Alexandra stalked back to her towel to retrieve her bikini top. Then she went back to sunbathing. Sebastian decided to keep his distance from her, just in case. Instead, he wandered over to where Alan and Josie were continuing to toss their beach ball back and forth. Josie missed catching it, and the ball bounced of Sebastian's head.
"Rowr!" he shouted.
"Sorry, Sebastian," Josie said, retrieving the ball. She threw it to Alan. Sebastian followed it as the two of them threw it back and forth. He jumped up and down trying to catch it.
"Hey, come on, Sebastian," Alan said. "Give us a break!"
"I think Sebastian wants to play, too," Josie said with a laugh as she caught the ball. "Here you go, Sebastian."
Sebastian leaped into the air to catch the ball, but he missed it by a mile. He came crashing down on the sand. The ball rolled a little, and Sebastian jumped on it, claws outstretched.
POP!
Sebastian landed flat on his stomach, and he had flattened the ball as well. Josie and Alan came over and picked up their deflated ball.
"Nice going, Sebastian," Alan said, sarcastically. "Darn cat."
"Well, so much for our game," Josie said with a shrug. "Maybe we should talk to Alexandra about taking him to the V-E-T, and having him D-E-C-L-A-W-E-D."
Even though Josie had spelled it, Sebastian new exactly what she meant. He gulped and slunk away. He decided to go see what Valerie was up to. She was still sitting in her beach chair, reading her book. She was so engrossed in it, she didn't even see Sebastian coming, not until he jumped up in her lap.
"Oh, Sebastian," she said, jumping slightly. "You startled me."
"Mrow," Sebastian said, making himself comfortable in Valerie's lap.
"Avoiding Alexandra, huh?" Valerie said, knowingly. Sebastian nodded, and decided to take a "cat nap" for awhile.
Things got pretty quiet for awhile. Sebastian couldn't seem to "cat nap," because Valerie kept turning the pages in her book. The black and white feline found it highly annoying. When Valerie turned the next page, Sebastian swatted it back. Valerie tried turning the page again, and again, Sebastian flipped it back.
"Come on, Sebastian," Valerie said. "I'm trying to read."
Valerie kept on trying to turn the page, and Sebastian kept swatting them back. Finally, Sebastian swatted the book away from Valerie, and jumped off her lap. Then he picked up the book in his mouth. Valerie was not amused.
"Sebastian!" she shouted. Sebastian took off with the book. Valerie chased after him.
"Sebastian, come back here!" she shouted.
Sebastian ran for the shore line. When he realized the waves were rolling up to the shore, he tried to stop, but ended up skidding right into the water.
"Reeeeowwww!" he screeched, ultimately dropping the book out of his mouth, and into the water, where the waves swept it into the ocean.
"Oh Sebastian!" Valerie groaned. "Now look what you've done! Now I'll have to pay the library to replace that book! You darn cat!"
Sebastian walked away, like a dog with it's tail between it's legs. He perked up when he saw a flock of sandpipers pecking at the shore line. When a wave rolled in, they ran away from it. When the wave receded, the birds ran back and continued pecking into the sand. They kept running back and forth as the waves rolled. Sebastian went into "Stalker Mode," and tried to sneak up on the birds. He pounced, and the sandpipers took to the air, leaving Sebastian landing face first in the sand. He pulled his head out, and shook the sand out of his ears.
"Razzabrackenfrackencracken . . . ." he grumbled, much like Muttley from the "Dastardly and Muttley" series.
Suddenly, a huge wave crashed into the shore, and into Sebastian as well. The cat ran from the shoreline, much like the sandpipers he was trying to catch.
"Yeep!" he shouted. He sat down on the dry sand and breathed of relief. But the relief was short lived. He suddenly felt a pinch on his tail, and leaped into the air.
"MEEEOOOWWWWWWCH!" he screeched, and took off like a shot down the beach. Apparently, Sebastian had been sitting on the home of a crab, who did not care to have a furry visitor. And, as Sebastian was racing down the beach, the crab was still stuck on his tail!
Sebastian was running around in a frenzy, trying to shake the crab off his tail. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and he ended up kicking sand in every direction, including in Alexandra's face.
"Hey!" she shouted. "Oooh, you stupid cat!"
Sebastian didn't acknowledge her. He just kept running, yowling, and shaking his tail, trying desparately to get that crab to let go. He wasn't paying attention to where he was going, and ran directly for Melody, who was busy building her sand kingdom. She was so engrossed in that, she didn't even see Sebastian coming, until he plowed right into her completed sand castle, and demolished the rest of her sand village.
"My sand kingdom!" she shouted. By that time, Sebastian had shaken the crab off his tail. The crab scurried away, hiding under the sand. Sebastian began licking his tail, whimpering.
"Oh, Sebastian, how could you?!" Melody shouted. "Just look what you've done to my beautiful sand kingdom!"
All that was left of the sand kingdom was piles of sand. Melody looked like she was about to burst into tears. Josie and Valerie walked over to her.
"Don't cry, Melody," Josie said. "We'll help you start over."
"Right," Valerie said. "We'll make an even better sand kingdom."
"Thanks, you guys," Melody said, and she and her two best friends began to reconstruct the castle.
"Darn old Sebastian," she grumbled.
Sebastian went back to the shoreline to watch the sandpipers run back and forth, but this time he thought twice about catching them. He thought maybe he'd catch some fish, but luck wasn't with him, or Alex, for that matter. He hadn't caught a single fish all day.
"How's the fishing going, Alex?" Alan asked as he walked over.
"Not a bite all day," Alex said. "I'm thinking of throwing in the towel in a minute."
But before Alex could do anything, something tugged on his line.
"Uh oh," he said. "Looks like I've got something."
Alex tried to reel whatever he caught in, but it was putting up quite a fight. Alan grabbed on to the pole to help Alex reel it in. Sebastian watched, curious to see what they hooked. Alan and Alex pulled as hard as they could, and they managed to see what they had hooked.
"Holy mackerel!" Alex shouted. "We've hooked a swordfish!"
Upon hearing that, Sebastian licked his chops. Swordfish sounded mighty tasty to him. Unfortunately, Alan and Alex were having a little trouble reeling it in. Sebastian couldn't wait, and he ran over, trying to grab Alex's fishing line in order to reel the fish in himself.
"Sebastian! Wait a minute!" Alex shouted.
But it was no use. Sebastian jumped on the line. Alan and Alex lost their grip on the rod, and it flew out of their hands. It hit Sebastian in his behind, causing him to jump. The swordfish swam off, taking Alex's rod with it.
"Nice going, Sebastian," Alex said, sarcastically. "Not only did you lose the catch of the day, you also lost my fishing rod, and there goes dinner! Darn cat!"