Extra Special

Reggie spread out a towel, set down a large tote bag with a cartoon tiger on the front, then ran over to the area his dad was setting up. Mom had two picnic baskets next to her; a bigger one for her, Dad, and baby Emily, and a smaller one. Reggie grabbed the smaller one.

“Reggie, what are you doing?” Dad yelled after him.

“I have to get ready for my date!” Reggie yelled back to his dad.

He could hear Mom giggle. “Let him have his fun, honey.”

Reggie didn’t have time to tell her that this was not fun, this was serious. Dates were serious things. She should know that after all. She was old.

Reggie put the picnic basket down then opened it. Wait. No. He shouldn’t take the sandwiches, grapes, and juice boxes out now. They would get sand all over them. Or maybe he should have the food already laid out when Diana arrived?

Reggie ran back to his dad, who was now setting up the umbrella. It was one of the first warm days after winter. They weren’t the only family on the lake.

“Dad, I need your help. I’m only ten years old! I don’t know anything about a first date. Should I put the straw in the juice box for her, or let her do it herself?”

Dad smiled. “Let me put the umbrella up then I’ll come over and help.”

Reggie looked at the cars parked along the beach. Families were coming onto the sand carrying tote bags and picnic baskets and towels. Diana and her family were due any minute now. Reggie had to get ready before then. He had to make it all perfect.

When Dad finally finished the umbrella, Reggie yanked him to the towel. “I packed everything for our date in this bag. After lunch, I thought we could build a sand castle.”

“You’ve got a plan. That’s always good.” Dad opened up the picnic basket. “Next, if you’re making the date yourself, you have to make a good presentation. Let her know you really put some thought into it.” He took out a small cooler, two sandwiches, and two bags of chips. Dad opened the cooler, but arranged the juice boxes so the top half was sticking out of the ice.

Reggie arranged the sandwiches and chips in front of the cooler. “How about that?”

“It looks great.” Dad was looking in the bag. He handed a bottle of sunscreen to Reggie.

“What was your first date with Mom like?” Reggie asked, applying sunscreen to his arms first.

“Your mom and I had something called a blind date, which means we didn’t know each other before the date. A friend of ours set it up. She walked into the restaurant, the prettiest girl I had ever seen, and I got really nervous.”

“I know how that feels.” Reggie nodded. “Diana is really pretty too.”

Dad smiled again. Sometimes Reggie heard his dad laugh when he smiled. “We ate a fancy dinner, had a fancy drink called Merlot, and it was a lot of fun. That’s the goal of a first date, Reggie. You want to have fun. If you don’t have fun with the girl, you don’t want to see them again.”

“Diana is a lot of fun. We have fun all the time at recess.” Reggie finished rubbing the lotion into his right leg then checked the parking lot again. Diana always showed up at school in a blue truck. Right now he saw only a bunch of vans.

"Knowing the girl is a bit easier, because you can make it extra special." Dad squirted a dot of sunscreen on the palm of his hand, rubbed it between his fingers, then spread it over Reggie's face.

Extra special. Reggie had to make sure their first date was extra special.

When the sunscreen was on, Dad walked back to the towel holding Mom and Baby Emily. Reggie grabbed his favorite blue sand castle building bucket. As fast as he could, he made a border around the towel of small sand castles. Once finished, he stood back with a smile.

There. A first date in a castle. Nothing was more special than that.

"Reggie, what are you doing?"

Reggie whipped around behind him. Standing there was Diana in a pink bathing suit and matching pink sunglasses. She was holding a purple towel in one hand and a small yellow beach bag in the other. He saw some white streaks of sunscreen on her arms.

"Diana! Um...I..." Reggie's throat went dry. He got nervous. He gestured at the towel. "This is a date."

"A date?" Diana looked at the towel then around. "For who?"

"For you and me." Reggie put his hands on his hips. He had to be confident. Not nervous. "A surprise date in a castle."

Diana was quiet for what felt like the longest time ever, then she smiled from ear to ear. "Cool!" She put one foot behind the other and bent her knees. "Your Highness."

Reggie bowed at his waist. "Your Highness."

They both laughed. Diana stepped over the castle wall, onto the towel. Reggie handed her a sandwich wrapped in plastic and an apple juice box. He watched her take a bite of her sandwich first.

"Do you like it? It's my mom's chicken salad. It's the best."

Diana nodded. "I like your mom's chicken salad. I've had it before, remember?"

"Oh. Right." Reggie was nervous again. He finished his sandwich then reached for the grapes. "Do you like grapes?"

"I do." Diana took a couple from the bowl. "What's your favorite fruit?" She was so calm, like this was just the two of them hanging out as friends. Reggie decided to relax too.

Just have fun. That's what his dad told him.

"Blueberries. Emily's favorite fruit is apples. We have a bunch of them at our house. Mom said she's going to make apple pie this weekend!"

"Yum! I love apple pie. Lemons are my favorite fruit. I like watching other people eat them because they make this face." Diana made her lips look like she was kissing the air, sucked in her cheeks, and squeezed her eyes shut. Reggie laughed. She did too.

Reggie made a silly face similar to the one she just made. She made a silly face in return, then all too soon they were laughing too hard to keep making silly faces.

"I have an idea!" Reggie grabbed his blue bucket. "Let's make our castle even better!"

"Yes!" Diana clapped.

Reggie handed her a shovel and another bucket from his tote bag. She worked on one side of the towel while he worked on the other. They made the original wall stronger, then Reggie scooted his foot around the entire towel to make a moat. Diana ran to the lake, filled the bucket with water, then ran back to add it to the moat. She repeated the steps until the entire thing was full of water.

Reggie returned his toys to the tote bag. "Our castle looks great!" He and Diana gave each other a high five.

"We make a great team." she smiled.

"The best." Reggie kept hold of her hand. He liked the feeling of her hand in his. She smiled. She seemed okay with him holding her hand.

Diana's dad came to the towel. He was a tall man with really big arm muscles. "Am I interrupting?"

Diana smiled. "Look at our castle, Daddy!"

"I like it." Her dad looked at their hands then took a deep breath. He seemed uneasy about Reggie holding Diana's hand. “Your cousins just pulled up with the jet skis, Diana. You kids want to ride first?”

“Yes!” Diana clapped again.

“You’ll need your life jacket first, Dotty. I left it in the truck.” Her dad reached out his hand. "Ask your parents if you can ride along, Reggie."

"I will." Reggie looked at Diana. “This was a good first date. We should do it again.”

Diana kissed his cheek. “Maybe in a real castle.” She jumped over the sand wall then took her daddy’s hand. A few steps later, she stopped. She turned to Reggie and curtsied. He bowed in return. She laughed again before running to the parking lot.

Reggie’s dad came to the towel. “How did it go?”

“It was so much fun, I decided I want to go on a second date.” Reggie looked around the towel. “But I don’t know how I can make something more special than a date in a castle.”