At the beach, the weather was near perfect. Unfortunately, the same could not be said for the guys. Peter struggled mightily with the beach blanket as the wind prevented him from placing it on the sand. With some help from Micky and Davy (who placed his weight on it), the matter was finally resolved. Kevin decided that Mike's shoulder was a comfortable place to rest his head as he drifted off to sleep.
With the suntan lotion and sunglasses in place, it was finally time to enjoy the day. Peter pulled out his guitar and strummed along with the tunes on the radio. As Peter played, May took an instant attraction to the tuning knobs on his guitar and decided to do a bit of adjusting herself. Peter, into his music, did not notice until the flat notes and chords assaulted their eardrums.
"What was that?!" Mike asked.
"I don't know" Peter said until he glanced up at his guitar and saw May making her own little adjustments. "What are you doing?" Peter asked her in a playful tone. May responded but no one understood her reply.
"You had to ask." Davy responded.
Peter put down his guitar and reached for her pail and shovel. "How about we bury Uncle Micky in the sand?" he suggested.
"Me?! Why me?!!" Micky asked in a panic. His curly hair catching some of the blowing sand.
"Because she likes burying you the best, Micky" Peter responded. "Hey guys, did anyone call the hotel to tell Kait and Liu we were coming here?"
"I didn't" Davy said.
"Neither did I" Peter replied.
Micky shook his head as Peter and May began to bury him in the sand. Mike carefully got up, trying not to wake Kevin.
"Where are you going?" Peter asked.
"To call the hotel" Mike replied. "They could be calling us to check on the kids and they'll get worried if no one is here and they don't know where we are".
"That's a good point" Davy said as he helped bury Micky.
Mike went back to the pad and careful dialed the phone while still holding Kevin. A few minutes after reaching the hotel, he hung up the phone, now more confused. He walked back to the beach. "Guys, they checked out early this morning".
"Why would they split? The convention wasn't to end until tomorrow?" Peter said.
"Yeah, but they checked out several hours ago." Mike explained.
"Guys, we better get back to the pad." Micky said as he started to get up from the sand.
"Nooo!!!!!!" May screamed as she tried to push him back down. May's screams woke up Kevin who started crying.
"Hey calm down there little fella." Mike tried to reassure him, but to know avail.
"Next time, you bury uncle Micky." Davy gently said to May.
"Noo!!!!" May continued protesting as she saw the guys start to pack up.
"She doesn't want to leave." Davy said.
"She doesn't have a choice." Peter replied.
"Great our entire morning is going to be dictated by a two year old." Mike interjected. "I'm going back to the pad, in case they try to call."
"I'll come with you, Mike." Davy said as he followed him back home.
Micky and Peter sat on the sand as May finally quieted down from her little tantrum. Taking the pail filled with sand, she began to bury Micky again.
"Kait did say she was spoiled, but how can you not spoil her?" Peter smiled like a proud uncle.
"You're not the one getting buried, Pete." Micky replied as a reluctant participant to her little game.
~~~~~~~
When they got into town, Liu turned off the lights and siren.
~~~~~~~
At the pad, Mike changed Kevin's clothes and placed him in his bassinet. He grabbed a snack for himself and sat in front of the TV as Davy gently rocked Kevin back to sleep. A few minutes later, there was a knock on the door, Mike got up to answer.
Before he could get one word out, Kait asked "What happened?!"
Mike: What happened where?
Kait: I tried to call you guys, but there was no answer.
Davy: Oh, we were at the beach.
Liu: Isn't it a little cold for the beach?
Mike: (sarcastically) well, not if you wear a ski suit. (Liu was not amused).
Kait: Where's May?
Mike: She's on the beach with Peter and Micky.
Liu: (rolling his eyes) I'll go get her.
Kait: (picking up Kevin) We left the convention early, because we missed the kids. Then, there was a huge accident on the highway and we sat in traffic for a few hours. When the road opened, we called you guys and when there was no answer, we got scared. I'm so glad everything is ok.
Mike: Yeah, everything was fine. We kinda thought you guys were going to call and we came back here. Except May didn't want to leave so Micky and Peter stayed with her so she could play.
(at the beach)
Liu: Mei-yi, what are you doing to uncle Micky? (May drops the pail and shovel and looks up)
Micky: I've never been so happy to see a cop before.
Peter: Hey Liu, how was the convention?
Liu: It was awful and a waste of time. (Liu picks up May as Micky gets up from the sand).
Liu: Did she behave?
Peter: Of course! She can stay on the beach with us if you like.
Liu: (smiling) no, she really needs to get home and cleaned up.
(Micky, Peter, May and Liu leave the beach and enter the pad)
Liu: (carrying May) Hey, Kait look who's here! (Kait takes May from Liu's arms, beaming that she's reunited with her children)
Kait: Guys thank you so much for watching them. I hope they weren't too much trouble.
Mike: No, not at all. I hate to see them go, actually.
Liu: In a couple of weeks we were thinking of taking a short two-day trip to...
(Mike cuts him off, smiling) That's ok, really that's ok!
(The guys laugh with relief that their babysitting struggles are over. At least for now)
The End
Chapter 8
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