A lazy Monday morning, O to the P to the E to the N that's OPEN

[Elizabeth Gold]

The beach was too quiet on that Monday afternoon. So quiet that the only people there were Elizabeth, Jayden, and Jenny Gold, only because Liz had to run the snack stand she and Emily had founded. But, with no customers, Liz had set out a towel and donned her black bikini, stretching out while Jayden and Jenny were building sand castles a little ways away, closer to the water.

Liz squinted at her sketchpad as her pencil darted around the page, sketching out an overly-large wolf that she could have sworn she saw in the woods through her kitchen window while she was washing the dishes the night prior. She sighed, knowing that the picture was done, but not at the same time. It didn’t look like a real wolf at all, more so like a wolfman.

But, wolfmen didn’t exist. She knew that much, for she was writing a fantasy novel on them in her spare time, which wasn’t very often…

Jayden ran over, looking over Liz’s shoulder to see the picture. “’Suncle Jake!” he cried, grinning.

Liz looked up at Jayden, incredulous. “Sweetheart, this is a wolf I saw in the woods yesterday. Uncle Jake is a human being.” She responded. Now, at this point, Jenny heard the commotion and raced over to join the commotion, but tripped and fell face first on the sketchbook, somewhat drooling. This ruined the picture and the discussion, so Liz rolled onto her back, still on the towel. “Want to take a nap with me, you two?” she asked with a soft smile.

Jenny had no hesitation in crawling over to stretch out on top of Liz, taking the woman by surprise. She was about to protest Jenny’s location, but the little one was already asleep. She smiled at Jayden who, being courteous, had sprawled out next to her on the towel. Satisfied with herself, she murmured a soft ‘Sweet dreams’.

She waited until Jenny was in deep sleep mode, then slowly got up, setting the four-year-old down on the blanket next to her brother. She smiled down at her peaceful little angels, then collected the sketchbook and pencils she had brought out, and entered the hut to put them with her bag. She grabbed her extra towel and exited the hut, heading down towards the water. She ditched her sandals and towel a good three yards away from the water, seeing as it was only low tide, close to the time for a high tide to roll in.

Liz smiled and waded in the water until it was up to her hip, then dove under, coming up a moment later for air. A sigh escaped her lips, perfectly at ease on that lazy Monday morning.

[May Roberts]

May wanted to make the most of her stay with her family here, because it wasn't all that often she got a good holiday. The last time the girl had been anywhere outside her own country had been when she was twelve, and that was a long time ago. Still, she didn't have the will power to pull herself out of bed earlier than she usually would, so she instead dragged herself out of bed at around eleven in the morning. For the first few hours of the day she just sloped around the house, slowly getting herself washed and dressed before leaving the house a few hours later.

She made her way down to the beach, because that was probably her favourite location around here, and it was the most usual destination for those who were supposed to be on a holiday. She walked along the sands, looking around at the people on the beach, she paused when she reached two children sleeping on a towel. They were pretty cute, and she smiled, before continuing with her walk. A quick glance around the beach told the girl that she was alone, except for the children, and a woman - who May assumed to be their mother - who was swimming in the sea.

May had never been one for swimming in oceans herself, because where she came from you were lucky to even find a blue sea, most of them were a murky brown in colour. She had always been afraid that the tide would pull her out as well, and in case there were any fish or rocks or anything. She had known a girl who had had all her leg sliced up because of the rocks in the sea, and ever since then she hadn't really been fussed on going any further than knee beep. She walked down to the sea now, and slipped of her shoes.. Just paddling on the edge. She smiled at the woman who she thought to be the children's mother.

[Elizabeth Gold]

Seeing May, Liz swam back to the shallow water and wrung out her hair, smiling at the other. Obviously, she was foreign, but which country did she hail from?

You new around here? Staying long?

she asked, her voice wary. She glanced around the woman, looking to make sure Jenny and Jayden were safe and still asleep, which they were both of.

[May Roberts]

May was slightly surprised when the woman spoke to her, considering they had never met before, but she answered her anyway, it would be rude to shun her, besides, it wasn't as if she were about to bite her head off.

"I've been here about three days, holidaying with family. I'll probably be here until the end of summer now.."

She shrugged, not knowing enough about the place to really give an opinion yet.

"Are those your kids?" she asked the girl, "They're adorable."

[Elizabeth Gold]

Liz sighed, knowing what she meant. She stood up straighter, wrapping her arms around her stomach. "Not in the technical sense." was her first response as she passed May, and picked up her towel, wrapping it around herself.

"They're really my younger siblings. Our parents abandoned them at the doorstep of my grandparent's house, and i took them to court to make it so I was their caregiver. They never knew me as their sister, if that answers your question." she explained after a long moment, running her fingers through her hair.