leave me to die,” she thought to herself. She was beginning to regret not packing a razor for the summer.