6 Savannah #2
from Cora.
“More TikTok?”
Cora startled as if she’d just been caught. “Just keeping up with the new trends.” She quickly slid the phone into her bag
and grabbed the board that was at her feet. “Are we going in or what?”
Before anyone had the chance to respond, she headed out to the water.
“That felt more like a demand than a question,” Bianca said from her position stretched out in the sun with her eyes closed.
“Yeah, but we’re burning daylight.” Savannah repeated one of their mother’s favorite lines and grabbed her own board.
“You’ve officially turned into Mom,” Bianca said. And while it might have been meant as an insult, Savannah took it as a compliment.
She headed to catch up with Cora, who was already wading out into the crystal-clear water. The water wasn’t cold, per se,
but after sunning on the shore, Savannah felt there was a chill to it. Wading in, the water seemed to get chillier as the
waves got closer to her abdomen. She held her board up, doing her best to keep the top half of her body from the cool water.
“You’re doing a great job keeping that board dry,” Cora joked as Savannah shuffled closer to her.
“I’m trying to get used to the temperature.” Savannah tried to bounce over the next wave, but she couldn’t avoid the splash
that hit her stomach.
Cora seemed amused. “And keeping the board over your head helps?”
“It helps me not have to put my arms in. And if my arms are dry, at least part of me is warm.”
“Dive under. You’ll get used to it faster.”
“Absolutely not.”
“She doesn’t like cold water,” Bianca said as she paddled on her board behind them.
“And this is cold?” Cora questioned.
“It’s not warm.” Savannah bobbed around with her arms held high above her head. “Just give me a second. I’ll acclimate.”
“Suit yourself. But while you bounce around like a jumping bean, I’m going for a ride.” Cora positioned the board in front
of her, the way she used to do when they spent the summers here.
“Do you remember how? Or should I give you a tutorial?” Bianca teased.
“Please. It might have been a minute since I’ve been here, but boogie boarding is like second nature.” She glanced over at
Bianca. “But do you need me to push you into the wave like we used to?”
Bianca slid off her board and stood up in the deeper water. “Just because I couldn’t beat you back then, doesn’t mean I can’t
beat you now. Watch and learn.”
Bianca looked over her shoulder at the waves. Just before the biggest one reached them, she pushed her board forward, landed
on top of it, and started kicking.
Only she hadn’t timed it right, and instead of catching the wave, it rolled right over her. She came out on the other side
looking like a drowned rat, coughing and wiping the salt water off her face.
Savannah tried not to laugh. “Are you okay?”
Bianca wiped the water off her face. “I let that one get away from me.”
“Okay, my turn.” Savannah lowered her arms to the water but kept bouncing to keep her body heat up as she turned to check
out the waves rolling in. “That’s it. The third one.”
“Are you calling it? Like shotgun?” Cora asked.
“Just making you aware of when you should watch.” She shot a side-eyed glance at Cora. “And yes, stay off.” She fixed her eyes on the waves and counted down. “In three, two, one.” She jumped forward, slamming her board down on the water.
Nothing happened. She went exactly nowhere.
Waves kept rolling by, and she just bobbed over them like a boat floating at sea.
“Should we count down again?” Bianca teased.
Savannah looked over her shoulder at the waves rolling in. “Did I miss it?”
“You didn’t catch it,” Cora said.
Savannah slid off the board. “Well, that didn’t go as planned.”
Cora got her board ready. “Am I going to have to show y’all how it’s done?”
“What? You think you’re better than us?” Bianca said.
“I certainly can’t be worse.” Still looking over her shoulder, she launched into the wave.
To be fair, Cora went farther than the rest of them. She caught the back part of the wave, and it carried her about ten feet
before she dropped out the back. She floated there for a second and watched her wave roll into shore without her.
She bobbed back to her sisters. “This used to be easier.”
Savannah nodded her agreement. It seemed to be the theme of their summer so far. All of this used to be easier.
Meanwhile a group of kids two umbrellas over from them bounded out into the water with their own boogie boards. One after
the other, they each caught waves and rode them all the way into the shore, like they were stepping on a moving sidewalk.
Savannah watched the next kid hop on a wave and do a trick. “There’s no way I’m letting them out-board us. We’ve got way more
experience than they do.”
Bianca squinted at the group. “I don’t know that your kind of experience is a benefit here.”
“We’ll see about that.” Savannah stared at the waves, determination pulsing through her. She lined up her board again.
Yes, it was just a wave and only one brief moment of their summer. But at the moment, it felt like her entire to-do list hinged
on this one ride.
So far, nothing had gone according to plan. Nothing about this trip had turned out the way she’d thought it would. But she
wasn’t willing to go through the entire summer watching one thing fail after another. This was her family. Her trip. Her responsibility.
And she was going to make it work if it took everything she had, starting with boogie boarding.
“Bring it,” she whispered to the waves.
This time she didn’t wait for the best wave, she just went with the next one. She kicked with everything she had. Nothing
was going to stop her. She was catching this wave. This was her moment!
Except it wasn’t.
The wave rolled right past her. Then another followed in its wake. Frustration and disappointment washed over her, but she
didn’t stop. Savannah kicked with the board tucked under her belly like a kid at swim lessons.
“Are you going to kick all the way to shore?” Cora joked behind her.
“Maybe.” Because it was either that or start crying.
“Woo-hoo!”
Savannah turned in time to see Bianca sail right past her, riding on a wave. A huge smile was spread across her face, and
she pumped a fist in the air as she passed.
Savannah might not have caught the wave, but watching her sister succeed was almost as gratifying. She slid off her board
and watched Bianca ride the wave to shore.
It was the biggest wave they’d seen so far, and it continued to swell as it got closer to the beach. By the time Bianca’s
wave was almost to the sand, it had grown into a huge, crashing monstrosity, and as it hit the beach, it rolled right over
Bianca.
For a second Savannah lost sight of her sister, but by the time the wave retreated, she spotted Bianca again, sitting in the
ankle-deep water.
“Go, Bianca!” Cora cheered from behind them.
“Are you okay?” Savannah asked.
“I lost my...” She wiped her face at the same moment as saying the last word, which made it impossible to hear over the
sound of the waves and other noise at the beach.
“You what?” Savannah called.
“My bottoms! The wave took my swimsuit bottoms !” Bianca yelled, just before another wave knocked into her.
Savannah looked back to where Cora was standing, and, without any words exchanged, they both burst into laughter.
“It’s not funny!” Bianca whined, continuing to wipe salt water off her face with one hand while she held her board over herself
with the other.
“No, you’re right. It’s not funny.” Savannah tried her best to stop laughing, but she looked over at Cora, who had caught
up to where she was, and another round of giggles erupted.
“It’s freakin’ hilarious!” Cora said.
The harder Cora laughed, the harder Savannah laughed until it got to the point that Savannah was having trouble swimming and
Cora had to wipe the tears out of her eyes.
Bianca on the other hand seemed less amused. “Well, could you at least laugh and swim at the same time? I have sand going
places it doesn’t need to be.” Another wave washed over her as she tried her hardest to keep herself firmly seated on the
sandy bottom.
“Coming, coming,” Cora said.
Cora got to the beach first and ran up to the chairs to get a towel. Savannah tossed her board on the sand and waded through
the water in hopes of locating the missing swimsuit. When Cora returned to the water’s edge, the three sisters worked together
to shield Bianca while she wrapped the towel around her.
Was it the boogie board experience Savannah had planned? Not even close. But it was their first bonding moment. And as she
and Cora struggled to get their giggles under control, Savannah felt a glimmer of hope that all wasn’t lost. That maybe, just
maybe, they could find their way back after all.
With the towel firmly wrapped around her waist, Bianca turned and stomped toward the house. “You two are ridiculous.”
“Us? What did we do?” Cora asked, still laughing.
“Are you coming back?”
“Not sure!” Bianca yelled without turning in their direction.
“Should we go after her?” Savannah asked Cora.
“Naw, she’ll calm down.” She walked to their umbrella and flopped into her chair. “But it feels like snack time. Do you have
any salt and vinegar chips in that cooler of yours?”
Yep, everyone was always hungry.
“Sure do.” She joined Cora and opened the cooler.
It wasn’t the start she’d been hoping for, but it was a start.