Lemonade

Write a story that includes the words: waterfall, lemonade, swimsuit.  Word count = 300+.



                                                             

Lemonade

In the water park with thousands of people everywhere, Charlie’s heart screamed. “Jenny!”

“Have you seen my daughter?” he begged everyone he saw. “She’s five years old and this tall.” He held his hand hip-level. “Her hair is long and blonde, and she’s wearing a pink swimsuit.”

He glanced at his watch. She’d been missing a whole hour.

“Jenny, baby, where are you?” he whispered to himself.

The lifeguards called her name over the loudspeakers. He ran to the waterslides. His chest stung from hyperventilating. His baby? Where was his baby?

His cell phone rang. His wife. “No, nobody’s seen her.”

He ran towards the wave pool. Jenny loved to swim, but what if the waves were too big? He’d only turned his back long enough to buy sunscreen. “Jenny!” His voice cracked.

“Excuse me,” he said, after bumping into a plump lady in a bathing suit. He dodged a group of children playing on a beach towel. Then he saw her. She was floating face down in the turquoise water. He dove in and scooped her up.

“Mommy, help!” The little girl screamed.

It wasn’t Jenny.

He looked right and left, frantic. Children were squealing and shouting. Their joyful cries crushed him, resonating in his head. He blocked his ears with his hands, searching all around him. His chest heaving, he stumbled forward alongside the pool, walking listlessly. Lost. Near the end, he crumpled, rocking back and forth, devastated.

I have to save her. Where are you?

Taking a deep breath, he stood and put one foot in front of another like a zombie, unfocused eyes downward. Time crawled. At the end of the pool, he glanced up. His eyes met Jenny’s.

She held her arms out to him. “Daddy!” She and a little boy sat hidden behind the waterfall, sharing a lemonade popsicle.