Chapter 3

Everyone sat down at the table for lunch. "Did you girls find anything interesting?" asked Grandpa.

"Yes," Sal answered him. "We found a photo album and Jill and Kris have been telling me about the pictures in it."

"What kind of pictures did you find?" Grandma asked.

"Some of when Mom was pregnant with me, and some of when I was a baby."

"Oh, yes, I have copies of some of those," Grandma told Sal.

"Would you like to come upstairs with us, Grandma?" Kris asked. "Maybe you can tell us who people are."

"I'd love to, but I don't like to climb those stairs very often. If you see something you're not sure about, bring it down and I'll help you."

"Fair enough," Jill answered.

Soon lunch was over. The girls helped Grandma clean up the kitchen and then headed back up the stairs. Sal went back to the photo album. She flipped through a few pages, and stopped when she saw one of herself when she was about six years old. Her front teeth were missing, and her blonde hair was braided into pigtails. "Oh, look at this!" She told her sisters. They came over to her. "It's a picture of me when I was in first grade. I remember taking this."

"I remember when you were in first grade," Jill said. "You had a boyfriend." Sal rolled her eyes. "He asked you for a kiss, and then you punched him. I told you that someday you would like it."

"So, do you?" Kris teased Sal.

"No one's asked since first grade, so I guess I will have to wait to find out." Sal went back to her photo flipping.

"Well, of course they haven't. The word probably got out that you'd put their lights out if they tried anything." Jill said as Sal playfully punched her.

"Hey!" Jill giggled.

Kris picked up the album. She continued to look through it. "Oh, here are some pictures of us on the beach. There's my surfboard. I bought it out of my own money."

"You picked up on surfing right away. But you sure got in trouble for hanging out on the beach for too long."

"I want to hear this." Sal made herself comfortable and prepared to listen.

When Kris was a little older, she learned how to surf. She really enjoyed the sport. She took to it right away. Kris began to spend a lot of time on the beach. Her parents began to worry about her and the time she was spending on the beach. Every day after school, and most weekends, Kris was there with her friends.

One Saturday, Kris woke up with plans to go to the beach as usual. She got up and got dressed, and started to sneak out of the house. She was stopped by Jill's voice. "Where do you think you're going?"

"To the beach to meet my friends."

"Not until you help me with the housework."

"I'm going, and you can't stop me!"

"Oh, yes, I can!"

Kris tried to push past Jill. Jill grabbed her. "I said, you aren't going anywhere until you help out! MOM!"

Helen appeared at the doorway. "Girls, what's going on?"

"Jill won't let me go to the beach!"

"She won't help with the chores! I'm sick of doing my work and hers too!"

"Kris, is this true?"

Kris hung her head. "Yes."

"I want you to help your sister today. In fact, I'm going to give her the day off to play with her friends. You can do her share today, and then you can babysit Sal while I go to the store."

"But, Mom!"

"Maybe next time you won't push your work off on your sister."

"O....K........" Kris sighed. She got to work. Jill gave Kris a smirk and ran out the door.

Helen left the room. Kris started to clean up the kitchen. A very young Sal came in. "I'm hungry," she said.

"I'm busy!" Kris snapped.

"Mom said you would pour me some cereal."

"Get it yourself." Kris began to regret those words as Sal climbed up to the cupboard and got some cereal. She dropped the box and dumped cereal all over the floor.

"SAL!"

"You told me to get it myself!"

Kris was angry, but she couldn't stay angry at Sal for long. "I did tell you to get it yourself. Can you help me clean it up? You hold the dustpan and I'll sweep the cereal into it."

From the doorway, Helen watched them work together with a smile on her face. Kris poured Sal a bowl of cereal. Sal sat down to eat it while Kris finished cleaning the kitchen. Kris did all the chores without further complaint. After dinner, she willingly cleaned up the kitchen and did the dishes. She went to the living room where her parents were.

"Mom, and Dad, do you suppose I could go to the beach tomorrow?"

"You were a good girl today. If you do your chores tomorrow, you can go to the beach when you are done," her father answered her.


"Thank you, Dad!" Kris gave her father a big hug and bounced out of the room.

The next morning, Kris again woke with plans of going to the beach. She went downstairs to the kitchen. Helen came in. "Hi, Mom. What do you want me to do before I go outside?"

Helen looked around. "I need the kitchen swept and the living room vaccuumed. After that, I think you can go."

"Thanks, Mom." Kris got to work.

Kris grabbed her surfboard and ran to the water. She waved to her friends as she paddled out to the waves. She caught a good one and carefully stood up on her board. She rode the board back to shore. "That was fun!" she exclaimed. Kris' friend Kathy came up to her.

"Hey, that was a good one!" Kathy exclaimed.

"Thanks."

"What are you doing tonight?" Kathy asked Kris.

"Nothing. Why?"

"Some of the kids are having a hot dog roast. Want to come?"

"I'd like to, but I'm not allowed on the beach at night, unless I'm with my parents."

"Come on, it will be fun." Kathy insisted.

"No, I'd better not, but thanks for the invite."

With that, Kris grabbed her surfboard and caught a few more waves before going home. The next day at school, she heard that there had been a raid on the beach during the hot dog roast. Alcohol had been served and everyone at the roast had been arrested. Kris was glad she had decided not to go to the party.

"That was a close one!" Sal remarked.

"Yeah, it was."

"And she never tried to push her chores off on me again." Jill picked up the photo album and turned some more pages. "Oh, here's one of me winning the state tennis championship. And here's one of me on the basketball team. And here's one of me playing Little League."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah......." Both Kris and Sal said. "We know you were a superjock," Sal told her.

"Jealous?"

"No. Actually, we're quite proud of you," Kris told her.

"I'm proud of you guys too." The three sisters put their heads together and sat in a huddle for a moment. Grandma's voice came up the stairs.

"Girls! Dinner!"