Ashley Enright and the Dog Days of Summer (8)

“Well,” said Ashley. “It’s almost lunch time. Why don’t we go inside and have lunch? Then we can go ask Fred about the ring.”

She folded up her blanket and sand chair. Kelly didn’t want to leave.

“I want to stay and play with my castle,” she protested and stamped her foot in the sand.

“Come on, silly goose,” said Ashley. “The tide’s coming in and our castle won’t be here much longer.”

The three went up the stairs from the beach back to the Enright’s backyard and into the house.

“Hello,” Ashley called as they entered the kitchen.

“Hello, dear,” said Gram as she turned around from the kitchen counter.

“Yea, Gram’s here!” yelled Kelly as she ran over to give her grandmother a kiss on the cheek. Gram always wore Wind Song perfume and fresh talcum powder.

“Hi, dears. Hello, Josh,” said Gram. “What would you like for lunch? I’ve made a bowl of Waldorf salad.”

“That’d be great, Gram,” said Ashley as she sat down at the kitchen table.

“What have you three been up to today?” asked Gram as she put plates of Waldorf salad at their places at the table.

“We built a huge castle on the beach,” said Kelly excitedly.

“You did?” said Gram. “I’d love to see it after lunch.”

“I hope it will still be there,” said Kelly. “Ashley thinks it will be all gone.”

“The tide’s coming in, Gram,” said Ashley shaking her head. “I think it will be washed away after lunch.”

“Oh well,” said Gram brightly. “We can always build another one.”

“Can this one be Snow White’s castle?” asked Kelly.

“That’s a pretty tall order,” answered Gram. “We’ll see what we can do about that after lunch. Do you mean the castle that you saw at Disney World last year, dear? Because that was Cinderella’s castle, not Snow White’s.”

“Oh, that’s right, Gram,” said Ashley. “Well, ours didn’t really look like Snow White or Cinderella’s castle. It was pretty much just a regular old castle!”

Ashley Enright and the Dog Days of Summer (7)

Josh came back down the beach with a broad smile on his face. “Hey, Ashes,” he said. “Look what I’ve found.” He poured out the contents of his basket on Ashley’s blanket.

She looked at all of the coins on the blanket beside her. She said, “Josh, you must have about $5 worth of coins here! Wait, look at this.” She picked up a gold ring.

“Cool,” said Kelly. “Can we keep it?”

Ashley shook her head and said, “No, silly goose! Besides, Josh was the one who found it.” She looked closely at the ring and said, “There’s writing in it.” She handed the ring to Josh who looked at the inside.

“Hey, there’s an inscription that says ‘To Suzy Q on our wedding day 8/21/53,’” said Josh.

“Who is Suzy Q?” asked Kelly.

“I don’t know,” said Ashley. “But I’m sure she’d like to get her ring back.”

“Why don’t we ask Fred if he knows?” suggested Josh. Fred Beasley was a young police officer in town. He gave talks regularly at the schools about the importance of safety and the dangers of drugs, alcohol and strangers. He was liked and trusted by all of the kids in town.

Ashley Enright and the Dog Days of Summer (6)

The three walked along the Enright’s backyard and took the stairs leading down to a crescent beach.

Ashley noticed that Josh was lugging a large black bag with handles. “What is that thing?” she asked as she pointed to the bag.

“It’s my dad’s metal detector,” said Josh as he struggled to take it out of the bag. “I’m going to use it to find coins and stuff.”

“Oh, brother,” said Ashley. “Whatever makes you happy!”

“It does,” said Josh as he put on the headphones that were connected to the metal detector. “I’ll see you in a while.” He started walking down the beach and slowly sweeping the metal detector from side to side over the sand.

Ashley spread out her blanket on the sand and set up her sand chair. Then she said, “Come on, Kelly. Let’s start on that sand castle.”

“Can we make Sleeping Beauty’s castle?” asked Kelly excitedly. She was thinking about the castle they saw last year at Disney World.

“I don’t know if we can make that,” said Ashley. “We’ll do our best.”
They started working on the castle and it slowly began to take shape. It didn’t look anything like Sleeping Beauty’s castle, but it did have two towers, a wall and a moat.

“Hey, that’s pretty good,” said Kelly.

Ashley Enright and the Dog Days of Summer (5)

After they finished breakfast, Josh arrived to go to with Ashley and Kelly to the beach. Josh lived two houses away on Foggy Bottom Road.

“Hi, Josh,” said Ashley as she greeted him at the front door. He followed her into the kitchen and said hello to Ashley’s parents.

 “Josh, I hope you don’t mind, but I asked Ashley to take Kelly to the beach with you,” said Ashley’s mother.

“Oh, it’s o.k., Mrs. Enright,” said Josh. “As long as she isn’t any trouble!’

Kelly stuck her tongue out at Josh.

“That’s enough, young lady,” said Ashley’s mother to Kelly. “You’d better behave yourself or you won’t be able to go into town with Gram this afternoon.”

“I’ll be good,” said Kelly quietly looking down at the kitchen table.

“That’s my girl,” said Ashley’s father as he winked at Kelly.

“O.k.,” said Ashley. “Let’s go!” She collected her sand chair, her backpack, and put on her beloved NY Mets cap. She took some bottled water from the fridge to put in her backpack and said to Kelly, “Are you sure you put enough sunblock on?”

“I think so,” answered Kelly whose face was marked by white lines of sunblock.

“Here,” said Ashley’s mother. “Let me make sure you have enough lotion on.” She rubbed the lotion onto Kelly’s face, arms, back and legs.

“Ugh,” said Kelly. “Now I’m all slippery.”

Ashley’s mother laughed, “You may be slippery, but at least you won’t get sunburned!”

“Yes,” said Ashley’s father. “Slither over here and give me a kiss before you leave, you slippery little eel.”

“Daddy,” giggled Kelly. “I’m slippery and you’re just silly.” She gave her father a big kiss on the cheek. She took her sand pail and shovel and followed Ashley and Josh out the kitchen door.