Chapter 5: Beating the Heat with Summer Fun
The cool breeze that was coming from the ocean was exactly what I needed after a long week of work. With the temperatures on the rise and the lack of air conditioning in the houses around Sundrop, the conditions were almost unbearable. So, when my friends invited me to their beach party I jumped in with no extra thought.
Nan and I joined Deena at her house early the morning of the party. Just before the sun was peeking over the horizon, we were knocking on her door. Deena peeked out the door and ushered us in.
"What are you doing?" I asked as I saw my nervous friend pacing around.
"We still have a couple hours before the party starts, right?" Deena asked almost in tears.
"Yes. Why?" I was starting to get worried about my dear friend.
"Well, you see," Deena let out a long breath. "I told Tank and Jay on Tuesday that I would bring drinks for the party today. I was going to make them yesterday, except Celeste invited me to coffee and I couldn't decline. I would have felt bad because I told her I would take a rain check last time."
"Coffee would only take an hour or so. Didn't you have the rest of the day?"
"After coffee we felt all jazzed up because neither one of us had decaf. So, we decided to go window shopping at the Able Sister's. Then, since we were only a little ways from Nookington I thought it would be a good opportunity to introduce you to Celeste since you haven't had a chance to meet yet. Only Tom Nook said you were out on your delivery route and he didn't know exactly where you were or when you would return," Deena sighed.
"What time was it?" I wasn't sure how to feel about the situation at hand.
"About two o'clock. We had spent a lot of time at the Able Sister's."
"I think I was at Peewee's house," I said remembering the extra chore I got assigned by him. "He was my second to last stop. I didn't get back to Mr. Nook's until 3:30."
"I see." Deena said. "Well, after we left Celeste remembered she has a letter to mail. So, we went to Town Hall where we spent an hour talking to Pelly about how we thought the town needed a few rainy days so we could plant flowers. After that Celeste decided to go check on Blathers and to make sure everything was running smoothly at the museum. I went home as well. By the time I got home it was 4:30 and I needed to start cooking supper. Only when I looked in the refrigerator I noticed I was out of ricotta cheese and I knew Bob would have some because he always keeps ingredients for lasagna. An hour later I was back home with a container of ricotta cheese and ready to cook. By the time I was done with it I was super tired and ready for to flop on the couch for some T.V. time. Then it hit me. I needed to get fruit for the drinks for today. So, I grabbed my basket and went out to collect fruit. I got pears, apples, peaches, oranges, cherries, and coconuts. By the time I got home again I was ready to go to bed. So, I took a nice warm bath and went to sleep. I woke up about thirty minutes ago. After I got dressed and had breakfast, it hit me I still need to make the drinks. I've searched and searched but I can't find the cookbook with the summer fruit drinks. That is the whole story until now. That is the whole reason why I am about to have a break down and why we don't have drinks for the party." Tears started flowing down Deena's cheeks. "Yukihana. Nan. I need your help."
I looked at the basket of fruit and started thinking hard. My mom used to make a variety of fruit juices every summer. Her favorite way of drinking it was through a straw from a coconut shell. Just then, the easy to do plan came to me and I knew we could finish before the party started.
"I've got it," I exclaimed. "But if we are going to make it on time you two need to do as I say.
Before we knew it Deena had juiced all of the fruits, Nan had mixed all of the drinks, and I had hollowed out and filled all the coconut shells with the fruity concoctions. Nan and Deena got the cooler ready with ice and I placed the bendy straws in each coconut cup with paper labels stating what the drink was.
When our trio arrived at the beach area west of Bob's house, only a couple others were there. Tank was wearing Hawaiian print swim shorts and an athletic shirt. It appeared as if he was trying to show off his muscles as we approached. Jay was helping pate set up an area of beach umbrellas and beach towels.
When we joined the others they were happy to see the refreshments. We still had to wait on a couple others but it already seemed quite fun. It was hard to believe it was summer time, because the breeze from the ocean gave off an almost spring feel. Not only was the breeze nice but the sound of the ocean sloshing against the sandy beach made me feel relaxed.
I had just settled down on one of the beach towels Jay laid out when I heard the noise. The noise of Cooro's shout rang through my eardrums.
So much for my peaceful morning, I thought. Even though Cooro was really nice and sometimes fun to be around, he could be obnoxious occasionally. Not that it was his fault or anything. He was just a high energized male.
"HEY, EVERYONE! SORRY I'M LATE! MY SISTER CHANGED THE TIME ON THE ALARM!" Cooro yelled as he ran down the beach.
"Don't worry, Cooro. You're not late. We just got here like ten minutes ago," Deena said.
"Yep," I added. "So, you don't have to shout."
"Sorry," Cooro said. "Is everyone here?"
"Bob is the only one missing that I can think of," I said looking at his door. "We can give him another ten minutes and then I'll go see if he is coming."
Luckily, not long after I said that the purple, lazy-eyed cat came sauntering down the beach with a bag full of snacks. Finally the whole gang was at the beach.
Not only was the whole gang there, so was an unexpected guest. Tortimer, the mayor of Sundrop, has arrived to check out what was going on.
"It's good to see some young folks out and about," the tortoise's voice crackled from old age. "Instead of being cooped up in you houses. What is on your agenda today?"
"Cooro, Tank, and Jay are going to have a beach triathlon in a little bit. After that we are going to have a bar-be-cue and who knows what else," Nan informed our mayor.
"Do you mind if I stay and watch?" he asked.
"Go right ahead, sir," Jay said.
"You can even announce the winner," Bob encouraged.
"Alright," said Tortimer sitting down in one of the beach chairs that Pate brought.
"Everyone sat on a beach towel as Bob got out the paper Cooro had wrote to introduce the beach triathlon. "Welcome to the first ever annual Sundrop Beach Triathlon," he read. "As you may know annual means once a year, so that means we must do it again next year. This will consist of three events. First, competitors must toss sea shells into a bug net at two different distances. After successfully making both points the competitors must crab walk from the two palm trees to the water. From the water's edge competitors must swim to the buoy and back. The first one to grab the green beach umbrella wins. The prize for today's events is a marvelous seashell medal made by Yukihana and Pate, and a collection of 200 bells." Everyone clapped. "Without further ado, let the Sundrop Beach Triathlon begin."
The boys stretched their muscles and signed the seashell that each of them were going to use. When all three boys gave the "okay" signals everyone got into place. Deena, Pate, and Nan held the bug nets about ten feet away from the line drawn where the boys stood.
"GO!" I yelled.
Cooro, Tank, and Jay held their arms back in throwing position, and then swung them forward releasing their ammo at just the right time. Jay's shell hit the rim of the bug net, and then plopped in. Jay hollered and ran to retrieve his shell. Meanwhile, Tank's and Cooro's shell went into the net with a clean shot.
The second round of tosses was at about twenty feet. This round was a little more dangerous. With the boys throwing harder, the girls were in a little more danger of getting hit.
Cooro's seashell left his hand first. It made a clank sound as it hit the metal rim and fell into the sand. Tank's shell zoomed over Pate's head and hit the palm tree. Jay smirked and threw his, which landed a foot in front of his net. The boys all made their nets on the second throw.
All of them hit the sand and crab walked to the ocean. I think all three of them had reason to go fast. The sand was starting to feel extra hot.
"Yay!"
"Go, go, go!"
"You can do it!"
Deena, Pate, and Nan were cheering the boys on, but they were shouting so loud I couldn't tell who was saying what. It was fun to see all of my friends getting so excited.
"GO FOR IT!" I yelled as loud as I could.
Splash. Tank jumped into the water. Splash. Cooro was only steps behind him. Jay still has a ways to crab walk though. However, when he hit the water he made up for the distance. It seemed as if his wings allowed him an extra boost with every paddle.
By the time all three boys were around the buoy it was a neck to neck race. Once the boys hit land I could tell that gravity was getting to all of them.
Cooro's and Jay's legs wobbled a bit. Tank had slowed to almost a crawl. In the end, Jay was victorious. Everyone cheered. Tortimer awarded him with the Bells and the seashell medal that Pate and I made.
After everyone enjoyed a refreshing fruit drink, we decided to jump in and go for a relaxing swim. The cool water soaking my body felt wonderful. I felt so lucky to be living in Sundrop. Everyone felt so warm and friendly. I let my thoughts drift as I drifted with the waves.
The rest if the afternoon was filled with collecting seashells, eating yummy grilled food, and building amazing sandcastles. Before any of us realized it the sun had gone down on the horizon and the stars were twinkling over head. Our all day party had started taking a toll on nearly everyone around. We all said our goodbyes and headed home.
Since the main path curved toward my house, Cooro decided to walk me home. Nan had made arrangements with Deena to stay the night at her house, so the long walk was made only by Cooro and me.
"So," Cooro said breaking the silence. "Have you made any progress on our goal?" He chose his words carefully in order to make sure that no one who might be passing by would understand the true meaning of the conversation.
"Not yet." I slouched a bit. I looked around the dark trees by us. "I think it is safe to talk freely. However, we can wait 'til we get to my house if you want."
"I think your house would be better."
"Alrighty." With that, neither of us said another word until we were placed on the front porch with two glasses filled with ice tea and the quiet of the night surrounding us.
"I haven't made any progress either. All Tank and Jay could think or talk about for the past couple of weeks was training for the competition today." Cooro sighed looking across the landscape that was visible from my house.
"Maybe now that it's over there will be a chance. Tell them talking about deep stuff is a way to train their mind or something. That you read where a strong mind makes a body stronger."
Cooro stared at me with eyes of disbelief. "Where'd you come up with that?"
"My mom used to help direct commercials. If you don't think it will work, you don't..." I was cut off by a burst of laughter."
"That isn't what I meant," Cooro giggled. "That just might actually work!" I couldn't help but grin. "So, what's the problem on your end?"
"Oh, with girls it takes a little more work. I am working on building my friendship with them first. They have to trust me completely before the will let out anything." I sighed, "I do think I made some progress though. Even if it is just a little."
"Well," Cooro said looking away. "I know this may sound cheesy but I am really glad you are my friend."
My smile returned as I looked at my feet. "I'm really glad, too."
There was a long silence between the two of us. I could hear a cricket off in the distance.
"You know," Cooro said playing with the rim of his cup. "I've always wanted to move here. It's so wonderful. Most of my friends live here."
"Why haven't you then?"
"That's a long story," he replied. "You must promise to keep it between you and me. You can't tell anyone else."
"I promise," I said crossing my heart, as if I were a kid again.
"It all started about six years ago. My parents passed away in an accident. My sister and I were too young to live on our own, so we were shipped off to live with my aunt. She wasn't married and didn't have any kids of her own, so she didn't know what to do with us. So, basically her role was to be the adult we could call a legal guardian. That was fine for about a year, until my sister became sick. It started out as a cold and slowly got worse. After seeing doctor after doctor with no progress my aunt became grumpy. She told us on many occasions that this was why she didn't want kids. We were too needy. So, eventually she started ignoring us. We were nothing more than occupants of her house." I could see Cooro's hands tighten. "I took on the responsibility of taking my sister back and forth between doctors. Finally after two years we met a doctor who knew what was wrong. My sister has a type of breathing disorder that is affected by the type of air in certain places. Mainly cities. The only solution was for us to move."
"So, that is when you moved to Animal Crossia?" I could tell that he was trying really hard to suppress his sadness and anger.
"Not quite yet. We explained to my aunt that we need to do what the doctor said. She, however, had other plans. My sister was too young still to be able to live on her own and since I am younger than her it still wasn't an option. Plus, neither one of us had any money, nor a mode of transportation outside of my bike. We stayed with my aunt another half a year. Through breathing treatments my sister was able to deal with living in that city."
He took a sip of tea and leaned back closing his eyes. "At this point my aunt was still treating us as anything but her relatives. One night I was having trouble sleeping, so I decided to head out to the porch to get some fresh air. I happened to over hear my aunt on the phone. She was getting all kinds of money through my parent's life insurance. The money was supposed to be for my sister and me. A large amount was going to be coming soon, since my sister was almost of age. My aunt, however, was not going to give it to her. She was going to move off and leave us. So she was tired of dealing with us. I didn't stay to hear the rest. I knew exactly what needed to be done. I snuck into my aunt's room, grabbed all the cash from wallet, and woke my sister and convinced her to go with me. We caught a transit taxi. We used half the money to make it to the boarder. At the next station we saw a sign that advertised a little house for sale in small, fresh air, rural town. Prefect for my sister! The next thing we knew, we had spent all our money and we were in the back of a cab driven by a turtle looking thing."
"Was his name Kapp'n?" I asked.
"Yep. That's the guy," Cooro said. "He was quite the interesting fellow."
"Yeah. He seems like a hopeless romance to me." I laughed.
"Really?" Cooro snickered. "Well anyway, we ended up in Stardrop. The shop keeper, who is also the real-estate person, gave us a break and let us move into a house and pay off our debt by working for him. Everything was great. Until a year and a half ago at least. My sister had another round of that breathing thing after we went on vacation to a place across the border. This time after she recovered from the main attack the doctor we see now told us her lungs were weakened and she is now prone to sickness more. Whenever, she catches the slightest cold now we have to be careful. So, right now I can't leave that town. If I leave her alone things could get really bad for her. Even though I do spend a lot of time over here it is only because she is out at her friends' house. So, if you don't see me here sometimes it is because she is either sick or we are at the doctor."
I couldn't help but just sit there and stare at him a while. My mind felt numb from all that he told me. You would never know by just looking at him. He was usually cheerful and didn't seem to have a care in the world. "Wow," was all I could say at first. "So, that explains it all."
"Yep," he replied. "The whole reason I can't move here right now."
"Well, if you need any help taking care of you sister you can ask me. I have a cousin who was born with a weak immune system, so he was sick quite often when we were kids. I would help take care of him a lot."
Cooro smiled. "Thank you." He slowly got out of his chair and stretched. "Well, it is getting late and sis is probably wondering where I am. I guess I better go."
"Alright," I said. "Thanks for sharing with me. Maybe sometime I can my secret with you." I looked down at my shoes, waiting to hear his reply.
"I'd like that," his soft, gentle voice floated through the right air. "Just don't over push yourself."
When I looked up to tell him good-bye, he was gone.
A/N: Sorry for the long wait! I had major writer's block for a while. This was a long chapter as well. It still didn't turn out exactly how I wanted it to. Oh, well... Stay tune for the next chapter. Also, please review. It will help me know how I am doing. Thanks a bunch.
~Snowflower90