Chapter Eleven; The Beach

Ryan woke up as soon as he could, he had then gathered all the supplies he needed for the beach. “Towel, beach chair, boogie board, goggles, swimsuit, sun glasses.” He packed them all in a tote bag, and went downstairs to pack a few sandwiches, “PB&J? Check. Cucumber and cream cheese? Check. Ham and cheese?” Check Check.”

He packed them all in the tote bag with a few juice boxes, and sunscreen. He then went into his garage to get the large beach umbrella, and a small foldable table. Their car was back from the shop, so they could pack all the large items in the trunk. He went to the other side of his garage to fetch his Igloo Cooler.

He took the cooler upstairs and filled it to the brim with popsicles. He grabbed all of his supplies and loaded it into the trunk of the car. His mom came downstairs into the garage and hopped into the car, “Ready to go?” “Yep” He replied. They drove down the street to pick up Lucy too, when the got there she had a rubber bag over her arm to keep water from seeping in. She sat in the seat next to Ryan and they drove to the beach.

When they got there, the beach was very empty from lack of people. They could see why because the beach was very hot. So they set up their umbrella, the mini table, chairs, and the cooler so they had a nice shady hut. They all sat down and ate a popsicle and drank some juice.

They waited 30 minutes before going in the water so they didn’t get cramps. After the 30 minute timer dinged, they all got in the water and had lots of fun. Body surfing, shell finding, boogie boarding, and splashing around. They swam around for two hours and took a break to play in the sand and tan.

His mom tanned while Lucy and him made a sand castle. They had built four towers, a drawbridge, a large door, and a moat. The tower was huge, almost two feet tall! They were almost done, shells just needed to be added. Lucy got a bucket, and walked along the shore to find shells. Ryan was sculpting around the tops of the castles were the shells would go. It was getting hotter by the minute, “98, 99, 100!” screamed his mother looking at her phone.

A bead of sweat dropped of of Lucy’s face and she wiped it away. Her bucket was half of shells, all a peachy pink color. She added one more shell, and sent it back to Ryan. He sculpted the last detail on his tower and grabbed the bucket of shells to add to the tower.

Lucy went back to the hut to eat a popsicle, she opened the cooler and half of the pops were gone! She heard a snicker behind her and whipped around to see five boys all with popsicles in their hands. They fell over laughing and dropped the popsicles. Lucy had anger problems, and she was furious. She grabbed a bucket of  water from the ocean and came back with the boys still laughing. She poured the bucket of salty water over their laughing faces. They stood up covering their eyes and screaming as they ran away. Lucy gathered the popsicles, and put them back in the cooler. She smiled, and went back to the sand castle.

When she got there, Ryan was lying on the ground gasping and gagging, he couldn’t breath. Lucy ran back to the hut to tell his mom what was happening. “Ryan’s mom! It’s an emergency!” “What is there sand in your eyes?” she said sarcastically. “No! Ryan stopped breathing!” She then stood up and ran to Ryan’s side, he was unconscious.

She ran back to her hut and called 911, “911, what is your emergency?” “My son stopped breathing at greenwood beach!” They told her to stay patient and they would be there as fast as possible. They put him on a gurney and rushed to the hospital.

Lucy called her mom to come pick her up, she had tears in her eyes. When her mom came she stayed quiet the entire car ride. They got to there house and she felt calm. She went into her room and laid on her bed. She went to sleep for a while until she was awaken to the sound of the salamander next to her. He was patting the side of the cage with his head. And then, she started to cry, crying until she realized, they were not wearing sunscreen.