Chapter 2 - Three Hours of Work
Silver Bay Beach was almost empty when Emily and Noah arrived.
The morning sky was clear, and the water reflected the first orange light of sunrise. Workers were setting up red, white, and blue decorations along the boardwalk. A stage had been built near the lifeguard station for the afternoon celebration.
Noah chose a place far from the water but close enough for the wet sand to hold its shape.
For three hours, he worked without stopping.
He filled buckets, packed walls, shaped towers, and dug a narrow path around the castle. Emily helped carry water, but Noah insisted on completing most of the structure himself.
“This tower is the rescue station,” he explained.
He placed a flat shell above the entrance.
“This one is our house. And this bridge is how Dad gets home.”
Several early visitors stopped to admire his work.
An older couple gave Noah a handful of white shells. A family from Ohio helped him find smooth stones for the castle wall. Two little girls placed tiny red flowers beside the entrance.
Walter Brooks watched from the lifeguard station.
He had known Daniel for fifteen years.
Daniel had once been the youngest member of Walter’s rescue team, a fearless twenty-two-year-old who ran toward dangerous water while everyone else ran away from it. Over time, Daniel became Walter’s closest friend and the man Walter trusted with every difficult rescue.
When Daniel died, Walter had been the one who delivered the news to Emily.
He carried the guilt every day.
The storm had become too dangerous. Walter had ordered Daniel to return, but Daniel saw one of the fishermen trapped beneath part of the damaged boat.
Daniel went back.
He saved the man.
The waves took him before the rescue boat could reach them.
Walter walked toward the castle but stopped when he saw the words Noah was creating with seashells.
WELCOME HOME, DAD.
He turned away before Noah could see him crying.
By eleven o’clock, the castle was complete.
Noah placed the flag at the top and stepped back.
“It looks exactly like my drawing.”
Emily wrapped her arm around him.
“It looks even better.”
May you like
Noah smiled for the first time that day.
Neither of them noticed the woman in the pink jumpsuit arriving behind them.
