Let's go to the beach

Jerry woke up sweaty and hot. It was only 8:00 am and the temperature was already at 85 degrees.  “Damn, why didn’t I put that central air in last fall?  Stupid.” I guess it’s that kind of summer day when the only choice is to go to ocean, he mumbled to himself.

“Maggie, let’s go to the park. The kids can swim and we can sit in the shade, enjoy a beer and watch the kids.  The breeze off the water should be really nice.”

“Oh, Jerry, what a pain to get all packed up, drive to the beach, unpack and then sit in the hot sun.  You really want to do that?”

Jerry grumbled and yelled back, “Yes. Let’s go!  IT WILL BE FUN!”

Maggie took the next hour packing the kids suits, towels, sand toys, beach floats and a picnic lunch while Jerry sat in his chair with the fan blowing on his face.

“I’m ready. Let’s go,” Maggie said.

“Well, it’s about time,” Jerry replied.

“Well, you know you could have helped me with all the packing.”

“Maggie, I have to pack the car, so let it go.”

Jerry took all the bags, toys and the picnic basket to the car and played a little Tetris to make everything fit. Everyone climbed in and buckled their seat belts.

“Roll up the windows and I’ll turn on the AC,” Jerry said.

“Oh boy,” the kids all yelled.

Jerry had been looking forward to this moment when a little AC would cool everyone off and the tempers might flare a little less.

He flipped the switch and nothing happened. In looking down at the dash, he realized he hadn’t hit the AC button. He punched it with his index finger and hot air began to blow at his face.

“What the hell?”, he reached down and flipped the dial all the way to 64 degrees and yet the car still blew hot air at him.

“I don’t freaking believe this,” Jerry sputtered.  “Was the AC working yesterday when you drove the car?”

Magge looked at him with angry eyes and said “Of course it was. I think.”

“Well, shit, it’s not working now.”

“We can just roll down the windows,” Maggie offered.  And that might have worked if it wasn’t almost one hundred degrees.

Jerry fumed while they drove to the beach. The air blowing by him from the open window wasn’t cool at all. It made his breath feel heavy and it felt hot in his lungs.

“I can’t wait to get there,” he said to Maggie as they pulled into the beginning of the park.

After parking the car, they packed everything up and walked to the edge of the sand.  Jerry had put on his sandals so he could walk to the water without burning his feet.  The kids took off their shoes and ran onto the sand before Maggie could stop them.

“Ow, ow, ow,” they all yelled. “This sand is too hot.”  Jerry dropped everything and ran to the kids, scooped them up and stood there, now laughing almost hysterically. He walked to the edge of the water, threw down a blanket and plopped the kids on the blanket. “Don’t move til Mommy and I get back.”

He walked back to Maggie, picked up all their stuff and headed back to the blanket where he had left the kids.

“Can we go play now?” the kids asked.  Maggie nodded her head and sat back to watch the children play.

“I think I’m gonna go for a swim and cool off,” Jerry said. “Wanna come?”

“No, you go. I’m gonna watch the kids build sandcastles.”

Just as Jerry got to the water, a siren rang out as the lifeguards were all blowing their whistles.

“Everyone out of the water. Everyone out of the water,” they all yelled.

“Shark sighting.  Out of the water.”

Maggie ran down to the water, picked up the kids and walked back to the blanket.

Jerry just stood there for a minute. “Well shit, I just don’t care. And he dove into the water.