I strolled down to Three Palms and looked about. Suzanne and Roger
weren't there.
Maybe they're at the sand dunes looking for the floppy-eared baby
jackrabbit and its mother. I walked to the dunes to look for them. They
weren't there, either.
Climbing to the top of a sand dune, I looked around. Two big, white
clouds drifted across the deep blue sky, pushed by the wind. The wind
rustled the high reeds along the ridge, and they sounded like whispers.
A black and white gull flew low above the water, swooped, rose with a
fish in its beak, and flapped up and away.
I looked out toward the horizon and saw a sailboat dipping across the
waves. It was outward bound toward the islands. It looked like the
sailboat that belonged to Suzanne's and Roger's parents. Suzanne and
Roger must have decided to go sailing that day, and took their Mom and
Dad along for company.
I looked for them each morning for the rest of the week, but they hadn't
returned. I supposed they were having a long vacation.
Finally, this morning, when I arrived at Three Palms, Suzanne and Roger
were there, waiting for me.
'Hello, Suzanne. Hello, Roger,' I said. 'It's good to see you back. I
missed you.'
'Oh, we' re glad to be back at Three Palms,' said Suzanne.
'We sure are,' Roger added. 'We had a real fine time sailing and visiting
on the island. We hiked in the hills and did other things.'
'Did you have any adventures?' I asked.
'Yes, we did,' said Suzanne. 'Would you like to hear about them?'
'I sure would.'
'We had many adventures,' Suzanne said, 'We couldn't possibly tell them
all today. How about my telling one today, and then Roger telling one
tomorrow, and then me again the next day, and so on?'
'Sounds reasonable,' I replied.
We sat on the sand under the date palm. I leaned back against the tree.
A date fell and bounced off the top of my head.
'I'm glad we didn't sit under the coconut palm,' I said, rubbing my head
where the date had struck. We all laughed.
'OK, Suzanne.' I shifted about to get myself comfortable. 'Let's hear
about the first adventure.'
'I'm going to tell our adventures just like they're happening right now,'
Suzanne said.
'That's fine with me,' I said.
These are the stories told to me by Suzanne and Roger. I'm writing them
down using the same words as Suzanne and Roger as we sat on the
beach at Three Palms.