Foreshadow: A Day At The Beach

The Channel 5 meteorologist had said that this was going to be the hottest day of the entire year. Officially, it was the first week of autumn, but for the last three days, temperatures had risen into the 90’s and stayed there. There would be some cloud cover today, but that’s as much as anyone bothered to hear on the weather report. “Hot day” usually meant going to the beach, so that’s what they planned to do.

Audra and Emmy, college roommates, rose early, packed some snacks and beach gear, and set off for Typhoon Bay. It was a one hour drive to the northern end of the island, but as this was a 3-day holiday weekend, they had to get there early to secure a good spot.

Upon arrival at the Bay, they stopped off at a small grocery store to pick up a 6-pack of beer. The town seemed unusually sparse for a Sunday morning. There was one older resident out on the street walking her dog and someone else sweeping the sidewalk out by the store. The gas station across the street was open for business, but empty.

“Ah! Smell that sea air!” Emmy remarked, as they alighted from the car.

Audra also exited the car and was about to say something when she was cut off by her car door slamming shut.

“Wow!” she exclaimed. “The wind is really whipping around here!” Both their summer dresses were flapping around them.

A stream of flags along the roof of the gas station billowed fiercely. The atmosphere was dense and humid and while the day was indeed hot, grey clouds had started to appear over the horizon.

The girls bought their supplies and returned to the car. They drove for about a quarter of a mile to the beach parking area and found the lot empty.

“Cool! We got here before the holiday beach crowd,” observed Emmy.

“Strange,” responded Audra.” “It’s already 7:00 o’clock. I thought there would be more people here by now.”

“They’re probably sleeping in,” was her roommate’s response. “Quick, let’s grab a good spot on the beach. I want to get a great tan today!’

They grabbed their supplies from their vehicle and walked over to what they determined was a good spot on the hot sand. For a short time they had to put up a struggle with the wind while removing their summer dresses and laying the towels on the ground.

Once done, they settled in while taking in the rhythm of the waves. The sound lolled them both to sleep just as darker clouds started rolling in.

Audra and Emmy could not possibly have known of the weather warnings ordering everyone to evacuate all shoreline areas within the next hour. The hurricane would be upon them by midday.

Inspired by this week’s Writing Challenge: Foreshadow