We've got sand in our shoes. The truth of the matter is, Bill, it's pretty difficult to explain that to anyone who doesn't know what it means. It means a land covered with sunlight … warm and soft. It means pink and white houses … and purple bougainvillea and scarlet hibiscus … It means palm trees … big fat porpoises playing in Biscayne Bay … and folks fishing from the bridges all day. Slim pale yachts and bustling motorboats, and hundreds of little sails fluttering like white butterflies over the water. Big smug liners and the battered freighters. Friendly faces— and never too big a hurry. And the skyline of the city with twinkling lights embroidered against a velvety moon glow … turquoise blue waters of the ocean lapping against white beaches and always the sun shining down in kindly warmth … Bill, Sand in Your Shoes means … well it means Sand in Your Shoes … that's what it means.

—DAMON RUNYON,
in a letter to a friend in Hollywood