A handful of faces poked out from the the corner behind the garage. I undid my buckle and hopped from the truck and onto the gravel driveway. I waved at the people who had come to greet me.

The youngest was my cousin Marcus. He was around three years old and very energetic. His sister—Olivia—was about my age give or take a couple of months. Their parents, Aunt Kat—Dad’s sister—and Uncle Dave, stood behind them. All four of them were dressed for the heat. Even though the air felt cool to me when compared to home, it was still summer.

I walked towards them. Marcus shied behind his mother while Olivia practically tackled me in a hug. She was excitedly asking me questions without giving me the opportunity to reply to any of them before asking the next one.

“Olivia, dear,” Aunt Kat cut in with a laugh, “he’s not going to be able to say anything if you don’t give him a chance.”

“Sorry, Mom,” she replied before turning back to me.

I followed Olivia while the two of us talked. She was easy to connect with—something I’d struggled to do with my classmates. Because she was relatively mature, it meant that I was able to use her level as a guide for how to present myself—though, even then, I had to choose my words carefully in order to not say anything too out of the ordinary for a child of my age.

While we kept up the conversation—now onto the pros and cons of various pets—I took in the rear of the house. The short grass grew in sandy soil. Grandpa Milton took very good care of it and ensured that there were no huge divots where we might break an ankle. The grass was a lush, deep green that stood in contrast to the surrounding pines and other plants that looked sunburned and scraggly.

Abutting the back of the house—and connecting the breezeway to the garage—was a large patio with a grill and table. My grandparents sat at the table, waiting for me and Dad to arrive. I saw Grandma Rose’s face break into a smile before tapping Grandpa Milton on the shoulder. Olivia gave way to our grandparents.

“Eddy!” Grandma Rose exclaimed, embracing me. “It’s good to have you here!”

“Thanks, Grandma Rose,” I said. “What are we doing today?”

“We’re going to the beach after lunch,” Grandpa Milton answered.

I nodded then went back to hanging with Olivia. There were a couple of hours before lunch, so she led me around and told me about all the cool stuff she’d discovered. I went along with it even though I already knew it all.

“Did you know that Grandpa has so many beach toys in the garage?” she asked.

“No,” I said.

“Come on, let’s look!”

I followed her into the garage. It was spacious—enough for three cars—but most of it was filled with folding chairs, sand toys, mosquito-repelling candles, and other such items. The faint smell of the ocean clung to everything. I had to be careful where I stepped to avoid slipping on the dusting sand that was everywhere.

“See?” Olivia said excitedly, picking up a netted bag filled with shovels and castle molds. “They have everything here! Floaties and tubes for swimming! The shark is mine so don’t take it!”

“The shark?”

She picked up a deflated shark-shaped tube.

“Mommy got it for me,” she clarified. “You can use the regular tubes, though.”

“Thanks,” I smiled.

Olivia showed me around the inside of the house. She showed me her room and the one I was going to share with Marcus. She helped me lug my things to the room in spite of my protestations that I could handle it on my own. I was relieved when she finally left me alone to unpack.

The room was small. It had a bunk-bed on one side of the room and a dresser on the other. There was a small closet where I was able to stash most of my things. The laptop I stuffed under the bed after confirming that I would be taking the bottom bunk. I took the opportunity to change into my swim trunks so I wouldn’t have to after lunch. I wanted to go to the beach!

While walking to the breezeway for lunch, I looked over my daily quests. I would be able to get about half of them done just by acting my age. The other half would be more difficult—especially due to the restricted laptop use preventing me from accomplishing many of the mental tasks within a reasonable time.

I sat in a chair between Dad and Grandpa Milton. The table was set with several loaves of sliced bread and all sorts of sandwich fillings to choose from. I took the closest non-whole wheat bread—some sort of oat and seed bread—and slathered it with mayonnaise. On top of one slice, I put some ham and some Swiss cheese. On the other slice went a leaf of lettuce and a couple slices of tomato. I pressed the two halves together somewhat sloppily. A ragged hack-job yielded a sandwich cut in two roughly-equal parts. I picked up one of them and tore into it.

A smile cracked my face as I ate. I hadn’t realized how much I missed getting away—especially when I didn’t have any pressing responsibilities or obligations. I ate quietly and enjoyed the atmosphere of family around me.

I washed down the remains of my sandwich with the dregs of my fresh lemonade before getting up to help bring dishes into the kitchen. Though I was told not to, I helped anyway, and that got Olivia to pitch in as well—after her mother asked her to several times, of course. Once the dishes were in the dishwasher, it was finally time to go to the beach!

Grandma handed me a towel to take with me. Olivia and I took toys from the garage to bring with us—which Dad offered to carry… thanks Dad. I decided against putting my shoes on if only to skip the hassle of walking around in socks filled with sand.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

There was a mile of pavement between the house and the shore. I moved quickly from one shaded patch to another before my feet fried. When there was no shade available, I walked along the sand and crushed seashells the flanked the road. That was the coolest option over all but the shells were rather sharp and pointy. Twenty minutes later, we stepped off the road and entered the path to the beach.

The sandy path wound through scraggly, thorned plants up a bluff to a lookout with a bench. Coming out from the lookout was a steep set of stairs that went down at least fifty feet. I hesitated briefly before following Dad down the stairs. I made sure to hold onto the railing the whole way—it paid to be safe.

Once my feet touched the sand at the bottom, I relaxed. The shore stretched far into the distance both to the left and to the right. The beach in front of me went out to several sand bars, some of which had ships resting on them. I had maybe an hour or two before the tide would come in, and I wanted to build the biggest sandcastle I could.

“Race you!” I called to Olivia.

I started running for the first sandbar with my cousin hot on my heels. I welcomed every step towards my daily goals along the way. I splashed through the knee-deep water between the beach and the first sandbar—the water cool, but not cold, against my legs.

When I got to the sandbar, I turned just in time to see Olivia pitch forward and get a face full of water. She popped up a second later sputtering and coughing, but also laughing. Dad came over to make sure she was ok. That was convenient as he was still holding the sand toys we would need for castle building. I took them off Dad while he checked on Olivia.

The sandbar in front of me was mostly flat except for some ripples along the surface. The sand was also darker in color than that of the main beach behind me. I scoped out the highest point on the sandbar and tossed the toys there. I made some markings on the sand to roughly place different things.

“Whatcha doin’?” Olivia asked when she came over.

“Planning,” I answered.

I showed her where the castle would be and the moat around it.

“We’ll also want to protect it from the tide, so we’ll need walls, too.” I added.

She nodded and picked up a pail and scoop. I did the same.

I wandered a good ten yards from where I wanted to build so that the sand I picked up would not negatively affect the structural integrity of the castle. I went back and forth dumping bucket after bucket of sand in the center. When I had enough sand piled up, Olivia and I began to construct a castle.

First, we packed layers of sand to form a solid, level base. On top of that went a free-formed pile of sand that was compacted into a rough cone. Topping the cone was a molded tower using one of the buckets. Then we dripped sand to make several smaller towers around it. Finally, it was time to work on the fortifications.

The moat surrounding the castle had an offset so that it wouldn’t just make the castle collapse as soon as water seeped into it. That excavated sand was then used to build thick, towering walls in front of the moat. I considered building another ring, but I could tell Olivia was starting to get bored by that point, so we finished up with a few bridges going over the moat and some other decorations.

I was surprised to be rewarded with some crafting experience for the endeavor. It wasn’t much—just 5 experience—but just that little prize brought a smile to my face. Maybe there were some new ways I could gain experience that I hadn’t even considered! Like the razor clams that bubbled sand at low tide might be worth some Combat Experience or Harvesting Experience to collect and then maybe make some chowder out of. I wasn’t prepared to do that immediately. However, I stuck the idea in the back of my mind for the next time I came down to the beach.

Marcus and Aunt Kat joined us to survey our work. They were pleased—though Marcus attempted to sabotage the castle’s defenses. Thankfully, Aunt Kat redirected that towards chasing us around the sand bar and through the shallows connecting that sandbar with others and with the main beach.

Eventually, after running around like headless chickens, the tide well and truly began to come in. At first it overwhelmed the far out sandbars, coming closer with each passing minute. Then it was attacking the castle. I got a quest to defend the castle from the rising tide for ten minutes, and so Olivia and I went to battle stations. We did our best, but ultimately failed the quest. I might have been able to if Aunt Kat and Dad let us stay on the sandbar for longer, but the shallows between it and the main beach were not so shallow anymore and Olivia didn’t know how to swim. I watched from the beach as the ruins of the castle slipped beneath the waves.

I hung out on the beach for a little while longer before helping pack up. The walk back was a little easier than the walk to the beach had been—if only because the sun was lower in the sky and the road was simply hot rather than scorchingly hot. I rinsed myself off outside before changing into something clean and dry.

Dinner that evening was delicious. After dinner, I played cards with the rest of the family before retiring to the bunk bed. Marcus was already sleeping by the time I slipped into bed. I spent about an hour taking care of some quests before I, too, closed my eyes for the night.