The 50 Day Bucket List

Go to the Beach

Small waves hit the sand by my feet, “It’s been so long since I’ve been to the beach. There really aren’t any around.”

Claire nodded, “This is the only one I’ve been to. I kind of like how quiet it is.”

“Not many people come out here. There are a couple other families with lake houses near here, but we never seem to be here at the same time. One family has a row boat. We used it once, it was small, but pretty fun. We should go see if they are here, we could probably all fit in it.”

Chloe stood up and dusted herself off. Claire and I did the same.

Chloe slid her phone in my pocket, “I’m just going to let my mom know where we are going before me leave.”

I stretched out quickly since we had been sitting for so long.  Chloe’s phone beeped.

“We can go.”

“Awesome,” said Claire.

We walked along the beach for a few minutes before turning into the woods and heading towards another cabin in the distance. The cabin was quite far from the lake to have a boat though.

“Where do they keep the boat? Do they have to carry it down here every time?”

“No, there is a little shed at the end of their property that has the boat right by the lake. When the lake was full the water came right up to the shed, but now they have to carry it a little ways.”

“That makes sense,” I said.

The forest was quiet, the only sound being the crunching of leaves beneath our feet. A small car sat next to the cabin when we arrived.

Chloe nocked on the door which was answered by a middle aged man, “Chloe! I haven’t seen you in so long! How have you been feeling?”

“I’ve been pretty good. Nothing has gotten worse or better, I’ve been pretty stable.”

“That’s not too bad. I see you’ve brought friends.”

“Yes,” she said pointing to each of us and saying our names, “This is Claire who I met a few years ago, and this is Olivia my new friend from after I moved. I don’t think you knew we were moving, did you?”

“No, are you in a different state now?”

“Yes we are, but Olivia’s been showing me around.”

“Well, that is good. You girls want to come in?”

“Sure! We just wanted to ask a favor.”

“Of course!” He led us into the cabin’s main room and we sat down on the couch and he in a chair nearby. “What can I do?”

“We were wondering if we could borrow your boat.”

“That’s fine. The girls and Marcy won’t be here until tomorrow, so knock your selves out. I don’t have any use for it today. I’m just finishing up a little work and relaxing before I am overrun by girls.”

I laughed along with the other three in the room.

“The girls can’t be that bad,” laughed Chloe.

“They are starting to get into the girly stuff now. Carly is going to be in middle school next year, so she’s starting to want the popular clothes and makeup and is starting to talk about boys.”

“Already? The girls are starting earlier and earlier now.”

He nodded, “Are you going back to school this year or are you going to learn from home?”

“As of right now, I am going to be studying from home, but it depends on how high my counts are and how quickly they are rising. I probably won’t go since I would have to be out a lot for chemo.”

“That’s true. Well, I’ll let you guys go use the boat. The shed should be unlocked since I was trying to find something in there earlier today. The life vests are hanging up on the wall.”

“Thank you so much Mr. Roach,” said Chloe standing up, Claire and I following suit.

We left with a wave and headed back to Chloe’s cabin. Back in our shared room we changed into our suits and shed our wigs.

We raced out to the beach, Chloe calling out to her mom as we went out the door, “We’ll be at the lake, and I have my phone!”

“Have fun girls!” she called back right as the door slammed closed.

The path to the beach felt sharp against the soles of my feet. Sticks poked at me as we ran, but when we got to the beach, the sand was soft and warm on my feet.

Chloe pointed to the shed that was surrounded by trees. I ran through the rising tide, the cold water chilling my feet. I felt better than ever, free.

Chloe fiddled with the door and opened it revealing a very clean shed with a boat sitting in the middle upside down on a folding table. Chloe went into the shed, “Claire, you take the middle of the boat.” I took the closest end while Claire went into the shed and took hold of the middle. “Now, lift on the count of three. One, two, three…”

I lifted the boat up and stepped backwards out of the shed. Once we were all out of the shed, Chloe spoke again, “Now lift it above your head, it’s easier to carry up there. Ready, go.”

I lifted the boat above my head and laughed. Claire and Chloe joined me on my laughing, “Why are we laughing?” asked Claire.

“I’m not even sure. I just feel so free. I’ve never felt free like this. It’s amazing!” The water ticked my toes as we made it to the water.

“Now, we are going to squat and turn the boat over to the right. Ready? Go!”

We all squatted almost at the same time and tried to flip it over, but it didn’t work very well.

Once it was down, Chloe ran back to the shed, Claire and I at her heels. Chloe shoved two paddles at me and gave Claire a life jacket, taking two for herself. She shut the shed and followed Claire and I back to the boat. As we neared the boat the tide rushed in, sweeping the boat into the lake. I dropped the paddles in front of myself and ran for the boat.

The water hit me like a cold sheet as I ran through the lowering water. The waves splashed against me. I heard splashing coming from behind me, but I didn’t dare look away from the boat in fear it would vanish.

Whenever I got closer to the boat, it would be shifted farther away until finally I got ahold of it.

A hand landed on my shoulder and hot breath hit my neck as Chloe panted behind me. “Gosh, I thought we were going to lose it with no way of getting it back.”

I laughed, but my lack of air caught me off guard, “Let’s get it back.”

I looked back at Chloe to see she was smiling. I moved myself to the end of the boat and faced it towards the shore. With water up to my chest, it was hard to run, but I pushed through the water, Chloe pushing beside me. Claire was on shore laughing at us as we struggled to push the tiny boat back.

“How come you didn’t help, Lazy?” called out Chloe.

On the shore, Claire stuck her tongue out started putting on her life vest, “Can I have a ride?”

“Only those who help get to!” Chloe started laughing at my statement.

“Yeah, you should have helped the Little Red Hen!”

We pushed the boat up on the sand and grabbed our life vests and jumping into the boat. We squeezed towards the front so Claire could join us.

“Have fun pushing, Claire!” I laughed.

Claire laughed and started pushing the boat then suddenly stopping. The boat was already in the water is starting to be swept away when Claire came back putting the two paddles into the boat. She gave the boat one more big push and jumped into the boat. The boat rushed forwards taking us towards the middle of the lake.

I had never felt so close to a stranger until I met these two. They were definitely different than most.