Beach House

Beach House By Amanda Stogsdill

April showers bring May flowers. What a crazy saying! I can't stand flowers, and April showers aren't exactly beautiful. I’m terrified of storms!

"Who can tell me what these are?" Mr. Dawes held up a colorful picture of dark clouds.

"Cumulus clouds." Eddy, my best friend, raised his hand. He loved everything to do with weather, often boring us with daily weather reports. Naturally, he wanted to be a reporter.

"Very good. Who knows what happens when these clouds appear?"

Rain! I thought. Loud noisy rain, with even louder thunder! Tuning out his explanation of how clouds form because of moisture, which releases water, I daydreamed about our first weekend of the summer.

We were going to the beach. I'd never been, so was eagerly looking forward to the trip. As soon as school let out, I hurried to the bus. Each stop seemed to take forever, until it was finally mine. Dashing down our long driveway, I practically broke down the door in my excitement.

"Hey!" I yelled, which was against the rules, "When will we leave?"

"Soon, and no shouting." Mom appeared, laundry basket in her arms, a frazzled expression on her face. "Hurry up and start packing. Alicia's nearly done." Thundering up the stairs to my room, I said a quick hello to my younger sister.

The journey took forever. Mom drove carefully, avoiding big trucks when one approached. Ever since a car accident killed Dad two years ago, she's been extra cautious on the road.

"See? There!" Alicia excitedly pointed to the house we'd be staying in. Between two trees, it sat back from the road, surrounded by a fence. With its tin roof, it reminded me of a log cabin; the only difference was that it was made of bricks, and painted a dark red.

After picking out our bedrooms, we had grilled cheese and apples for dinner. I was pleased Alicia and I wouldn't be sharing a room. "Where's the beach?" I asked.

"Just down the path. We'll go in the morning!" Mom was just as excited as I was. She kept wiping her forehead with a cloth, the heat was a bit much.

"Where's the A C?" I asked. She shook her head; I couldn't believe it. How will we survive? I groaned aloud. "You'll get used to it." Mom answered. Not helpful right now! I silently thought.

After unpacking the next morning, Alicia and I spent the rest of the day exploring our house, inside and out. Alicia discovered the beach path; I met our neighbors the Hamiltons, who lived there year round. They were sort of rude, saying the last people who'd stayed in our house hadn't been pleasant.

The beach was awesome; pebbly sand and crashing waves always thrill me. And it was so quiet! I yelled something, my voice bounced back to me. Alicia and I spent that afternoon collecting shells and any colorful objects the beach chose to give us. Walking home, I breathed in the salty sea air.

We heard the voices of the Hamiltons as we entered. "Your kids better behave." Mrs. Hamilton was saying.

"Hi Mom, Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton." We set down our treasures, and turned to leave.

"Just a second!" Mrs. Hamilton narrowed her eyes at me. "You, boy, I'd better not catch you anywhere near our greenhouse. Do you understand?" I nodded, wondering if the other neighbors' children had damaged it. "As for you, you'd better not pick my flowers!" Pointing, she glared at my sister, who also nodded that she'd understood. Next, they both requested we not throw rocks through their windows like the last kids had done. "And stick to the path. Please don't wander off."

"Phew. Those are some neighbors!" Mom was very relieved once they'd gone. "I doubt we'll see them much." I discovered she was both right and wrong about that.

The first couple weeks passed uneventfully. Strolling along the beach, swimming, chasing seagulls, and exploring some nearby woods kept us occupied from morning till evening. Mom wasn't worried; we always stayed close by. She spent her time with our more friendly neighbors playing cards, or reading in the library. The Aldens had a baby boy named Chris. Alicia loved him, I only like them when they grow out of their terrible twos!

Mom also had a secret weapon—an obnoxiously loud bell. "It came with the house." She said, ringing it for us. "Owwww! That hurts." We complained, covering our ears. We discovered its fully powerful volume when we heard it all the way on the beach.

Then, something happened which made me have second thoughts about this vacation. Returning from a walk in the woods, Alicia pointed to something up ahead. "See that light?" Craning my neck, I glimpsed a light through the thick trees. Moving closer, Alicia screamed. "I see them!" I had too—someone was watching us!

"What did you see exactly?" As we ate fish and macaroni and cheese, we told Mom everything. "Someone was watching us through the trees." I explained, dipping a breaded fillet in ketchup and hot sauce.

"I saw the back of his head." Alicia confirmed, "It was a person." Mom, annoyed, said to forget about it. Maybe they were just out exploring, like us.

"They shouldn't have run away!" I replied, making my point, "Whoever they were, they were spying!"

Crash! I awoke with a start, eyes wide. What was that? Boom! I recognized the sounds of a thunderstorm! Sighing, I rolled over, pulling the blankets over my head. I hate even looking at them! The one good thing about it was the loud rain hitting the tin roof! If only the thunder and lightning would disappear, tonight could be perfect! Closing my eyes, I slowly fell asleep.

"Over here!" Waving to attract my attention, Alicia grinned, still pointing. Abandoning observing a seagull nest, I wandered over. "A shack!" There it was, old, covered in sand, and looking like it hadn't had humans living in it for ages. The squeaky door opened easily; a sour smell greeted us. The floorboards creaked under our feet; our eyes adjusted to the dim light. "Empty." I said, slightly disappointed. The single room contained no clue to show who'd owned it. We returned to the sunny beach, leaving the sad house.

"Let's go to the library!" Mom suggested on Saturday, "They have A C." Cheering, we packed a lunch and walked to town. Inside the cool library, I found an S. E. Hinton book I hadn't read yet. Alicia was reading in the children's section, Mom was browsing the magazines. Checking out our books, we ran into the Aldens. After exchanging quiet small talk, we planned to meet up for dinner in a nearby restaurant.

During dinner, I ask them about the shack, but they weren't much help. "The beach has lots of treasures. No one knows how they got there." Mr. Alden said, as if that explained it.

Alicia and I decided to call the shack our own. With orange and blue paint found in our shed, we transformed the sad building into a sort of colorful clubhouse. With a blanket on the floor, we spent hours reading, painting pictures on the walls (literally), people watching, and arranging our treasures around the room. With no other kids to share it with, the house quickly became ours.

As the house was getting fixed, little gifts mysteriously turned up outside its door. It started with some wood and nails to fix the broken roof, followed by a coral wreath to hang on the door. I’d never seen coral in a wreath before, it was kind of cool. Better than the Christmas ones. Alicia found the final surprise—a beach ball! We wondered who had sent them; no one knew about the shack.

One Friday evening, Mom announced we were baby-sitting for the Aldens. Grabbing our library books, we drove to their house. With the windows down, the breeze was a welcome relief from the stifling summer heat.

"Are you set?" Mom asked Mrs. Alden. They were going to see friends or something.

"Yes, thanks. Chris should be easy for you. He's just been fed, so hopefully will sleep until we get back."

"Great." Mom said. Already bored, I began reading my book. Mrs. Alden was right, Chris did sleep, only waking up a couple times during our long stay.

I should have known the sunny weather wouldn't cooperate for long. One particularly cloudy afternoon, we were once again on the beach. We'd ventured farther than usual that day, so didn't hear Mom's bell. Binoculars around my neck, I was gazing out at the waves, which had become choppy as the wind picked up. "Come on, let's head back." I turned, then realized Alicia wasn't behind me. Sweeping my binoculars along the beach, I glimpsed her just ahead of me, digging in the sand. Plop, plop! Great! Raindrops. I shouted her name, but heard only silence. Glancing at the darkening sky, I hurried after her. "There you are. Let's go." I pointed impatiently at the rain slowly coming down. It was warm, but I wasn't staying out here any longer than necessary.

"Okay." Scooping up her shells, she hurried after me. Reaching the path, I sped up as the rain increased, turning cold and hard like ice chips or something. "Hurry up." I called, then stopped. "Alicia, where'd you go?" She was right behind me, but now, I couldn't see her. Beating myself up for not holding her hand, I set off again, thinking where she might be. As thunder rumbled and lightning flashed across the gloomy sky, I quickened my pace even more. Reaching our shack, I raced inside. She was inside, clutching her knee, which was bleeding. "I fell!" She whispered. I look around, but can't find anything to wipe off the blood. Thoroughly soaked and terrified, I was about to just give up and return home when we heard our names. "Whose that?" Alicia asked.

Shaking my head, I opened the door to Mr. Hamilton! "Come on, kids. Your mother's worried."

"I fell." Alicia showed him her leg. Taking a bandana from his pocket, he pressed it against the cut, stopping the blood. I guess it wasn't as bad as it looked. Dreading the storm, I took several deep breaths, then followed Mr. Hamilton out into the downpour.

“How did you find us?” I asked, pushing sopping hair out of my eyes. Mr. Hamilton placed a hand on each of our shoulders, guiding us through the storm.

“We’ve been watching you most days.” He admitted, “You’re nicer than the last crowd.”

“Did you leave the gifts?” Alicia asked as lightning lit up the sky. He nodded, then turned towards our house. Breathing a huge sigh of relief, my only thought was to get out of the storm!

"There you are! Didn't you hear that bell?" Mom demanded, both worried and angry. Shaking our heads, we admitted we'd gone a different way. "Thank you, Mr. Hamilton." Mom shook his hand, Alicia and I watched, wondering what he'd tell her.

"Your kids are great. Just be careful next time. Don't wander off the path!" He warned again. With those words, he disappeared into the storm.

We explain to Mom how he'd found us, and brought us home. Still fussing, she too lectured us about listening for the bell. We both didn't mention our shack, wanting that to be our secret. Staying inside, I'd felt safe, like the storm couldn't hurt us.

Another summer's almost gone. "School supply shopping next week!" Mom's so cheerful, like most parents are when their kids start school. As long as our next science project isn't about weather, I'll be okay. Storms are less terrifying than before. I no longer cover my head at night. I just hope to never be caught out in one ever again.

The End