The Thing About Flip Flops

Chapter Four: We Risk It All For Some Taco Bell

"I'm wearing flip-flops in the snow and I don't give a single fuck!" Jenna sings a made-up jingle at the top of her lungs as the four of us walk back to school from going and getting Taco Bell for lunch.

Flip flops. My dad once told me something about them. It was years and years ago, but I still remember what he said as clear as if it had been said yesterday.

We were on a trip to some beach, walking along the beach to get dinner at some random seafood restaurant.

It was low tide, so you could run horizontally along the beach for a super long distance that was usually covered by water. I was wearing a purple sundress, twirling around in the light of the sunset and splashing in the shallow waves with my twin brother and older sister as our dad laughed and took photos.

We were probably going to be late for our reservation, but we were having so much fun that we didn't care.

Then all of a sudden I went a little too deep in the water and my foot got wedged in the sand. I cried out, trying to pull my foot from where it was stuck, but a wave crashed over me, knocking me underneath the salty water.

My foot twisted painfully and I yelped, accidentally inhaling a mouthful of water and gagging. I was able to wrench my foot from the sand with the help of my family and make it out of the water, going to our dad and hugging him as tight as I could as I coughed up the seawater.

"Aud, Aud, are you okay?" Henry cried, hugging my head and trying to pull me away from our dad so I would hug him instead. My sister Genevieve looked terrified as well.

"I'm okay," I choked out. "I'm fine."

"You lost your shoe!" Genevieve noticed, and ran towards the ocean to try and look for my missing flip-flop.

"Genevieve!" Dad called out. "Get back here, it's dangerous. I don't want you getting hurt as well." My sister sighed but listened to him and came back.

I had finally gotten my coughing under control, so I said, "But Dad, what about my shoe?"

He laughed and picked me up on his back, piggyback style. "Here, if I carry you like this then you won't have to walk with only one shoe.

"Me too, me too!" Henry raised his arms up to be carried but Dad just chuckled.

"I can't carry both of you! And look Henry buddy, you've got both your shoes and your sister here only has one."

So Henry had taken off one of his own flip flops and before Dad could do anything to stop him, he'd purposely chucked it as far as he could towards the sea.

"Henry!" Genevieve scolded him, only eleven but still annoyed. "You're such an idiot."

Henry blew a raspberry at her and tackled her to the ground, trying to make her give him a piggyback ride since Dad was busy carrying me.

"Stop it, both of you!" I giggled as Dad bounced me up and down playfully.

We had reached the restaurant, but the waiter actually turned us away because Henry and I were each only wearing one shoe.

"Sorry, but it's the policy," he shrugged apologetically, pointing to a sign that read "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service".

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" Henry yelled loudly, making Dad wince and tell him to be quiet and be polite.

"Come on kids, lets see if we can find you shoes at grocery store or a gift shop or something," He suggested reasonably, leading us out the door of the stupid restaurant.