A Birth day

Angus and Marcus ate breakfast rather quickly, and while they ate, Andrew went upstairs and helped Elwood refresh and dress. The kids came to the kitchen dressed for work.

"Where are you guys going?" Sam asked.

"Just to Tuscany for a few hours this morning. We won't be long, I don't think," Angus said. "If you need us, let us know. Oh, and do please make sure that someone de-skunks Finn sometime today, please?"

"Oh no. Not again," Victor groaned as they tucked into their plates.

"'Fraid so," Angus said. "He reeks."

"Fine," Sam sighed.

"So what all is going with us today?" Marcus asked.

"The big cooler there, the beach bag, Elwood, anything he needs, the minions and anything they need, us, and we'll meet the others there."

"Others?" Marcus echoed.

"Oh, wait." Angus got up, got his sign out of the closet, shrank it, and stuck it in the beach bag. "I think we'll be ready as soon as Elwood and the minions are ready."

The kids headed to work, Angus and Marcus put the leftovers away and put a washing up spell in place. Andrew brought Elwood down in his wheelchair, and then, when they were all ready, they ported to the beach in Tuscany. The work crew was there working on demolishing Evan's house, and another crew was starting the repairs on Edward's house.

Angus motioned everyone down to the beach. Robert and Michael were there, along with a few of Angus' friends. Michael and a blonde haired man named Cliff were setting up a folding bar and getting out stools and added bottles of alcohol, glasses, bartending equipment and all the rest. A few girls who were wearing bathrobes were setting up a sideboard underneath a sunshade canopy. They had a long table, with a bright colored tablecloth, glassware, plates, napkins, a big bowl of fresh tropical fruit, and Angus took them the cooler with sandwiches, crisps, etc. There were several big beach blankets spread out on the sand, and a sound system was already playing Hawaiian music. Robert was in his swim trunks, lying back on the sand with an iced coffee. Angus put out his sign that read: "Moral Support Department" and he went to check out the rest of the decorations.

Elwood was looking at all of the set up, and then he saw the girls take off their robes to reveal hula skirts and coconut shell bras, flower leis, and all the hula girl regalia. He laughed hysterically, finding Angus's idea to be hilarious. Andrew found Elwood a place on a beach blanket with pillows to prop him upright.

"Do you think you made your point?" Michael asked Angus.

"Not yet. But we'll know when we do," Angus laughed. "In the meantime, I think we should all have a good time."

"I knew he was up to something but I didn't know specifically what he was up to," Marcus said. "I'm sure, after he started scheming and mentioned it to Robert and Michael, it grew way beyond what he had originally had in mind. Stil, we haven't been here just to enjoy the beach since last summer, so I'm not complaining. Now, what are they doing?" Marcus looked behind him and saw they were doing something a distance behind the bar. He got up and went to look. He came back a couple minutes later, laughing.

"Angus's culinary friends have taken things to yet another level. They've dug a pit in the sand, and they've put in a suckling pig for some genuine Hawaiian recipe kalua pork. It looks to me like it's partly cooked already, but that's fine. And I think they're making some sides to go with it, so Angus will very likely be able to take all his sandwiches home."

The hula girls began distributing tropical rum punch drinks in tall glasses that all had little umbrellas in them, and they had some simple fruit punch in a disposable plastic bottle so that Ruby could put some of the fruit punch in the babies' sippy cups if she wanted.

Angus was laying back on a beach towel, sunbathing leisurely and sipping on his rum punch, in a bit of a half doze. It wasn't long before they could all smell the pork and some of the sides cooking. With the music playing and the hula girls dancing, it soon brought Edward and Evan to the beach.

"What the hell is all this?" Edward frowned. Angus reached down and picked up his sign and showed it to them. Evan got the joke immediately and started to laugh.

"Hell, I might need a lot of emotional support," Evan said, walking over the the bar to get a drink. "Come on, Edward. When on Waikiki, you know..."

"God, give the boy an inch, and he takes miles and miles," Edward shook his head, following Evan to the bar.

Edward made his way to Robert and Michael and Elwood, and soon the four of them were talking and laughing and having a good time. Evan was learning how to hula, and Angus was watching him, amused but not interested in the least in learning it himself. It wasn't long before Carlo and Rosaria realized there was a party going on, on the beach, and they made their way down, with all intentions of asking what food they needed, but Edward soon invited them to stay and join the fun.

Angus saw the babies were interested in the sandpipers that were running back and forth in the tide, and the babies had crawled down to the waterfront, and had crawled down into an inch or two of water. They were trying to figure out the wet sand and the tide as it rolled back and forth up the shore. Marcus went to get up, and Angus looked over at him.

"I'm watching," Angus said. "Besides, Ruby and Aria will be on the minions in ten seconds or less."

"Sometimes they can hover, you're right," Marcus laughed. "Still, I'd feel better if they didn't go out any further."

"Agreed," Angus said. "And hopefully, they aren't going to be into trying to eat the sand."

Angus got up and decided to go for a swim, and Marcus followed him. They swam for quite awhile, when Angus noticed he didn't see Marcus anymore. That concerned him. He stood up, looking for Marcus, and when he did, he saw Evan running down the beach with a preserver and a rope, running out into the water. Angus knew the expression on Evan's face. There was trouble.

"There!" Evan pointed to Angus. Angus looked where Evan was pointing. To the average swimmer, no one would have seen anything wrong. To Angus's trained eyes as a seaman, he saw it immediately. Marcus had been surprised by a riptide. Angus accio'd Evan's preserver and rope.

"I've got it," Angus told Evan. "Don't come any closer. I've got him."

"Not yet you don't,' Evan replied. Angus dove deep, below the rip current, and swam to where he saw Marcus, and then he used magic to get the preserver to Marcus. The minute that Evan saw Angus had made the distance to get the rope to Marcus, Evan accio'd the other end of the rope and began to haul Marcus in. Angus swam underwater out of the rip current and came up for air. His shoulder was starting to really give him trouble now. He apparated to Evan and joined him in pulling Marcus out of the current until Marcus was free of it. Marcus got to his feet and waved to signal them he was safe.

"Good work, Ev," Angus told his brother. "I'm glad you caught it."

"And I'm glad you're such a damned strong swimmer. How's the shoulder?"

"Not good. Don't tell anyone. Let's not ruin their day. I'll have Robert see to it shortly. I'll be fine til then. I'll go join Marcus and walk him back in. He's bound to be knackered after that."

"Yeah. Rip tides are energy eaters," Evan agreed.