Next, in all the movies, there is HELP or SOS written in big driftwood letters. The grass on the top of the hill was still green, no doubt flourishing due to the ample rain, and I worried that even if we could spare enough wood from our bonfire, it would blend into the grass. No, we needed something else…the sand! It was more dark grey than brown thanks to the ash, butthe storm had wiped most of the ash off the grass, meaning that there would be a pretty stark contrast between our message and the surroundings.
I walked over to the edge of the hill and looked down at the not inconsiderable distance to the beach. It would not be easy to carry all the sand we would need up the hill. Luckily, I had four semi-alien grunts.
“I think it’s a good plan,” Jin Woo said, after I had explained everything, “we can use the spare dry wood that we gathered yesterday as the start of the bonfire and use it to dry the rest of the wood before we put it in!”
Bartosz eyed the distance as I had.
“It’s not going to be fun,” he grumbled.
“I’ll bring up the dry wood and some of the wet wood, if you guys bring up the sand. How about this: the person who brings up the most sand gets to take me first tonight. Oskar, do you think that’s a good prize?” I asked him mischievously.
He nodded so aggressively that I worried that he’d give himself whiplash. Bartosz and Jin Woo were already jostling each other, and I saw a scheming light in Ettore’s hazel eyes. I slipped my arm in his before I said,
“Competition starts…NOW!” and I laughed as they went rocketing down the hill, shoving each other, their arms wheeling. Ettore waited at my side, looking at me expectantly.
“Yes,salvatrice, what’s up,amore?” he said.
I rose up onto my tippy toes and kissed him on the side of his cheek.
He looked pleased, but still said,
“What was that for, not that I’m complaining.”
“You’re no longer in bed, plus you deserved a kiss regardless. Thank you for taking charge yesterday.” I knew I was blushing, but I had wanted to say it. Ettore had made our firsttime together go as smoothly as a well-oiled machine, and I was grateful.
Ettore smiled at me, a little sheepishly.
“While I will take your kisses any time, I’m afraid that’s just how I am in bed, I boss people around. I know I don’t look like I should,” he said, gesturing down at himself.
I more firmly wrapped my arm in his and started down the hill.
“I think it’s hot,” I said without looking at him, though at this point I knew that I was practically a tomato, well, at least it felt that way.
Ettore stopped us in our tracks and dipped me, honest to god dipped me, kissing my hard enough that I was panting when he set me upright again and started strolling again like nothing.
“You know I will win the sand competition, right?” he said conversationally, “I might cheat, actually, I’ll probably cheat, but I will most definitely win.”
I gathered all of my bravery to look him in his face and say,
“I look forward to it.”
***
The four piles of sand were massive by around 11 o’clock in the morning. I had to call an end to the competition because we were going to have much more sand than we actually needed, and I wanted the words to be done by noon.
A debate about whether HELP or HJELP, help in Norwegian, or SOS were the best options, HELP was decided upon, though I thought that SOS would be better, but it wasn’t like we were short on sand. Of course, it took five minutes for me to judge the sand piles, and, as Ettore had predicted, he had won, though Oskar disagreed.
“I swear, Mina, that my pile was larger than this,” Oskar protested, “ he must have taken some of my sand!”
“I wasn’t watching the piles, so unfortunately, I can’t say that I saw anything,” I said diplomatically. Ettore smirked at Oskar from across his huge pile.
“She said the biggest pile, she didn’t say how. Don’t be a sore loser, Oskar, I’m sure you’ll get another chance…eventually.”
Jin Woo shoved Ettore for being a sore winner (or cheater), and they moved on to moving the piles around as I started on the fire. I wanted it to be the size of the average above-ground pool or a small elephant. I had gathered a pile of dry wood that was up to my shoulder, but it was mainly thin branches and would burn out quickly.
“Guys, would one or two of you go and try to kick down some saplings? I think I underestimated the amount of wood we’re going to need.”
They obliged, and by noon, we had a pile of flammable materials taller than my head and about as wide as a dinner table was long. I gathered the smallest, driest pieces of wood and dry grass, and once I caught them alight, I placed the burning bundle onto the edge of the woodpile. Once it had caught, I went around and lit the pile in three other places on the edge. It took some time, but with the very carefully constructed air pockets and air tunnels that I had built into the bonfire pile, it began to blaze. With the pine needles and the wet wood, it put up an impressive column of grey-white smoke that spiraled straight up into the air, the slight breeze spinning the column, but not diverting it.
