Page 42 of The Shell Collector
“Sorry we took so long,” Maeve said with a wink.
“Well, the best projects take time. No problem.”
“Ready?” Hailey looked at Maeve and then they both stepped aside.
A castle rose from the sand. A series of tall slim buildings, all different heights and bridges connecting them. It was an entire city. Indeed, they had been busy.
“How did you do that so fast?” Maybe she’d been up there longer than she realized.
“Maeve taught us how to make drip castles.” Hailey stuck her foot out with her toe pointed and arms wide. “It’s so amazing.”
“It sure is.”
“We dug a long trench from the water to a pond in the middle of our city,” Hailey explained.
“The waves filled it up instead of destroying it,” Amanda said. “I bet I can guess who was in charge of digging it.” Jesse was a master at it. Fast and deep. Just his style.
Jesse jumped in the air. “Me!”
“Look how tall your castle is. It must be five stories high. Like an apartment building.”
“Princesses don’t live in apartments, Mom.”
“Of course not. What was I thinking?”
“Look,” Hailey said to her. “Come on, Jesse. Let’s show her how we did it. Just like Maeve taught us.” They both knelt and took a scoop of watery sand in their hands and began releasing it just a little at a time. Drip by drip, the sand piled upon itself.
“That’s really pretty impressive.” Amanda looked over at Maeve. “Very cool.”
“Best part is you can leave all those buckets and boxes behind and still be able to make a castle. Right, Hailey? It’s called keeping it simple.”
“Yes ma’am.” Hailey ran around to the backside of the castle, where there was a drip-sand fence. “Know what’s back here?”
“Horses?”
“No! A doghouse for Denali.”
“Of course. You have thought of everything.”
“Maeve helped.”
“Thanks, but you two really did all the work. I just supervised.”
Amanda turned to Maeve. “Thank you. For this. They are having a blast. And for the time. Oh my gosh, this is better than a day at a spa. And thank you for being a friend. I’m sorry I kind of dumped on you. Forgive me?”
“Don’t be silly. You did no such thing. I’m so delighted. This has been the best day I’ve had in a very long time.”
Hailey stepped between them. “Does that mean we can play tomorrow too?”
“I’m always available to supervise and give a little castle-building advice.”
“And shells,” Hailey added. “You know everything about shells.”
“So it would seem.” Maeve pushed her hat back on her head. “Don’t you love the beach after a couple good rainy days?” She inhaled deeply. “You can really smell the salt in the air once the pollution gets blown to bits.”
“What’s pollution?” Hailey’s nose wrinkled.
“Bad stuff in the air, like smoke and car exhaust.” Amanda hadn’t noticed until Maeve had mentioned it, though. “Yes, you’re right. We also appreciate how much easier it was to get over that dune today. Sometimes that deep sand is a real killer.”
