The traditional seaside resort of Sharpington-by-Sea with its Victorian Pier, seafront hotels, crazy golf, The Palladium ballroom, well maintained gardens, promenade, theatre and illuminations, has all the usual things to have a great time by the seaside, as well as amusement arcades and of course the Sharpington Fun Park and sisters Rachel and Kay Wilkinson live together in the house they grew up in, in the grand neighbourhood of Granite Hill, which in a nod to San Francisco, the locals had nicknamed Nob Hill.
They
were both in their early thirties, and were only 13 months apart and they were
very close in every other way and did everything together, and as they were
both single, one of the things they did on a regular basis was to look for
someone to change their single status.
But
they were thwarted in their efforts time and time again and invariably ended up
with their friends Penny Van Der Zelden and Sarah Whitmarsh either at the Pier
Pancake Palace located by the entrance of the Pier or in Bizzoni's Ice Cream Parlour, which was
opposite, and it was in the latter where they first laid eyes on Peter and Paul
Cooper, who were in town on holiday for two weeks, and they were perfect, good looking, funny, the
same ages, and more importantly, single, and they seemed to be interested, but
after ten days they hadn’t progressed any further than hanging out at the Fun
Park, and eating a lot of ice cream at Bizzoni’s.
The sisters were very frustrated by
their inability to land their catch so on the boys last night in Sharpington
they planned to up their game and get them on the dance floor at the Palladium
Ballroom and induce a little bodily contact.
They
arranged to meet at the entrance to the Pier at eight o’clock and Kay and the
boys were on time but Rachel wasn’t.
She
worked at the Chandlers beyond Whitecliffe Head and the dunes and she had to
stay much later than she planned as there was a problem with the alarm when she
was locking up.
When
she eventually got away she made a beeline for the Pier following the path that led firstly past the dunes and then a
row of brightly coloured beach huts.
If she continued on the path
it would lead to the end of the promenade but she took decisive action and
decided to take the more direct route across the beach and was in constant
touch with her sister via text message as she walked.
However her decision to
cross the beach proved to be problematic firstly because, although it was
indeed the shorter route in would have been much easier to walk on the paved
promenade rather than the inconsistent terrain of the beach, and that coupled
with the fact that the light was fading fast beneath and an overcast sky which
hampered her progress further.
She did have the lights of
the Pier to aim at and the light from her phone offered her some form of
illumination, but she was still going to be very late, and then the phone rang.
“Hello”
“Where are you?” Kay asked
“I’m coming as fast as I
can” Rachel replied
“Yes but where are you?
We’re looking down the prom and there’s no sign of you” Kay said
“I’m on the beach”
“What are you doing on the
beach?” Kay asked incredulously
“I thought it would be
quicker” Rachel retorted
“How’s that working out for
you?” Kay asked
“Shut up” Rachel snapped
“I’m nearly there”
Kay, Peter and Paul were
waiting at the Pier entrance but after finding out she was crossing the beach
they went to the top of the steps that led down to the sand and after a few
minutes an anxious Peter said
“I’ll go down and see if I
can spot her”
And after a few minutes Kay
and Paul started to descend as well.
“Can you see her yet” Kay
shouted but Peter didn’t respond as he had wandered out of view.
Rachel’s eyes had become accustomed
to the gloom and she was making steady progress as the sand beneath her feet
was of a firmer nature as she got closer to the seawall.
As she passed under the Pier she was
within easy reach of her destination but then she collided with something or
someone in the darkness and she was knocked backwards against one of the
supports but rebounded and fell against the figure in the dark.
“Excellent” she thought to herself as
gravity took control of her, first the burglar alarm, then the shortcut followed
by a mugging.
She finished up straddling the prone figure
of her assailant, fortunately she still had her phone in hand so she shone it
in the face of the mugger and was surprised to see, illuminated in the eerie
blue light, the handsome face of Peter Cooper and not for the first time that
evening she took decisive action and kissed him, and with that vigorous and
passionate kiss all the frustrations of the previous ten days were released.
Rachel and Peter were so engrossed in
the long hoped for kiss that they didn’t notice Kay arriving to witness the
action.
Kay retraced her steps where Paul was
waiting
“Could you see them?” he asked
“Oh yes”
“And are they together?” he enquired
“Definitely”
“So they’re ok?” Paul asked
“I would say so” she replied
“So what’s keeping them?” Paul asked
naively
“Erm, they’re busy” Kay replied
“Busy?”
“Oh yes”
“Doing what?” he asked
“What we should be doing” she replied
“I don’t understand”
“They’re snogging!” she snapped
“Oh” he exclaimed “I see, well yes I
think we should very definitely be doing that”
“At last” she said as he took her in
his arms.
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