Chapter 16

It was only after they had a full breakfast with bacon, eggs, pork sausages, toast and tomatoes that the children went to the beach. By then the temperature was already close to thirty degrees. Everyone had done their fair share of cleaning and help around the house.

'Why don't I drop you off near the beach?' Craig said. 'I need to get a few things from the hardware store, anyway.'

'Yes please dad,' Emily said, already heading for her room. 'Let me just grab a few things.'

Craig noticed how Sarah wiped the table with a wet soapy cloth, making sure to get the slightest bit of grease. She had always been such a meticulous person, most probably one of the many reasons Craig loved and respected her so much.

Moments later Emily appeared dressed in shorts. She had a towel in one hand and suntan lotion in the other. 'I'm ready.'

Craig's left hand was resting on the steering wheel while his right elbow stuck out of his window. He was driving slowly taking in the surroundings.

'We won't be long dad,' Andrew said.

'Sure guys. Don't worry about it. Just enjoy yourselves. Do you want me to pick you up from the beach later on?'

'Nah, it's cool. We'll take a walk,' Patrick said.

'Take care of Em and call me when you change your mind okay?'

'We'll be fine, thank you, dad,' Emily said.

Craig dropped them off on a short road near the beach. It was a quiet back road with large trees casting cool shadows on some old houses. The sand was bright contrasting with the cold Atlantic Ocean.

'Thanks, dad,' Andrew said getting out of the kombi and slamming the door.

'Have fun guys,' Craig said before he took off.

It was low tide and large rocks were protruding from the water. There were many people scattered on the beach. Some were walking their dogs while others had large fishing rods planted in holders buried in the sand. Although it was a scorcher, there was a thin layer of mist hovering over the water and some of the beach which prevented one from seeing the end of the beach.

'Let's go that way,' Andrew said pointing to the far end of the beach.

'Why not?' Patrick said.

Patrick felt the heat of the beach on his bare feet and walked towards the water where the sand was wet and cool. Soon he felt the refreshing chill of the ocean as he stepped into the water.

'We should ask dad for fishing rods,' Patrick said. 'I heard there are some great catches around here.'

'What do you know about fishing?' Emily asked with a mocking tone.

'Well, we can give it a try at least. It can't be that hard?'

'You said the same thing about school,' Andrew chuckled.

'Come on man. We've been through this already,' Patrick said with a frown, not in the mood for arguments.

Emily and Andrew laughed but soon realised that Patrick was not interested in sharing their joke. He was so used to his brother and sister mocking him about his low grades. Patrick never quite understood why one had to get high marks in school when scraping through was good enough. Why get high marks and miss out on all the fun?

'Hey guys, how did you like that old burned-down place we saw yesterday?' Patrick asked. 'Pretty cool, hey?'

'Yeah, that was amazing,' Emily said. 'Maybe there's a library in Saldanha where we can find out more about it.'

'You can do the reading though,' Patrick mumbled.

Emily bust out laughing. 'We'll do the reading. Don't you worry about that.'

'We can try, but I don't think we're going to find much there,' Andrew said. 'Maybe we should try the internet. We can use dad's laptop. He's got a data card.'

'That sounds even better,' Patrick said.

'Where did all these people come from?' Emily asked. 'Remember the other day we walked on the beach, there was no one in sight. It's holiday and all so I expected the beach to be packed with people.'

'Yeah, but remember the holiday is coming to an end now,' Andrew said. 'We only have a few days left, so people are probably enjoying their last bit of the ocean before going back home.'

'Probably,' Emily said looking at the people on the beach. A group of kids were building a large sand castle. An old couple was strolling down the beach. Both had similar white hats on their heads. Some lay on the beach with stretched-out towels while others wore big straw hats blocking out the sun.

They soon reached an old shipwreck. What was left of it, anyway. It had a thick iron mast sticking out of what seemed to have been the ship's keel once upon a time. The water was shallow and the wreck was only a few meters away from the shore. It was heavily severed by the salty water and weather conditions.

'This is cool,' Emily said admiring the wreck.

'Wonder what happened to this baby,' Patrick said.

'Probably pushed here by the heavy winds,' Andrew added.

'It makes me think of the story dad told us about the Viking ship,' Emily said.

'Yeah, it does in a way,' Andrew nodded.

'It must have been here for many years,' Patrick said. 'There's hardly anything left.'

'They reckon there are always many fish around shipwrecks, something to do with the iron,' Andrew said. 'I bet there are hundreds around here.'

They continued walking until a palisade fence blocked them with some big pipes running into the ocean. They turned around and headed back the way they came. In the distance, Andrew noticed even more people on the beach. They were greeted by some as they passed admiring the ocean and waves.

Patrick noticed three boys around their age in the distance. They were playing touch rugby. They were not close to the number that was needed for two rugby teams, but at least it seemed as if they were enjoying themselves.

'I wonder what happened to that man we found in the road,' Andrew said and kicked a heap of the white sand.

'Yeah, he was in pretty bad shape. Probably some accident, but how could anyone just leave him like that?' Patrick asked.

'I suppose you get some bastards out there who don't give a shit,' Andrew said. When he looked up, he noticed the rugby ball from the group of boys hopping towards them. Before he could think about going for it, Patrick was already there.

Patrick picked up the ball and regarded it almost as if he had never seen one before. He spun it around and tested its balance.

'Give it back to them Pat,' Andrew said. He noticed one of the boys approaching them looking for their ball.

'Sorry about that,' one of the boys said approaching. 'I guess we kicked it too hard this time.'

'No problem,' Patrick said throwing the ball back to the stranger only a few meters away from them.

The boy caught the ball and said, 'thank you.'

Andrew could not help to wonder if the boys were locals or just here on holiday. If they were locals, then the chances were good that they would end up going to the same school Craig had enrolled them in. He was not sure how many schools were around the West Coast, but the boy certainly seemed to be their age.

'Pleasure,' Patrick said.

'You guys aren't from around here, I know,' the boy said.

'No we're not,' Patrick said. 'We're from Johannesburg.'

'I see,' the boy said. He placed the ball underneath his arm. 'Holiday?'

'No, we moved here last week,' Patrick said.

'That's great man. This is a good place to live. Lots of things to do around,' the boy said extending his hand to introduce himself. 'They call me Shorty.'

Patrick could see why they called him shorty. He was about five foot three, with bushy hair. He did not seem like one of the fittest people around, probably the one in the group who was the centre of jokes with a funny but friendly face. He had a big nose and lips with a strong build.

'I'm Patrick,' he said shaking Shorty's hand. 'This is my brother, Andrew and sister, Emily.'

'Welcome here guys,' Shorty said.

'Thank you,' Andrew said also shaking with Shorty. 'So Shorty, what's your real name?'

'Shaun. Shaun Phillips.'

'Nice to meet you, Shaun,' Patrick said.

'Say, you wanna join us for some touch rugby?'

'Hell, I'm okay with that,' Patrick said.

'Sounds great,' Andrew agreed.

Soon the Edisons joined the rest of the group.

'Hey guys, we have new arrivals. They're from Jo'burg,' Shaun said.

Patrick noticed the other two and realised that it would not take them too long to make friends after all. He felt excitement boiling up from within at the idea of making friends so early in their new environment. Patrick had made friends all over the country, but as soon as he became close to them, they had to move to a new place. This time however he felt a little different. He had the feeling that his dad meant what he had promised.

'This is Patrick, Andrew and ...' Shaun said. He turned red from embarrassment when he could not remember Emily's name.

'Emily,' she helped.

With the help of Shaun, the Edisons were quickly introduced to Bernard and Delmar. Soon after their introduction, they got stuck in a game of touch rugby. Emily was not too fond of the games of men. She excused herself from the group to allow her brothers to enjoy themselves. Although the heat was overwhelming, she would not dare the cold water of the Atlantic Ocean. She wondered how anyone could ever enjoy swimming in this part of the world. Emily slowly walked down the beach collecting colourful seashells and small rocks. She found herself smiling when she looked back at her brothers now fully enjoying themselves. She knew how important friends were to them. They had so much to give and they deserved as many friends as they could have. Emily knew she was a little different from them. Although having friends was important, she would rather be alone with her own thoughts especially when she felt creative. Emily knew she could become withdrawn at times, but that probably had to do with her family moving around so many times in the past. Although she could never compete with the strong bond between her twin brothers, she knew they loved her very much. Why would she ever want to compete with them, anyway? Two people growing side by side for nine months before birth were simply inseparable in most cases. Emily knew she had a special place in each one of her brother's hearts, but at times she wished that they would not protect her so much. She felt annoyed living under their protective umbrellas, but who needed friends with brothers like them? She headed back to the group and noticed something that she had not noticed before. One of the new-made friends was pretty handsome. She remembered his deep blue eyes when he introduced himself as Delmar, but it did not hit her immediately back then. His black hair combined with his tanned skin suited his athletic body. Something mysterious in his eyes caught her attention.

As she approached, the rugby ball bounced towards her. It surprised her to see Delmar going after it. Was this coincidence or could he read her mind? Her heart started beating faster as she tried to catch the ball. The ball bounced and changed direction all of a sudden. Why would anyone want a stupid ball shaped like a rugby ball? Emily felt a warm glow of embarrassment on her face when she failed to catch it.

Delmar smiled as he jogged passed her to get the ball that was heading towards the ocean. He picked it up and walked back to Emily. 'Now I understand why you don't like rugby,' he chuckled and noticed a dimple on Emily's left cheek as she smiled.

'Not my best of sports though,' Emily blushed.

'So how do you like Saldanha so far?' Delmar asked. He stood in front of her as he bounced the ball from one hand to the other.

'I like it here,' Emily said. She felt a little anxious, but somehow Delmar's blue eyes had a calming effect on her.

'So where are you guys staying?'

'Saldanha, up there somewhere,' Emily said pointing towards the place they had been to the other day, 'just underneath that hill.'

'That's great,' Delmar said nodding. 'We all stay in Saldanha except for Shorty, he lives in Hopefield. So what school are you guys going to then?'

'My dad arranged for us to go to E.D.S High. Not even sure where exactly that is but yes. That's our new school. I do know it's in Vredenburg somewhere.'

'Well, what do you know? We are both in E.D.S except for Shorty, of course. He was in E.D.S but his parents thought Hopefield was a better choice about a year ago.'

'That's great!' Emily smiled. 'Not that Shorty is in Hopefield. I mean...that we will go to the same school of course.' She felt annoyed. She could feel her cheeks warming up a little.

'Don't worry, it's a good school. You guys will be okay. Anyway, you have two good brothers there to take care of you,' Delmar smiled. He looked at Patrick and Andrew for a moment then back to Emily.

Emily could not believe how easy it was to be around Delmar. He probably did not even notice her discomfort at first. Emily could not help to wonder if Delmar had a girlfriend. Such a handsome guy should have most of the schoolgirls running after him.

'Yes. They are great,' Emily said. She looked at Andrew and Patrick. She knew Patrick was probably cracking jokes again with his quick wits. Shorty and Bernard were laughing out loud holding onto their stomachs.

'We should probably join them,' Delmar said nodding his head towards the group. 'They are probably thinking the sharks got hold of the ball.'

Emily chuckled. 'We probably need to head back home, anyway. We promised my dad we won't be long. He needs our help around the new house.'

'Yeah okay,' Delmar said, bouncing the ball between his hands again. 'I understand.'

They slowly headed back to the rest. Delmar gave Emily a quick rundown of Saldanha which she found interesting, but what was even better for Emily was that time almost stood still. She could hear the waves crashing in the background as well as the seagulls laughing as they glided over the beach in search of something to snatch. The sand was hot underneath her feet, but so was her young heart to the thought of walking next to Delmar without a care in the world.

'I was wondering what happened to our main man,' Shaun said as Delmar and Emily joined them.

Patrick noticed a new expression on his sister's face. A look he had seen before when she had been in love with a boy in school some time ago.

'We should probably head back,' Andrew said. 'Dad needs us to do a few things around the house still.'

'I think so too,' Patrick said. 'Well, we had great fun today.' He dusted off some sand from his elbows.

'Yeah man, the more the merrier,' Shaun said. 'It's not always fun to play touch rugby with only the three of us.'

'Patrick, I heard from Emily that you guys are also going to E.D.S High,' Delmar said. 'You should join the rugby team man. You are quite good.'

'Thank you. I like sports. I used to play for the first team at our previous school.' Patrick scratched his head. 'We'll see.'

'I can tell,' Delmar said. 'Well anyway, I guess I'll see you guys at school then?'

'It was really nice to meet you all,' Bernard said shaking Andrew's hand.

'Same here brother,' Andrew responded.

They all greeted and parted ways. It was hot. The sun cast heavy rays of heat on the white beach reflecting into Emily's eyes.

'Great guys hey,' Andrew said.

'Yeah, definitely,' Patrick said. 'It's cool that we have friends already and school has not even started.'

'The best thing is that we will be in the same school and grade, except for Em,' Andrew said. 'We didn't even plan for something like this to happen when we left home this morning.'

'Exactly,' Patrick said.

Emily could hear the excitement in her brother's voices, but they had no way of knowing the excitement she felt in her heart. She looked back for a moment. To her surprise she found Delmar doing the same. Was he looking at her or was it just coincidence that his face was turned towards them? Emily found herself smiling.