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Chapter 12: Paradise
Diana stood looking out over the verandah, that expanded directly
onto the beach and she watched her sons romping on the beach with total
abandonment. They had shed their shoes and socks as soon as
they had seen the beach and now they had shed
their shirts and were running up and down the shoreline in only
their shorts.
Walker walked up beside his wife and lifted the baby from her arms. She leaned back into him with a huge sigh of contentment.
“Can you believe this?” she asked shaking her head. “After ten months of, of, of....”
Walker grinned at his wife’s lack of an adjective to describe their last ten months.
“Of?”
Diana laughed. “Well, let’s just say, less than accommodating
quarters,” she sputtered. “Suddenly we land in paradise! Please
tell me that this isn’t a mistake and
that we haven’t come here in the middle of hurricane season!”
Walker totally understood his wife delight at their new house.
After the crowded and less than perfect living conditions within the interior
of South America suddenly
in Trinidad, they were in paradise. The company liaison had
brought them to a seven room beach house, for the first time totally outfitted
with enough beds and rooms for each of his children and with one of each
to spare. There were four bedrooms to the beachhouse, and the children’s
rooms were complete, one of them had been equipped with baby furniture
and the other two were outfitted with sets of twin beds, and the adult
bedroom was outfitted beautifully. The living room was decorated
very modern, light colored overstuff furniture with ceiling fans and large
windows to let in the tropical breezes. There was a verandah leading
out to the sandy beach on one side of the house, and French doors on the
other side leading out to an in-ground pool. The house was less than
two hundred feet from the ocean’s breaking waves and the sandy beaches
were beautiful and clean.
The boys were playing tag with the breaking waves and laughing and giggling as they dodged the incoming white foam. They let the boys play and joined them on the beach, walking in the sand in their bare feet.
“Mommy, look!” Zac exclaimed holding up a seashell for his mothers inspection.
“Boys be careful not to go into the water,” Walker warned.
“Stay up on the beach area. The water is full of real nasty characters
and I don’t want anyone missing
any toes.”
“Are there sharks?” Taylor asked trying to look into the ocean waters.
“Maybe, but there are most definitely barracuda in the water.” Walker
explained. “And before you ask, that a very large fish with very
sharp teeth. Just as nasty as a shark. Tomorrow we’ll clean
out the pool and you guys will be able to swim all
you want.”
Taylor backed out of the waters edge quickly and took off running after Ike. Walker dropped his daughter down into the sand and held her arms as she toddled forward trying to walk.
“I think I’m going in tomorrow and ask for a week of vacation,” he suggested. “I think I need to spend some real quality time with you and boys.”
“All your time is quality time,” Diana said leaning in towards her husband. “Do you think they’ll let you have the time?”
“Why not, everyone is entitled to vacation time and I’ve got plenty of time on the books,” Walker exclaimed. “I could use a week of relaxation.”
Five days later Walker lay stretched out on a lounge chair, his eyes closed and newspaper lay open over his face.
“Daddy, are you asleep?” Zac asked poking his head under the newspaper and knocking it onto the floor.
Walker kept his eyes shut and ignored the his son until he
had crawled almost on top of him and then suddenly he grabbed for the little
boys ribcage and started tickling.
Zac’s giggling and screaming brought his brothers over to his side
and soon there was a four way tickling match going on that ended with Walker
tossing his boys into the pool. The boys splashed into the water,
bellyflopping and head first and then floated and swam to the surface with
ease. They were all excellent swimmers with no fear of the water.
They pulled their father into the water and and he ducked them and threw
them over his head and they swam under the water and pulled his
legs out from under him, very effectively ducking him. Diana was
already in the pool bouncing Jessica up and down and watching the fifteen-month-old
dog-paddle across the surface with the help of the floatation devices she
was wearing.
After several hours of hard play, Walker and Diana were exhausted
but the boys were still full of energy. Diana took the baby into
the house for a nap and talked the boys into taking a rest and baby-sitting
knowing that it wouldn’t take long for them to
drift off themselves once they settled down. She returned
poolside and stretched out on a lounge chair beside her husband.
“Was this your idea of relaxation?” she asked handing him an glass of iced tea.
Walker chuckled. “About what I expected? You look happy, the boys are happy and that’s all a man could ask for. How about you?”
“I certainly have no complaints,” Diana exclaimed. “I think
that while we’re down here, that I’ll even cut back on the boy’s lessons.
Even though it’s late August, they
didn’t get a summer break and we couldn’t ask for a better vacation
spot. As far as I’m concerned the next two months are vacation.
I’ll just give them enough lessons to keep their minds active and we’ll
spent the rest of time doing whatever they like.”
“You’re going to spent an awful lot of time singing and swimming,” Walker commented smiling.
Diana laughed, “And drenching them in suntan lotion. I think we’ll be buying it by the case.”
Walker opened his eyes long enough to look at his own skin tone that had already darkened in the few days that they had been enjoying the ideal tropical environment.
“If that’s all it takes to keep us happy and safe, I’ll order it
by the gallon.” he promised.