Bondi Beach: Blog

Fred is the sequel to Sarah's Honeymoon. The two with their expanded and blended family are on the way to the island where Matt and Sarah first met.

Some challenges have been simmering for years; most are resolved during this visit. Theirs is a blended family. Despite the frolicking, there is no incest. Hint: "Fred" is short for "Fredericka."

The excerpts from Harper's journal appeared earlier as Harper.

Please check the codes before you read, and enjoy.

~ JBB

"Family Pool Party" is back, with some minor revisions and a name change or two. Eventually most if not all of the "California Central Valley Summer Heat" series will return, but there's no schedule.

Cheers,
JBB

I am making some necessary revisions and will repost "California Central Valley Summer Heat" and its associated stories as soon as I finish.

~ JBB

Rogelio de la Vega (Jaime Camil), the father of Jane (Gina Rodriguez), on the essential element of a classic rivalry: "The best rivalries are not about the rival; they're about the insecurities your rival brings out in you-preferably in the fifth act."

-"Jane the Virgin," S3E14, "Chapter Fifty-Eight"

PROLOGUE

We're in the departure lounge. Flight about to be called. I'm remembering a conversation Sarah and I had a long time ago.

"I don't think I've met very many red-headed Sarahs."

She laughed.

"Mom told me she was going through her Old Testament phase when I was born. I guess she liked the name. I don't have much in common with the original Sarah. My family is Irish, I'm Catholic, and I'm not going to wait until I'm ninety years old to have children, that's for sure.''

For sure, that not-waiting thing. Four children in our household now, and that's probably as many as we can handle. Not to mention two dogs, three cats, and one turtle. And a snake. Jesus. Why did we ever let Allison have a snake?

It was twenty-five years for us last month, and we're heading for the island where we first met to celebrate. We still swim nude whenever we can, the kids, too, but Sarah isn't going out on that little beach alone this time. She's more gorgeous now than she was that first morning I saw her, which is why I'm going to be right there to make sure everyone knows she's taken.

****

We have a five-hour flight, a long layover in Miami, and three more hours to the island after that. The whole gang is with us, it's a splurge. Sarah and I can wrangle four kids, we're expert wranglers, but it's still going to be a tough day, even if two of the "kids" are twenty-something adults now.

There's time for me to remember and reflect.