Cashel and Lucy’s Game

Those of you who have been reading me from the beginning will remember all my stories of my nephew Cashel as a little boy of 5, 6, 7. Well, he’s a teenager now, as unbelievable as that seems, and a great kid, smart, kind, talented, and his own man. Our yearly summer vacation in New Hampshire affords us an opportunity to get together as an entire family, and it’s always a riotous and awesome time. Cashel is wonderful with his two young cousins, Lucy and William, and it moves me to no end to watch their interactions, thinking of my own close relationship with my cousins. Lucy is a bit timid about going in the water and, in general, sits on the little ladder on the end of the dock, with her feet in the water, life preserver on, and observes everything going on from there. One of the rituals is the following:

Cash swims out to the floating raft. Climbs up onto it. Calls back to Lucy, “Hey, Lucy, scare me!”

Little Lucy, face aglow with excitement at what is about to occur, shrieks, “BOO!” in her tiny voice, and Cash, frightened, screams, and launches himself off the raft into the water. This sends Lucy into paroxysms of laughter (and us as well).

This year, Brendan and Cashel both leapt into the water fully clothed on our first night there. Lucy thought that was the funniest thing she had ever seen in her life (and I agree with her). Cash swam out to the raft, and called out to Lucy, “Hey, Lucy! Scare me!”

Lucy, all a-quiver with her own importance in the game (after all, none of it could go down without her), shouted out to him, “BOO!” and Cash fell off the raft. I got a picture of the moment, which can be seen above. I showed it to Cash and he died laughing.

It still makes me laugh to look at it.