If Murdoc had his way, he'd be whiling away the hours in his Winnebago, drinking cheap whisky and falling asleep, rinse and repeat, with the occasional bass-playing session in between.
Instead he was slumped over the steering wheel of the Geep, thinking about how much he hated the beach, and how much he hated himself for losing all will to argue when the kid attached herself to his leg and looked up at him with pleading eyes.
It was a stupidly hot day and Russel thought it would be nice to take Noodle to the beach for a few hours. Noodle had been on board with the idea the second the word "beach" left his mouth and has pranced excitedly around Kong Studios, pulling on Russel and 2D's pant legs.
Then she had asked if Murdoc was coming, which put a damper on his day's plans. Normally he would have shrugged such a request off, but she wouldn't take no for an answer. She dogged his footsteps, continually asking if "Murdoc coming to beach with Noodle?" Then she'd anchored herself to his leg. And Murdoc had given in.
Now, Noodle was sprinting towards the water, kicking up sand with each footstep, 2D hot on her heels with the same juvenile excitement.
Noodle stopped running and stood still as a wave washed over her feet, the salty water refreshing her skin.
"Ohhh," she sighed.
"Nice 'n' cool, i'nt it?" 2D asked, coming up beside her. He had exchanged his pants for lime green shorts that barely extended past his thigh. "Wanna go out further?"
"Hai!"
"Dee!" Russel called. "Yous be careful and don't let her go out too far!"
2D waved in response and motioned for Noodle to take his hand.
"A'ight, you hang onto me, li'l luv, and we'll go out a bit further, shall we?"
Noodle was practically skipping as she and 2D stepped further into the waves, which slowly got bigger and bigger until the singer stopped.
"Look, there's a big 'un!" 2D pointed ahead of him, where there was indeed a big wave quickly heading towards the shore.
Just before it hit 2D held Noodle closer to him and shouted above the roar "hang on tight!"
Almost immediately the girl was wrenched from his grasp as he was mercilessly shoved backwards into the frothy water. He flailed his limbs until he felt himself come to rest on the shore, on his back, salt water stinging his nose, and a sand-coated Noodle poking his shoulder, squealing "Toochi, fun! Again!"
Just then Russel arrived, puffing, carrying two towels and looking quite annoyed. "I told you to be careful, Dee!"
"Sorry, Russ. But that was quite a monster of a wave, wasn't it Noodle?"
Russel shook his head. "And now look, you're all sandy, baby-girl! Let's go get ya cleaned up, it's nearly time for lunch." He wrapped Noodle on one of the towels and tossed the other to 2D.
"More swim?" Noodle asked, flinching as Russel tried to clean the sand off her arms and hands.
"After lunch. I got some stuff ya might like…" Russel smiled.
Noodle smiled back and took off for the Geep, leaving her towel lying in the sand. Russel picked it up and turned to 2D.
"Hurry up man, I got us all kinds of snacks."
Before they had arrived at the beach, Russel had more or less threatened Murdoc into stopping at a grocery store, where he bought lots of snack and a picnic blanket. He thought it would be a nice touch to the day if the band had a picnic on the grassy strip next to where the Geep was parked. Noodle and 2D, he could tell, loved the idea, now he just had to convince Murdoc to join in.
When he joined the others, he rolled out the picnic blanket on the grass. As 2D and Noodle seated themselves, he reached into the back of the Geep and pulled out several grocery bags full of chips, cookies, doughnuts, drinks and slices, as well as another bag full of napkins and paper plates and plastic utensils. Noodle clapped her hands in delight.
After laying everything out he turned to Murdoc.
"You gonna come eat?" He asked.
Murdoc faced the rest of his band. Russel was sitting with his arms folded, waiting for an answer. 2D was grinning up at him expectantly like the dullard he was. And Noodle…
Noodle was gazing at him, with those huge innocent eyes of hers, her lower lip jutting out in a pout. She really wanted him here, didn't she? And so Murdoc found his resolve crumbling once again.
"Oh, for the love of Satan, fine, I'll join your bloody picnic."
"Right!" 2D said as Murdoc took a seat next to him on the blanket, "I'm starvin', so let's eat!" He then grabbed a bag of chips and ripped it open.
Everything was going fine until 2D went to take a bite of his cream-filled doughnut only for a seagull to snatch it out of his hands.
"Hey!" He called, standing up suddenly. "Give that back!" He then took off after the thief, amidst Russel yelling "Dee, get back here!" and Noodle chanting "Run, Toochi, run!"
2D continued to run, stretching his arms out in hopes of catching the bloody thing and getting his doughnut back. The situation was looking pretty helpless, as the seagull was too high-
His foot caught itself on a broken piece of the sidewalk that was sticking up from the ground and he toppled face-first onto the hot concrete.
When he lifted his head up and went to rub his stinging nose, his eyes widened with surprise and delight when he saw his cream doughnut lying on the concrete about a metre away from him. The seagull must have dropped it, he realised.
Bringing himself to his knees, he crawled closer, reaching his hand out to grab the doughnut…
Then in a squawk and a swoop of feathers, the doughnut was gone again.
2D walked back to the Geep dejectedly, where Russel sympathetically handed him another doughnut and a plaster for his scraped nose.
Murdoc was quietly laughing to himself.
"Your face ache, faceache?"
"Shut it, Muds." Russel said.
"Poor Toochi," Noodle said sadly.
2D ruffled her damp, salt crusted hair. "Nah, I'm alright, luv."
"Dee, why don't ya take her to explore the rock pools?" Russel suggested. "I wanna have a little chat with Murdoc…"
2D brightened instantly. "That's a great idea! C'mon Noods, let's go!"
Noodle skipped off excitedly towards the large cluster of rocks, dragging 2D by the hand and giggling.
As soon as they were out of earshot, Russel glared at Murdoc.
"What's yo problem today, Muds? Why can't ya just, I dunno, not be grumpy, just for a few hours?"
Murdoc glared back. "I didn't want to come out here in the first place, you know! The beach sucks! That little brat guil-"
He was cut off when Russel suddenly shoved him up against the side of the Geep.
"Don't you ever call Noodle that again. Ever. And don't you go ruining her fun today either. Otherwise, you and I will be having another conversation." Russel spat out that last word through clenched teeth.
Murdoc rolled his eyes. "Fine. I won't ruin her special day." He spoke the last two words with a mocking tone.
"Look, Noodle!" 2D pointed.
Noodle looked up from the shell she was examining and raced over to see what 2D had found. She climbed up on to a rock and gazed down into the small, shallow pool of water to see a little red crab.
"Oooh!" She admired the crab, the first one she had seen in real life.
"Pretty cool, i'nt it?" 2D grinned. "Didja know you can eat 'em?"
Noodle made a disgusted face and 2D chuckled good-naturedly.
"Yeah, but that's rich people food, like lobsters. Hey, why i'nt it moving...is it dead?" Indeed, the crab was still.
"I'm just gonna see if he's alright…" 2D dipped his hand into the water and made an attempt to poke the crab before it suddenly latched onto his finger.
2D screamed loud enough to shatter glass as he yanked his hand out of the pool and began to leap around and swing his hand back and forth in quick, jerky movements. Noodle laughed so hard she nearly fell off the rock she was sitting on.
Eventually, the crab let go and the two musicians lost sight of it as it flew through the air.
Noodle stopped laughing when she saw the blood dripping her from her bandmate's finger. She hopped off her rock and went over to him.
"Toochi okay? Toochi hurt?" She asked in a small, concerned voice.
2D smiled weakly. "Yeah, I'm good. Hey, you wanna show Russ that shell you got there?" He motioned to the conch in Noodle's hand, which she had found before the crab incident.
"Hai!" Noodle said before making her way back to the Geep.
"Whoa, that's a mighty nice shell ya got there, baby-girl." Russel said when Noodle presented him with said shell.
Noodle turned to see Murdoc hunched over in the front seat, trying to start the engine and cursing every time the ignition didn't work.
"A crab fell on Muds's head," Russel explained when 2D and Noodle glanced questiongly at him. He couldn't keep the amused smile off his face. Or out of his voice.
"What a coincidence! I also got attacked by a crab!" 2D said, holding out his bleeding finger. It didn't cross his mind that the crab that fell on Murdoc's head might also be the same crab that he flung into the air.
"Whatever dullard, let's get the hell outta here!" Murdoc said as the ignition finally clicked and the engine roared into life.
"Hang on Muds, I think baby-girl wanted another swim, didn't you?" Russel turned to Noodle for an answer, and she jumped up and down, saying "hai!"
Murdoc silently fumed as he pulled the key out of the ignition. Then came the thing he'd been dreading all day.
"Murdoc swim with Noodle?" She asked, looking at Murdoc, then Russel.
"I don't see why not." Russel smiled smugly at the bassist, who threw him a nasty glare in return.
"Haven't brought any togs or nothing…" Murdoc growled.
"That's all right! I brought a spare pair of swim shorts. You can borrow 'em if you like!" 2D piped up. Absolutely brilliant, Murdoc thought.
After changing into the almost too-small floral patterned shorts, Murdoc marched towards the water with Noodle hanging onto his hand. He sincerely hoped he didn't run into anyone who recognised him, or worse, who he recognised.
When they reached the water, Murdoc attempted to pry away his hand, but then Noodle dashed into the waves, his hand still in his, dragging him with her.
The cold shocked him and he was immediately eager to get out. Goosebumps formed along his arms and legs as he shouted "Sweet Satan, it's freezing!"
Noodle leapt into wave after wave, and her grip was still so strong that Murdoc had no choice but to follow her along.
She squealed everytime water splashed in her face and the salt got in her eyes. But every time, she would laugh, rub at her eyes and carry on.
Murdoc, on the other hand, wasn't quite taking the same level of enjoyment out of this as she was. On the contrary, he was cold, miserable and his eyes stung. Hey wanted out. Now.
He wouldn't have to wait very long, because only a few minutes later he felt something rough and slimy wrap around his ankles.
Murdoc let out a yell of surprise as he spun 180 degrees and sprinted for the shore, dragging Noodle with him this time.
When he made it to the sand, he began to hop around dramatically as Noodle saw what was up and pulled off the ugly behemoth trapping his ankles. She held it up curiously with her thumb and forefinger. Murdoc stopped his crazy dance and stared at it in what almost seemed like disbelief.
"S-seaweed?!" He felt very annoyed. He was all set to go home. Any other place on earth was better than this sandy hellhole.
He heard the click of a camera and saw Russel standing there, holding an instant-print camera and chuckling at the photo he now had in his hand.
"Imma have this framed…" He said between chuckles.
"What?!" Murdoc stomped over and looked at the picture, feeling more pissed off than ever before.
The picture depicted Noodle holding up the large black clump of seaweed as if she was showing off a fish, and Murdoc, with the look of disbelief, anger and annoyance forever stamped on his face.
"You will NOT have that framed Russel, you hear me? I won't bloody allow it!" Murdoc shouted as he stormed back to the Geep. He was leaving for real this time, and nothing was going to stop him. Not the drummer, not the dullard, and certainly, definitely not Noodle's pleading face…
Damn the beach!