Summer's End

I had such a wonderful week at the beach! I think it truly rates up there with Moondoggie and Gidget- almost to the expectation of my imagination. I was a bit upset over Henry and his quick departure, but the time I spent with him was proof positive that such things do happen. I would have lots of great things to tell Mindy and the other girls, and for once would be able to relate things that I had only heard them talk about. The day that Henry left, two things happened. First, Karen got caught in her bikini. I didn't rat her out, as fate would have it, her mother was just strolling along the water's edge and enjoying the day when she noticed a group of boys surrounding a young girl. It was apparent that the girl had pretty much nothing on, and Karen's mother felt a bit scandalized that any mother would allow her daughter to go out in public like that. Then, the unimaginable happened. A young man, eager to join the throng, ran up to Karen and called her by her name. When she heard the name "Karen", Karen's mother naturally looked to see if it was her daughter that the young man was addressing. To her shock and dismay, and then incredible anger, Karen's mother saw that it was her own chaste and innocent daughter that was surrounded by boys and practically naked! With a justified exclamation, Karen's mother stomped up to the group, picked up a beach towel and threw it over Karen's body. Then, with righteous indignation, she turned and blasted those boys, sending them sucrrying away in record time. Finally, she turned to Karen and for the next ten minutes, carped about trashy behavior behind Karen as they were going back to the hotel. Of course Karen was mortified, especially since her worst nightmare had come true. I was no where around, as I had gone with some girls I had met during the week. When I looked to see where Karen was, I noticed the absence of the boys and that Karen's spot on the beach was vacant. I was confused, but was enlightened when one of the girls told me that Karen's mother had come down and blasted Karen all the way back to the hotel. I began to worry that Karen's mother would blame me somehow for Karen's behavior, and wondered if I should go back to the hotel and face the music. I took my time, but finally, went back to the hotel room to find Karen weeping, her face red and eyes puffy. As soon as I walked in the room, Karen attacked me saying that it was all my fault that she had gotten caught. She claimed that if I had kept watch out like I should have, I could have warned her before her mother saw her. Before I could even respond to those rediculous accusations, Karen's mother came into the room and shaking a self-righteous finger in Karen's face, told her that it was her own fault that she was in trouble, parading around like a naked hussy for all the world to see. Why couldn't she be a nice girl like me, and keep her body covered so that people would not think their family was trash! By now I was in tears, and hated the contention going on. Karen's mother looked kindly at me and told me not to cry, I had done nothing wrong, indeed, I had shown Karen a good example. She then told Karen that she was confined to the hotel room for the rest of the day, and she was going to take me shopping at the little souvenier shops. I told her that I thought I should stay with Karen, but she insisted that I go with her. With a backward glance in Karen's direction, I followed Karen's mother out the door, down the hall and into the warm, sunny day. I tried to apologize for anything I might have done to upset her, and once again, she assurred me that it was Karen that had upset her, not me. I tried to enjoy my time with Karen's mother, but I felt so awkward about the whole situation. After awhile, I began to calm down and really began to have some fun. Then, the second thing happened that I will remember about that day. As we entered one of the souvenier shops, I was drawn once again to the preserved alligators that lined a whole shelf. Some of them had their mouths open showing thier sharp little teeth, and some of them had closed mouths. All of them had little black beady eyes and thick, dried alligator skins with differents pattens. Some were really large and others very small. The one thing they had in common was that I wanted one so very badly. I didn't have enough money to buy one, and so as in most cases of something I wanted, I just decided to enjoy looking at them while I could. I picked up one little alligator, about nine inches long and began to run my forefinger over it's rough exterior. I was enchanted by the tiny little claws and the alligator grin of it's little face. I felt sorry that someone had killed this little baby alligator just to make a souvenier out of him. While I was engrossed with these thoughts, Karen's mother came over to stand next to me. She asked me if I liked that little alligator, and I told her that I did. I admitted that I would love to have it for a memory of my wonderful vacation, and to my amazement, she told the clerk to wrap it up for me! She was buying that alligator for me! I could take it home, and just like I imagined, put it on the windowsill and remember the wonderful week I had spent in Florida. When the clerk handed me the wrapped package that held my little alligator, I hugged Karen's mother, thanking her for everything- the week in Florida, the fun I had been having, and most especially the little alligator. I don't remember much about the rest of the week, but Karen and her mother resolved their issues, I spent all the time I could on the beach, and when it was time to return, I carefully packed my alligator to take home with me. When we returned to the home, it was as if a magical time had come to an end and things would be returning to normal. Mindy was so surprised that I was so tan, and she said that I looked great! I basked in the limelight as I related my week in the sun, along with tales of Henry and everything we did together. The summer was coming to a quick end, and soon, school would be starting again. I didn't know it then but I would find that it would be an interesting and wonderful year.