Hundred Words

Two

Two

I stood outside, waiting for Eli and Mia to follow me out the back door. A wasp buzzed by my face, it's wings whirring loudly to support it's striped body, and I raised the can of spray-on sunscreen as I ducked, as if it were a weapon.

Eli came dancing out past the back door, waving a pool noodle and a bucket of sand toys. "We're goin' to the beach, we're goin' to the beach!"

I grabbed his arm, quickly tried to administer the sunscreen, knowing how much he hated the oily feeling. I had learned from weekly experience; either spray him quickly, or get beat with a pool noodle.

In the face.

Repeatedly.

"Hey!" He shouted, but I was already done and moving on to Mia, who stood quietly, trying to be the best behaved fourth grader, ever. By the time I was done, both kids were ready to go, and one was ready to start whacking me with his sand bucket. I dodged out of Eli's reach, opening the screened back door quickly to grab Max and the cooler.

"Mom!" I yelled, trying to speed up the process of leaving. " We're ready! I got the dog, and I'm grabbing the cooler."

" 'Kay, be there in a sec."

I turned around, and so did Max, his claws scrabbling on the tiles of the kitchen floor as he used his nose to pry open the door. As soon as he was outside, his tail wagging with excitement, he gave each of my siblings a lick on their hand, then raced over to me with a pleading look on his face, before running away with such force that his leash ripped away from my hand.

"Maxy!"

Wag.

"You better stick close, you hear me?"

Wag.

I hoped wag meant yes.

After a quick moment of me debating if I should just go and take hold of Max's leash, mom stepped outside and started locking up the house,her ring of keys making a harsh, metallic tinkling sound.

"Okay guys, let's go!" she alerted the younger kids, their eyes glowing in excitement, even though we went to the beach every Friday as a family, weather permitting.

I worked my way across the back patio and toward the weathered wood stairs to the beach. The top wood planks were worn smooth from the wind and rain, as well as my family's hands that have endlessly been run across the wood, never heeding my mom's or dad's warnings of:"You'll get splinters if you keep that up, Eli," or: "Mia, you stop that right now!"

Even now, I find satisfaction in running my hands along the fence.

The faded wood walkway gently slopes down to my amazing "backyard", a sliver of Florida's Daytona Beach. Down the hill behind my house,brown and green bushy plants and shrubs seem to claw their way to our pathway, but evolve into more welcoming ferns and mosses when they reach the wooden supports, making the walk down a great time to marvel at the lush Southern wildlife.

When I was seven, I found a treefrog resting on the fence, clearly tired out from his night of catching his dinner. I still have the moment framed in my bedroom, my mouth spread wide in a toothy grin, my freckles seeming more prominent in the picture then they have ever been in my entire life. My dad loves to remind me how I was so sad to see him go, I started crying, so much that my dad was forced to track down an ice cream vendor far down the beach, and then return to calm me down.

I like to pretend that the last part never happened.

Now, as I rush down the wooden stairs, these memories help fuel my excitement and speed; that, and the fear that Max will catch up to me and scratch my heels on accident as he runs behind me. The dry wood beneath me starts to prick the soles of my feet with tiny grains of sand to start, and slowly the sand starts to make my toes scrunch up with minor disgust, similarly to how Jess reacts to scratches on a chalkboard.

The beach comes into focus, and I run the few feet separating me from the white sand. My father waves to me from the towels and beach chair she was setting up, and I run past, depositing my towel, sun screen,and a hug for my dad before sprinting toward the water. Max follows me, that is, until he gets bored of trailing behind and quickly overtakes my stride, ending up a few yards ahead of me and splashing noisily into the foamy water with a huge, arcing leap.

I check my wrist for my goggles. I've learned not to act cool and think it is okay to not wear goggles, because given the choice between stinging, salty eyes and perfectly pain-free eyes, I prefer pain-free.

For a moment, I stare down at my feet, the cool, clear water gently washing the dry sand away, traces of the white airy foam sticking to the top of my toes. Before I know it, two more pairs of feet lining up next to mine. I look up, and see two goggled pairs of eyes looking up at me. Eli takes both Mia's and my hands.

His blonde hair is being ruffled in the wind as he speaks."We're gonna jump now. Over the waves. Okay?'

I nod my head, eager to get this game over with so I can go swimming,and diving for smooth rocks, and yet touched and thankful that my brother is so kind and thinks of Mia and I as his best friends.

So we jumped, right there, the three of us holding hands.