The next morning, Matilda found herself once again walking over the cool sand of the beach. Yesterday she, Jack and Skylar had dug a series of deep holes and used the sand to construct castles, patting the sand down until it felt as hard as concrete. By now the tide had eaten away at the castles and filled in the holes they had dug. That was the thing about nature. It always moved on, always smoothed over with time. Only the scars of the castles and dimples of the once – deep craters remained.
She wondered if it would smooth over the wounds of Jack’s passing in the same way.
--
Matilda returned to the house to a heated conversation regarding activities for the day. Silently she took a bowl of muesli and sat at the table.
“Well. I saw a beach riding trip advertised on the fridge. It’s just down the road a little and we can walk there. Anybody else in?” Garland drummed her fingers on the edge of the table excitedly.
“Riding? Like quads?” Kyle leaned forward in his chair.
“No, Kyle. Horses. Why would I want to ruin the beautiful beach atmosphere with quads?” She rolled her eyes.
“Because quads are better than horses. Duh.” He retorted with a mouthful of bacon. Garland’s head whipped around to glare at Kyle, an angry response already forming on her lips.
“Horse riding sounds great! I’ve never been on a horse before. Live life, right? Thanks Garland. Let’s book now.” Jack interrupted before the argument got out of hand. Garland smirked, drew her phone out and danced away to find the pamphlet. Kyle sulked with his arms crossed over his chest.
Matilda smiled to herself and twisted a ringlet of hair around her finger. Beach riding would be fun. Down the table Seth and Skylar were playing chicken with a can of raspberry drink, taking turns to flick the tab toward the other to see who would end up with a bit of aluminium in the eye. Skylar flicked the tab. Nothing. Seth flicked it back. Nothing. Skylar. Seth. Flick. Flick. Finally Seth managed to flick it hard enough to break the tab off and it shot towards Skylar. She shrieked and covered her face to protect her eyes from the projectile.
“Hey kids! What’s up?” David walked in, weighed down by plastic bags of groceries. Evidently he had noticed that his stockpile wouldn’t be sufficient for a month with multiple teenage boys in the house.
“We’re going horse riding,” Garland reappeared and said smugly, slipping the phone into her pocket. “We got the morning session. Starts in an hour and a half.”
David gave Jack a concerned glance.
“Sounds great! What do we wear?” Jack asked and stood carefully to hide his bad balance.
“Clothes you can swim in, apparently. Long pants if you want.” Garland read from the pamphlet.
Slowly the teenagers dispersed up the stairwell in varying shades of moodiness regarding Garland’s decisiveness. Only Jack seemed to be genuinely excited to be horse riding. Matilda skipped to where he was waiting at the bottom of the stairwell for the others to ascend before he made his own gradual progress to the third floor. She linked her elbow with his and picked her way up the stairs.
“You pumped to cowboy up, Clancy?” Matilda asked him. A curl slipped from behind her ear and hung in front of her eye, obscuring her vision of Jack’s expression.
“Yeah man. Ready to live what I’ve got left of my life.” He laughed breathily.
“Ready indeed.”
YOU ARE READING
Jack's Last Summer
Teen Fiction"I guess that's the thing about time. It might not heal wounds; but it does smooth them over." When Jack Summers is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he chooses quality over quantity and refuses therapy. He instead decides to invite four of his best f...
