2014
“Mason Griffin, you are not too big for me to bend over my knee and give a good spanking!” Lily said to her only son as he stuck his finger in the icing on his high school graduation cake.
Mason was a smart kid: sweet like his Mama and the spitting image of his Pop. He just had no aspirations of going to college. In addition to his mother’s insistence, he had been lectured by both sets of grandparents and practically everyone in his family except his father. He wanted to follow in his footsteps and get into the family business.
“It’ll happen, Son,” his dad told him when he came to him discouraged about not wanting to continue his education, “In this day and age, you need a degree to be more successful. Hell, a couple degrees wouldn’t hurt, while you’re at it. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.”
Repeating the words his mother once said to him, Wil wanted a different life for his boy than the path he once took. He wouldn’t change him and Lily getting married at such a young age and becoming parents so soon, but he sure missed out on a few things. College being one of them.
Edisto Island Preparatory School graduated only 75 to 100 seniors a year since it was a small private school on the island. Mason had a close-knit group of friends and most were going to Ivy League schools up north. He had waited too long to apply, dead set on not going to college, that his only option was staying close to home.
“College will be a breeze for you, kid,” Wil told him, “You’re smart and the University of South Carolina isn’t too far from home. You’ve got memories to make and plenty of girls to meet. Our business will be waiting for you when you graduate and then we can pay you more because you’ll have a degree.” His dad laughed. Mason knew his mother was his dad’s only serious girlfriend and he assumed they were probably both virgins when they married each other, so he knew where his Pop was going with that statement. Live a little for me too, kid, is what he imagined he meant.
The whole family was coming together for Mason’s graduation: Both sets of grandparents, Mason’s aunts, uncles and cousins, in addition to his Great-Grandpa Griffin. Thankfully Wil and Lily had a large house, but not one that would hold that large of a crowd. They had rented chalets on the beach for each of the families to have a mini vacation in addition to celebrating Mason’s accomplishments.
The graduation ceremony was in his school’s gymnasium and was pleasantly short. They had a small reception in the school’s garden area after the diplomas were given out and then they all went back to Wil and Lily’s house for a barbeque. Lily’s younger siblings had just recently graduated from college themselves and started families. He enjoyed spending time with Scotty, Poppy’s husband. They played Frisbee on the beach together while the girl’s sunbathed. Daisy also was married and had a five year old daughter who also was enjoying the beach with her aunts and uncles.
Lily could look out from her kitchen window and see the group of them gathered on the beach directly behind their property. She was pleased to see her family having such a nice, relaxing time on the sand.
“Hey Scotty, go long,” Mason said backing up on the beach to fling the Frisbee at him. As soon as he let go of the disc, he heard a thrashing in the water and a scream before a silence.
“Poppy!” Scotty yelled taking off toward the water.
“Scotty no,” Mason said getting his attention, “You don’t swim well, stay on the beach, I’ll get her.” Mason huffed across the water and dove in once he hit a deeper section. He swam to Poppy in seconds, holding her head above water. She was breathing, but was covered in jellyfish.
“You’re gonna be okay, Poppy,” he said as he pulled her to toward the shore. “Got a few jellyfish on ya, but we’re gonna take care of that and you’re gonna be just fine.” Scotty met them where the water was only waist deep and tried to help Mason carry her to shore, but he refused his help.
“Buddy, she’s been stung in at least 6 spots by jellyfish and a couple are still hanging on, so don’t touch her so you don’t get stung too,” Mason said calmly.
He laid Poppy down on the sand away from the water and quickly divvied out orders.
“Butch, go get my dad and tell him we need the first aid kit,” Mason hollered, “Aunt Daisy, if you could go tell my mom what’s going on and have her to get the car ready, I don’t think we’re gonna need 911, but we’re gonna need to take her to the ER in mom’s SUV pretty quickly.”
Still remaining calm, he told Scotty to sit with her, but not to touch her near any of the stings. Grabbing one of the kid’s sand pails, he quickly filled the bucket with ocean water and began flushing the stings to remove the remaining tentacles from Poppy’s skin. His father arrived with the first aid kit and they drowned the stung areas of Poppy’s body with vinegar which provided Poppy with instant relief.
“Thought you were supposed to pee on jellyfish stings,” one of Mason’s cousins said behind him.
“Pee is better than freshwater, but not the first course of action with a jelly sting,” Mason said while continuing to aid Poppy.
“Quick thinking, son,” Wil said to Mason. “All those summers lifeguarding at Happy Endings did you some good.”
“I may have learned a thing or two about first aid,” he said with a smile.
“Thank you, Mason,” Poppy said perking up a bit, “You really saved me, I couldn’t move my legs to swim back to shore.”
“I’m just happy I was here to help,” he said and handed her off to Lily for a quick trip to the ER. Mason told everyone it was just a precaution, but they didn’t know if she had an allergy to jellyfish stings and didn’t want to chance a reaction.
“Hey Pop,” Mason said to Wil as the others started walking back to the house, “Hang on a sec.”
“Proud of you, Mason,” Wil said catching back up to his son.
“Thanks Dad, but uh, I need some of that,” pointing to the vinegar bottle in his hand. “One of the jellyfish was still hung on her leg when I picked her up and it got my side pretty good while I was carrying her.”
“Whoa kid, it sure did, you really do have a sense of calm about you,” Wil said walking Mason back into the water. He and his dad waded in far enough that he could lean down and Wil could splash the water on his side to remove any remaining tentacles. He doused him in vinegar and he too felt some instant relief.
“Those little fuckers sting,” Mason said making his dad laugh loudly.
“Please don’t say that in front of your mother, okay?” Wil said throwing his arm around his boy.
“You know, Dad, maybe this college thing isn’t such a bad idea after all…”
“No?” Wil asked genuinely curious. “What’s changed your mind?”
“Maybe I’ll major in Pre-Med?”
* * *
This isn’t the last you’ll see of the Griffin Family or their love for the Happy Endings Resort.
Mason’s story continues in book two!