We were looking for beach parking and getting nowhere. Bad traffic. We came up on a grass strip with pine trees next to a house with screen doors and windows. We were about to pull up when the man pulled up in his pick-up truck. My mother said, "if that man can afford a beach house, he should at least buy some decent clothes." Finally my mother drove right off the road and onto the beach. I wanted to say (that) there was a much nicer beach, but I knew it was best to keep my mouth shut. I told Britta, "There's undertow water currents between the islands. Try not to swim there or you could drown." I knew this was hard for her to hear because her sister drowned but Dora let me know I should warn them. Dora said (that) if she was here, she'd know NOT to swim there. It was dangerous. Valerie's dad said, "My daughter drew this picture." It was a vertical list drawing of a banana, a peach and purple grapes. He said, "She's only in first grade but reads at a 6th grade level." We knew he was lying because Valerie did not read so good. Even by 6th or 12th grade. Then he made her join the army because he said she was a loser. The sergeant was sitting in a straight chair. I was sitting on the floor with Valerie's head in my lap rocking her. She was crying. The sergeant had been mean to her. I started singing, "Do you remember.....that kind of September...." And the sergeant said, "That song's too sad. Don't you know some happy ones?" And Valerie sat up and we all 3 (me, Valerie and the sergeant) started singing together in unison the "SUNSHINE, LOLLIPOPS, AND RAINBOWS EVERYWHERE!" song. "Sunshine, lollipops and rainbows, when you're near me everything is wonderful when we're together. Brighter than a lucky penny, when you're near me, all those rain clouds disappear when we're together!" When we were walking on the beach we were looking for shells and we had been singing the B-I-B-L-E song. "The B-I-B-L-E (spelled out in song, similar to the B-I-N-G-O song, but a different tune.), Yes that's the Book for me! I stand alone on the Word of God, the B-I-B-L-E, the B-I-B-L-E..." We were looking for shells and I was digging with my foot and uncovered wooden eggs with houses' faces painted on them. The wooden butterflies were cheap, cheap, cheap and the church family wooden shells (eggs) were boring. Then, digging with my foot to get the butterfly wings, I uncovered a long red ribbon of World War II medals on a red ribbon. The buttons (attached to the ribbon) were funny. Dora said, "Merri, you always find the most interesting things."