Michelle loved the beach.  She loved the soothing rush of the water echoing all around.  She loved the salty breeze and the way the sand clung to her skin like little exfoliating jewels.  She loved the sunshine, too, though not the freckling that came with it.  What she didn’t like, however, was the swimwear – although she’d packed some old pieces, she expected to remain in lightweight summerwear the whole this for this visit.  After all, she’d not worn a swimsuit since her honeymoon and now she would be chasing Benjamin all over the place.  Nobody needed to watch her fat baby belly jiggling all around, nor her thighs flapping everywhere.  

When Luke had announced this trip, Michelle had been thrown into a whirl of preparations.  Taking the baby on a trip overnight to someplace other than his Grandfather’s house was a totally new adventure, and Michelle had rather be over prepared than to forget something.  She would have brought ever item in their little hovel if she’d been allowed.  It was lucky she packed a lot, too, because no sooner than they did arrive than Benjamin spit up his carrots all over his clothes and Michelle was stripping him down and treating the stains before she could even take a moment to look around at where Luke had brought them.  

"Belle, give me a hand with this."

Michelle glanced up from the little garments she was crouched over to see Luke working at the tent bag and nodded.  She first laid the treated baby clothes flat in the sun and then pulled a bit of seagrass out of Benjamin’s mouth.  He wasn’t happy about it and whined, but when she put a little spade in his hand, he immediately set at pushing sand around just like she’d taught him to do with the soil in the garden at him.  With the baby settled, Michelle finally moved over to the tent.  Luke had it free of the bag already, and Michelle simply plucked the instructions page from the pile of canvas.  

“The spells are all right here,” she told him.  “I’ve never done them myself, but Daddy said they are pretty basic.”  A glance back at Benjamin and Michelle was jogging back over to him, jamming her thumb into his mouth to wipe out the sand he’d tried to eat.  He squirmed and she held his head under her elbow like a vice while she cleaned him.  “I’m sure you can get them,” Michelle called back to Luke over the sound of their son screaming for his dignity.  “Then I’d like to get all unpacked before it’s naptime.”  Seriously, they’d only just arrived and she felt stressed already.  

“Are you sure this is an allowed camp site?” she asked.  There didn’t seem to be anybody else camped nearby, and the last thing they needed was to get all comfortable only to have a park official wander by and ask them to move.


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