FicWad

Notes: This was for a writing exercise where we picked one out of a selection of pictures and wrote a story for it. This piece was inspired by Jack Vettriano's painting Oh Happy Days, which you can Google if you want.

Happy Days

The five people on the sandbar were oddly dressed for a walk on the beach. The older woman leading the group wore a long blue dress with white polka dots, while the two younger women were in cherry-red dresses, and all had high-heeled shoes on their feet. The two men wore formal shirts, slacks, and dress shoes; the younger also had a suit jacket. They had been walking for some time when one of the younger women broke the silence.

"How much farther is it?" Kelly asked.

Fred, the older man, squinted into the distance. "Another half an hour, I think," he said.

Kelly sighed. The man whose arm she was holding said, "It's not that bad, dear. You aren't carrying anything." He looked down at the fold-up chair he was holding in his right hand.

"I know, Robert," Kelly said, "but you aren't wearing high heels."

Before Robert could reply, the woman on his right said, "Well, I am both carrying something and wearing heels, and your bickering just makes this walk even more unbearable."

"Sorry, Dana," Kelly said. The group lapsed back into silence for a few minutes, before Kelly spoke again. "I still can't believe you managed to run our boat straight into the sandbar."

"Kelly!" Robert exclaimed, though he didn't remove his arm from hers. "It was an honest mistake! Are you ever going to stop needling me about that?"

"Of course she isn't," Fred told him. "Don't you know anything about women?"

"And I suppose you know all about them?" asked the woman in the blue dress.

"Only because you are such an excellent teacher, Maggie dear," he replied, taking her hand. Maggie turned her head from him, but she was smiling.

Meanwhile, Robert was attempting to convince Kelly of his innocence. "The wind was bad," he explained. "And there were probably, ah, hidden water currents?"

"Hidden water currents?" Dana asked, amused. "Is that the best you can do?"

"/And/," Robert said, frowning at his sister, "that kind of boat is difficult to control. Especially when Father and I had to do all the work because three-fifths of the people on board refuse to help." He shot a pointed look at Kelly when he said the last part.

"And ruin our lovely dresses?" Kelly said. "Never!"

"Well, now you won't get to show off those 'lovely dresses'," Robert pointed out. "We're going to be at least two hours late for Miss Wrexler's picnic, and everyone will have moved on from admiring each other's clothes to watching the sunset."

Kelly shrugged. "Oh well," she said. "I don't much care for that kind of thing, anyway."

"Then why did you make such a fuss about not helping on the boat?" Robert demanded.

Kelly gave him a bright smile. "Because you're so cute when you're all flustered and indignant," she answered.

"Well!" Robert pulled his arm away from Kelly. "I've half a mind to call off the engagement right here," he told her.

"That's hardly polite," Kelly said, pouting. "Dana, did you hear your brother?"

"I did," Dana said. "What a terrible thing to say to you."

"I think it deserves some retaliation," Kelly told Dana. "What about you?"

"Oh, I quite agree." A mischievous glint entered Dana's eyes, and she set the folding chair she was carrying down on the sand. "A dunk in the ocean should cool him off, don't you think?"

"Now wait a minute!" Robert protested. "I didn't mean it seriously!"

Both women ignored him and grabbed one of his arms, tugging him towards the edge of the sandbar. Robert broke free from them and ran ahead. Dana and Kelly kicked off their heels and raced after him, laughing. Fred and Maggie stood watching them, hand in hand.

"Ah, youth," Fred sighed. Turning to his wife, he asked, "Shall we tell them that you cannot stand Miss Wrexler, and turned the rudder when he wasn't looking?"

"Let them have their fun," Maggie said. "It might make us late enough that we miss the party altogether."