Family Vacation: >4

It was my Dad. He'd already made it upstairs. We all followed his voice and saw him staring, forlornly, into one of the bedrooms. It was a small room, painted seashell pink, with two lacquer-framed twin beds. He looked at all of us, exasperated, as if the tragedy of this was self-evident.

"On the website, they said it was two beds for four kids," Dad said, "I didn't realize they meant it would be in the same room."

"Maybe there's another bedroom," Mom said.

"Sure, Deb, I looked all over the house, but I bet you'll find the secret place I couldn't see," Dad snapped. Everyone looked at each other, I could feel the uncomfortable like it was the temperature, rising up my skin.

As we explored, we found that, as my Dad had so politely pointed out, there were only two other bedrooms in the house. Both had Queen-sized beds clearly intended for the adult couples. There was a sectional in the living room, as I'd mentioned, but there were no other places to sleep except that tiny room with the two skinny beds.

"I'm sorry guys," Dad said to us kids after we'd canvassed the house. "I'm sending a complaint, but at this point I can't pull another bedroom out of my ass.

"That's OK, Uncle Gary," Marissa said, "Even if you could, we wouldn't want to sleep in anything that came out of your butt."

My Dad gave her a rare smile and went to help Mom set up the kitchen. Meanwhile, we went upstairs and flopped down on the beds.

"I guess we'll split boys and girls?" I said.

"So, you two will be nice and comfortable while us guys sleep halfway on the floor?" Liam said. He and I had been having such a good day up till then, too. Maybe Dad's bad mood was contagious. "I'm just saying, it makes more sense to sleep boy-girl. That way there's enough space for everyone to be comfortable."

the bed with our siblings?"

that?" Liam said, "It's not like I'm

shoot Logan a look. Again, something was going on between

Logan said. His deep

*

and pulled a long, white coverall over that. Then I slipped into

room.

dark blue bikini. I could only see the bottoms, but it seemed like a fairly conservative cut. Logan

to the shore!" Marissa called

in time for

new sunglasses. The house was only a block from the shore. The road was quiet and speckled with sand. My legs were stiff from two days in

cul-de-sac with a set of wooden steps that led up to the boardwalk. We went up on the wooden slats and stared out at sand and endless ocean. It was quiet, only a few people jogging by. Women pushed their babies in strollers. A few towns over, the strip got rowdy with t-shirt shops, pizza places, and bars mini-golf. But here, the town ordnance only allowed for houses near the boardwalk, so it

discarded plastic cup. The ocean -- green-brown water with tight, violent waves -- roared. We walked down close, to

in my chair. I'd brought a big

this is nice," I

few families bobbed in the ocean; kids played in the sand. It was a suburban beach, for better or worse. The fun stuff happened a few towns over, like I said. But it was also relaxing, and it was nice not to get ogled

in the ocean. It was mid-August, so the water was cold, but not icy. I only went about thigh deep, but it was nice to feel the ocean on my legs. I saw my brother and cousin out deeper, jumping the waves. I'd left my sunglasses and hat on, so I

our setup. Marissa was lying

of you do my back?" she asked, her

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