One Weekend - Grown Ups

Fourth of July Chapter 18

We get on this hay bale wagon and the person up front takes us towards a big are where we're gonna spend the Fourth of July. I smile happily and wave at some people as we pass them. Dad grabs me and stops me from falling out of the wagon as he hit a bumpy part. " Careful sweetie. You're gonna get hurt. " 

" Sorry. " I smile and look around some more. 

We get the the busier part of the lake where everyone is and I hop out. All the kids and I head into the lake, towards a lifeguard area. There's a bed that Greg blew up at the bottom. " Okay, it's in position. Come on Max. Let's climb up. Greg and I climb up the sides of the life guard tower and we both jump at the same time. We land on the bed and Andre shoots up into the air. He lands in the water and everyone's quiet. He pops back up and cheers. Everyone laughs and cheers along with him. 

We play with that for a while until I start to get a small headache. " I'm gonna go to my dad for a little while. " I tell my friends as I swim towards land. I grab the towel dad offers me and sit down at the table next to him. 

" Hey princess. Having fun? " 

I nod and sit down next to him. I put my head on his shoulder. 

" What's wrong? I someone being mean to you? I'll kill them. Tell me where they are. " Dad jokes. 

I smile lazily. " I've got a headache. " 

" Oh. Those are no fun. Here, hold this to your head. I'll go see if someone's got some aspirin. " I hold a bottle of water to my forehead as dad asks Roxanne and Sally if they have aspirin for me. " Here you go. " Dad hands me the medicine and I take it quickly. I lean my head on his arm again and fall asleep while he talks to his friends. 

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" Oh boy, look at this. " I groan quietly as Lenny talks. " I see the boys stayed in shape, huh? Robideaux. Good to see ya buddy. " I look up from dad's shoulder. There are a bunch of older guys standing in front of us. What does these guys want? 

" Lenny. " A guy with a weird eye says nodding. 

" If you're looking at me, I don't know. " Lenny and a few other people laugh. The dude laughs as well. " Look, we just wanna eat watermelon and relax. If you're all right with that. " 

" Oh no. It's not alright. We're not alright with that. You're not gonna weasel out of this one Feder. " Bailey says with his arms folded. " Wiley snuck out of intensive care to see you finally get some justice. " Oh yeah. He's the guy who was dumb and decided to g down the hang glider with his feet. 

" Yo! You best be getting to balling, Feder. " I look over to see a man with a lot of white. Are those shorts or underpants? He looks like a mummy who was in the middle of getting re wrapped.

" Oh hey Wiley! Was the field goal good? " I giggle a bit. 

" Yeah, first time I ever heard that one. " 

" Okay, " Lenny laughs. " Sorry man. " 

" Do you want me to get something of the top shelf? Heard that one a lot too. " 

Dad chuckles. " Seriously Dickie. Let us just hang out with our families. We wanna relax. " Lenny says as he looks at the guys. 

" Yeah. There afraid of us. That's what it is. " Says some man who's eating a burger and drinking a beer. His friends nod and agree with him. 

" We're afraid you might eat the ball before we even start the game. " Dad says, causing me to laugh. 

" Same of Higgins. He can talk the talk, but he can't....I always forget the rest. " 

" Boo ya! " Some guy says. 

" Walk the walk. " I say quietly. 

" What? "  Robideaux asks as he turns to me. 

" It goes: You can talk the talk, but you can't walk the walk. I think you're gonna wanna learn the phrase before you say them. " I avoid his gaze. 

Dad chuckles and wraps his arm around my shoulders. 

" We got Rob here with the bad foot, you can't do it, right buddy? " Lenny asks Rob. 

Rob stands up with his watermelon. " I think if the Buzzer was here, he'd want me to try. I think he'd want us all to try. 

" Was that William Shatner? " Lenny asks. 

Eric laughs and dad smiles. 

" Alright, let's do this thing. " Lenny stands up and sets his plate down. 

" It's on! " Wiley says excitedly. Everyone starts cheering and then stops. Wiley tries to get everyone to cheer again, but fails miserably. 

Dad and his friends go get changed and ready for the game. Kurt ends up accidentally stepping on Robbie's arrow foot and Robbie grabs it. The women run in dressed in cheer leading outfits. They cheer for our dads. 

I sit at the edge of my seat as dad tosses the ball to Eric. Lenny ends up scoring and I cheer. Dad messes with Wiley and it takes Wiley a moment to figure out what dad meant. 

Lenny steals the ball from Robideaux when he gets distracted by Curly. 

Eric and some dude pant as a woman complains about her beer. Eric crashes into the basketball pole and says something to the guy next to them. They both cry out in agony as they grab their legs. I guess they got hurt. A guy steals his daughters Cannoli and takes a big bite out of it. 

" Greg! " Lenny waves his son over. Greg smiles at me and runs over to his dad. They start playing again, this time, two on two. Wiley goes to rub Deanne's baby belly, but, ends up rubbing somewhere else. He says something and Eric gets up, ready to pumble him. 

I sit on the edge of my seat as Lenny takes the last shot. He glances around and takes the shot. He misses. 

The other team cheers and celebrates happily.