Catherine Clark - Picture Perfect

I cant wait to see all the guys.

I turned to look at who was coming toward us,

You still walk funny, Spencer commented as he followed me

Emily! Emily!

Everybody say squeeze!

The next morning I managed to get up very early

No, dont worry, you look fantastic. Only, how about we

Dont forget the tomatoes!

Yall dance really well, Blake said.

You know, I was doing fine until you came along,

So, are you guys ready for todays tour? my mother

Hows it going? the young guy standing at the photo

You know what would be great? If you all ended

The next morning we toured Kitty Hawk, for our Mom-influenced

How much longer do we have to wait?

When the rain let up, Spencer and I ran most

Ive never had gingerbread pancakes before. Those were awesome, Spencer

When we got back, I walked into the house and

The next morning, I was sipping coffee and eating a

I cant wait to see all the guys.

You might have thought that was me talking, as I headed into the town of Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina, my destination for a two-week summer stay on the Outer Banks.

But no. It was my dad, of all people.

And its not what you might be thinking now , either. He was talking about seeing his best friends from college.

We meet up every few years on a big reunion trip with the guys, their wives, their kids, and other assorted members of their familiesdogs, parents, random cousins, nannies, you name it. I think its Dads favorite vacation, because he and his buddies play golf, sit around reminiscing, and stay up late talking every night.

Even though that occasionally gets a little boring, I like going on these trips, because Ive gotten to be friends with the guys offspring, who have sprung off like me: Heather Olsen, Adam Thompson, and Spencer Flanagan. I couldnt wait to see all of them. It had been two years since the last vacation reunion for the four of us, which was almost , but not quite, long enough to make me forget what an idiot Id made of myself the last time, when I was fifteen, Spencer was sixteen, and Id told him that I thought he was really cool and that we really clicked and that I wished we lived closer because then we couldwell, you get the gist. Embarrassing . With a capital E . Maybe three of them, in fact. EEEmbarrassing. Like an extra-wide foot that Id stuck in my mouth.

But enough about me and my slipup. I basically love these trips because we end up in cool locations like this, a place Id never seen, or even gotten close to seeing, before now.

Living in the Midwest, we dont get to the coast much. And this was even beyond the coastif thats possibleon a strip of land that was as far as you could get without becoming an island. Or maybe it was an island. What do I know? We live in fly-over land. On the plus side, we dont have earthquakes, hurricanes, or tropical storms. On the minus side, we have the occasional nearby tornado and no ocean access.

This is just beautiful , Mom said as we turned off the main four-lane road, and onto a smaller road with giant three-and four-story beach houses on each side of it. Isnt it, Emily?

Those houses are gigantic. Is that where were staying? In one of those? I asked.

Yup. Remember the pictures we checked out online? Dad asked from the front seat of our rental car. Wed flown into Norfolk, Virginia, and driven south from there.

Not really, I said. I hadnt paid all that much attention, to be honest. I was too busy finishing up my senior year, getting my college plans set, figuring out how to squeeze a two-week vacation into a summer in which I needed to make as much money as possible.

In July and August, Id be back home working at Constant Camera full-time, saving money for textbooks and anything else I might need when I got to college. Fortunately, Id received a few gifts for my graduation that would help out a lotgift cards, as well as supplies for my hopefully budding career in photography. I planned to take lots of pictures while on this vacation, and turn them into something I could give everyone at the end of the two weeksa calendar. Id left my new Mac at home because of the hassle of traveling with itMom was afraid it would get I-Jackedand Id brought my inexpensive camera instead of my digital SLR, so I wasnt working with my usual stuff. But I was still confident I could get plenty of good picturesafter all, its not necessarily always the equipment, its whether you have an eye for it or not.

We were getting close to the house number we were looking for when Dad stopped the car as two college-age-looking guys stepped out to cross the street. They had beach towels slung around their necks and bare chests with nice abs, and wore low-riding surf shorts. One of them carried a Frisbee, while another had a volleyball tucked under his arm.

I sat up in the backseat, wondering if that was Adam and Spencer. But no, upon closer inspection, one of them had short, nearly platinum-blond hair, and the others was brown, shoulder-lengthnot at all like Spencer and Adam.

Which wasnt a bad thing, because I was looking forward to seeing what guys might be around, too. And I didnt mean Dads college buddies or their sons.

While we were stopped, the guy carrying the volleyball leaned down and peered into the carI guess hed caught me staring at him. He smiled at me, then waved with a casual salute.

I smiled and waved back to him. I wanted to take a lot of pictures, so why not start now? I buzzed the window down. Hold on a second, okay? I asked. I grabbed my slim, shiny green camera from my bag, and took some quick shots as they played along, grinning and flexing their muscles, showing off a couple of tattoos.

Emily. My mother peered back at me over the front seat. What are you doing?

Capturing the local flavor, I said as a car behind us honked its horn, and the guys hustled across the street so we could get moving again. Just trying to blend in with that whole Southern hospitality thing.

Hmph, my mother said, while my dad laughed.

I turned around and looked out the back window at the guys, wondering if wed be staying anywhere close by, when Mom shrieked, Look! Theres the house!

My dad slammed on the brakes, which screeched like the sound of a hundred wailingand possibly illseals. Dad has this awful habit of calling Rent-a-Rustbucket in order to save money. Consequently, we end up driving broken-down automobiles whenever we go on vacation.

Dad backed up and turned into a small parking lot behind the tall, skinny house. I immediately recognized all the L bumper stickers and Linden College window-clings on the cars in the lot.

Look! Mom pointed at a Linden College banner that was hanging off the third-floor balcony, flapping in the breeze. There was a giant green, leafy linden tree on the dark blue banner background, and in the center, a heart-shaped leaf with a giant L in the middle.

Sometimes my dads Linden school pride got a little ridiculousfor instance, he couldnt possibly get dressed in the morning (at least on weekends and vacations) without donning some piece of Linden College apparel, and he owns about fourteen different ball caps, some faded and tattered and some brand-newbut since Id actually be going off to school there in the fall, it was kind of a nice feeling to see the banner.

Dad parked the car with a screech of the brakes and we started to climb out. I closed the door, and I swear a piece of the car fell off onto the pavement.