Wreckless ( Ddlb ) *Complete*

Shells

Finnegan:

It's cold! I was in the lake once and it was warmer than this. I let my left foot slowly sink into the sand and watch the water disappear and then swoosh back up to cover it. It's fun. I walk a bit further until both my ankles are covered with water and then daddy runs right past me and dives in. He comes up about fifteen feet past me and stands up. The water is to his waist. "Pretty level, it's a good spot. Come on in, best to get it over with." He looks good when he lifts his arms and pushes the water and his hair back from his face. I love his arms. Lots.

I'm too scared to dive in. Not because I think I'll get swept out to sea or eaten by a shark but because it's cold! I sort of feel bad for shooting daddy in the tummy earlier, I bet it felt cold. He's coming closer and then he reaches down until his hands are in the water and flicks some up at me. I try not to yell but it's freezing. Like negative eleven hundred thousand degrees! He's looking at me. It's bad. He's planning something!

He tosses me over his shoulder and walks back until the water is up to his waist again and then he tosses me right into the water. "That's what you get for shooting me earlier!" he says when I come up sputtering.

He's mean and he's smiling. "Meanie!"

He just laughs and then walks up to me. "You okay?"

"Yes." And he's right, it doesn't feel so cold now. There's rocks in the sand, some of them hurt my feet when I walk. "I don't like the rocks."

"Yeah, I tried to get them all but I missed a few, darling. Sorry."

He did not. He's silly. "Are there fish?"

"Of course. Ohh, wait." He dives under and comes back up with the most perfect shell ever. It's spirally but I don't know what it's called. Maybe he does. "The start to your shell collection. I'll put it with our stuff if you promise to not go any deeper or dive until I get back."

It's nice of him to give it to me and I'm fine but he worries. "Yes, I wanna keep it." He doesn't make me wait long and when we go a bit deeper he pulls me against him and lifts me up so I can wrap my legs around his waist. We play in the waves for awhile, laughing every time we almost fall over. "I wanna look for more shells."

"Okay. I brought a bag so you can get as many as you want. Do you want a drink or a snack?"

He brought me a drink? "Yes please! Drink."

"Okay, back to our towels and then why don't we pack this up, go on a seashell hunt and then head back to the house for a bit? I want to make sure you're not getting pink and I'd much rather use our bathroom than these."

"Kay!"

He passes me a bottle of water with a sports cap on top and I squirt it into my mouth. He drapes my towel around my shoulders and packs everything up and we start making our way slowly along the water line. The sand is much harder here and easier to walk on, plus it doesn't burn my feet. There are lots of stores across from the water and it's getting busy. "So many people. Is it always this busy?"

"It's a weekend so yeah. It'll be a bit less crazy during the week."

I find a ton of little shells and some broken pieces of bigger ones but daddy seems to be finding the best ones. He pulls a tiny, perfect shell from just underneath the sand. It's pearly white and looks like a fancy snail shell. I put it in the bag. "So many different rocks!" I've never seen so many different colors and types all in one place. Mixed among all the normal gray there are orange, green, and pink ones. Some with stripes and some with crystals. Big ones and small ones. Some pointy and some so smooth they look polished. Some long, some flat, some almost perfect circles.

"Different yet perfect. We have no problem with trees doing their own thing and a hundred types making up a forest, or a beach full of trillions of rocks or shells, no two the same, but get two people in the same room and they'll criticize and make up something to argue about."

He's right. "We don't fight."

He gives my hand as squeeze. "No, we don't, and look how different we are."

"We're awesome" I answer and then I see it. Tucked under some seaweed is a bright purple shell. Oh, it's an ugly white one, only the inside is pretty. I toss it away.

"Don't like it?"

"Only the inside is pretty. It's just like all those" I say, sweeping my arm across the beach. It's true, there are a million of these.

"That's the only part that matters, Finny."

My daddy is super, super smart. I pick it back up.

"I like you just like this, darling. I like you little, and medium and big. You don't need to worry about it with me, okay?"

I hate talking about this stuff but he's always nice. I'm just not sure how he can mean it but I trust him so I have to believe him. "I like being little too."

He sneaks a kiss to my cheek and we turn back, heading back down the beach and towards the house. When we get there, we change out of our wet clothes and  he tells me to pick something from the dresser.   I have new clothes!  The first shirt is funny, I will save it for later but he said we would go out for lunch.  The next one says 'out of' and has a picture of a PlayStation controller underneath.  I love it!  It's soft and fits great.  Daddy is wearing a henley.  He makes buttons looks good and the green makes his eyes super pretty.

When I get back downstairs, we dump the shells in the sink. Daddy says we have to wash them really well and then dry them super duper much or they will stink like Zeus' armpit. He's funny. After the first wash with soap he brings the bleach from the laundry room and soaks the shells in bleach water for ten minutes, then we rinse again before spreading them out on a big chair on the deck. It's okay because we have lots and there are only two of us so I don't mind if the shells sit on one.

"Finny, I have a very, very important question for you. It's very serious."

He seems very serious. He even has his arms crossed "What is it?"  I give him my full attention.

"Finny" he says, waiting until I almost can't stand it. "Do you like crabs?"

"Yes! I love seafood. And shrimps and lobster and fishes, especially fried fishes, and clams!  But not oysters as much, they're slimey."

"That makes me very, very happy because we are going to get you the best crabs in the world for lunch. Crab House here we come. You'll love it, they have popcorn!"

Popcorn?  Best day ever.