Beach Date (Minnie, Pete, Peg)

[Mickey Mouse]

The towels had been packed, the picnic basket was tucked away, the deflating beach ball had been blown up once more, and the trunk of Mickey Mouse’s car was stuffed with all the little extras needed for a beach date with Minnie Mouse! The date had been spontaneous but on such a perfect day with warm sunshine reaching out to the residents of Toontown, who could ignore the beckoning of hot sand and an ocean breeze? The motorway was lined bumper to bumper with other residents feeling that same that same call but the busy atmosphere didn’t seem to faze Mickey at all because he was with his number one gal, Minnie.

Even without this sunshine, the bow-topped Mouse could brighten anyone’s day and Mickey was delighted when she agreed to join him at the beach. Sure enough the sandy shore was covered with people and after disappearing to the public change room to don a pair of trunks, Mickey returned to unpack the vehicle. Upon opening the trunk, a jumble of beach equipment went tumbling out- a large umbrella opening, chairs for lounging springing open- burying the mouse beneath it all. The pile rumbled and Mickey emerged looking a little frazzled; at that moment the beach ball bounced off of his head, as if it had lingered in his car just long enough to make the leap. With some effort he managed to secure the umbrella, the chairs, and refold the towels before turning to Minnie with a triumphant grin.

“Well now that we have that settled, let’s see if we can find a place to put this all!”

Squinting, he glanced around to see if he could find any open spots and luckily a bare patch of sand was spotted. “Why don’t we try over there!”

[minniemouse]

The sun shown in the sky quite remarkably, and Minnie Mouse was admiring the perfect weather when she got the call from her beau for a beach date. It didn't take much convincing on Mickey's part, for Minnie was terribly excited to be outdoors on a day like today, and if it involved seeing Mickey, of course she'd say yes! So the young mouse gathered her things for a day at the beach and packed them neatly into her beach bag. Instead of setting it in the trunk of the car, she set it beside herself on the seat, as she knew all too well that Mickey would probably never be able to get the trunk closed again once it'd been opened. Or perhaps she just knew him all too well.

Arriving at the beach, Minnie wandered off to change. Being the girly-girl that she was, Minerva took her sweet time changing; she always wanted to look her best for Mickey. She'd decided on the green bikini this time, hoping to make better memories with it than the last time she'd worn it on an anniversary gone horribly awry. Fiddling with a green bow to match her suit, she finally decided she was ready and left the changing rooms. She closed her eyes and skipped merrily back to the car, twirling around once she was there and striking a silly pose. "Well," she giggled, "how do I look?" Receiving no response, she blinked opened her eyes and saw a pile of beach-related objects and furniture. She gasped as Mickey popped out from underneath it all, and had to hold back several laughs as she watched him, with great effort, get everything organized once again. Once he had turned to her with that cheese-ball of a grin, she let out her ever present giggle and then proceeded to scan the beach with him in search of a spot to enjoy the day.

Eying the same spot of land that he had, Minnie quickly grabbed some of the equipment in an effort to be helpful and looked back to her date. She gave him a cute smile and nodded, "Let's go put all this down and relax!" Then she proceeded to lead the way over and set up the umbrella as she saw fit. Satisfied with her work, she turned to see if Mickey needed any help, but not before taking a long look toward the ocean. She sighed softly, and in a way that simply said "wow" without words. It had seemed like a long time since she'd seen the ocean and almost forgotten how amazing it truly was. She smiled to herself, taking in the moment, and then turned her attention back to Mickey. She scrunched her noise as she smiled sweetly. "Anything I can help with?"

[Mickey Mouse]

There was nothing more that Mickey wanted to do than relax after fighting with the contents of his trunk (getting tangled up in two lounge chairs had been the trickiest piece of beach furniture to escape) and he gave Minnie a grateful smile for her suggestion. As he folded open the lounge chairs, setting them beneath the large beach umbrella, the mouse paused as he observed Minnie taking in the ocean view. The dreamy sigh that passed over her lips was a clear indication that this beach day had indeed been a great idea and his own smile of satisfaction sprang up; Mickey was happy to see her pleased. As if being caught in a secret thought, Mickey snapped back to reality when Minnie turned to him, still as merry as ever.

With an innocent chuckle, he placed his hands on his hips, glancing around at what was left to be done. There was a picnic basket full of sandwiches, fruit, and home baked chocolate chip cookies, but those could be saved for later once they worked up an appetite. “If you’d like, you could set up the towels and put the picnic basket aside,” Mickey suggested; there were seagulls flying overhead, no doubt looking for scraps and he didn’t want them going after their food. Turning to a clear plastic beach bag full of beach toys (you were never too old for beach fun after all) he pulled out a limp plastic ring. “I’ll blow this up in the mean time.”

Inhaling a lungful of air that made his chest pop out and gave him the brief appearance of Mighty Mouse, Mickey began to blow up an inflatable tube. Slightly breathless afterward, he set the ring beside his chair and tested the pressure of the beach ball before rolling it away to join the tube. Already he could feel the sun on his back and with a snap of his fingers he said, “Almost forgot!” and pulled a bottle of suntan lotion from the bag.

“I thought we could hunt for some seashells later,” Mickey offered while he unscrewed the cap. “I’ve been told that if you listen to a conch shell, you can hear the ocean! Haha! You can take it home with you, Minnie! Wouldn’t that be swell?”

Tipping the bottle upside down, Mickey gave it a light shake, naturally expecting a glob of lotion to come out; when h e found his upturned palm empty, he tried again, shaking a little harder. Again Mickey was left lotionless. “What’s-a-matter with this thing?” Would he have any luck today? Frustrated, the mouse gave the bottle a generous squeeze and a giant spurt of lotion went flying out, some of it leaping from his hand and on to Minnie’s arm.

“Whoops! Uh, sorry!” he apologized embarrassedly. Holding up his gooped up hand, he lightly joked, “Would you like some?”

[Peg]

Though the day had warmed up quite quickly since the sun rose that morning, inside Peg’s house it was freezing. Eager to save a few bucks on Air Conditioning, Pete had fixed up his house with a finicky one that practically blew out a snow storm when turned on. For him it was fine- or at least he acted like it was- but Peg and her kids were bundled up in full winter gear on this hot July day! Huddled together on the staircase in parkas and mittens, Peg was glad to receive a phone call from Goofy who invited them all over for a lunch time barbeque and lemonade!

“Now that’s what you do on a hot summer day,” she informed Pistol and PJ.

Happy to get out of the house anyway, the frozen trio left to help Goofy set up for the noontime meal but as usual with Goofy one thing led to another and suddenly there was an explosion. The backyard looked like a crater had hit it and everyone had lost sight of the barbeque that flew up into the air; Goofy’s roof was also shaken to one side, exposing a piece of the top floor and though everyone had come out of that blast looking a little bit charred, Goofy received the worst of it.

“It’s all right, Goofy,” Peg assured him, patting him gently on the shoulder. “Why don’t I fix us up a nice picnic lunch and we all head down to the beach?” A rousing cheer of approval from the kids rang out and they zipped back to their houses without a peep when Peg said, “Kids, go get your things and don’t forget to tell your father!”

If Pete had any problems with this impromptu beach day… tough. Besides, Peg could easily twist his arm into coming if he put up too much of a fight and it helped that she could be as stubborn as he was once her mind was made up. Besides, Pete needed to get out into the fresh air more often.

As usual In the end, Peg got her wish and it wasn’t long before they found themselves outside of Spoonerville’s city limits and driving along the open road which would lead them to fun and sun. When they arrived, PJ, Pistol, and Goofy’s son Max dashed off toward the beach without so much as lifting a finger to help unload the vehicles. Peg emerged from the car already dressed in her swimwear, a light pink one-piece bathing suit with a floral wrap around her waist, sunshades, and a wide-brimmed straw sun hat to complete the outfit. Goofy went chasing after the children, looking quite amusing with a Loch Ness monster rubber tube around his waist, while Peg collected the picnic basket.

“Come along, Pumpernickel!” she called sweetly to her hubby, leaving Pete to tend to the rest of the beach 'necessities'.

[Pete]

Pete allowed himself to go to the beach with his wife, and the little mutants occasionally referred to as children. Pete was in the unfortunate situation of being Goofy's neighbor, and sometimes mistaken as Goofy's best friend. It's very awkward to be in this situation, especially if you outright dislike spending time with your so-called 'friend.'

So far, so good! He had to carry a lot more beach-going equipment than he cared for, because the Goof was out chasing the kids. Oh, whatever; at least this meant that Goofy was out of sight, for the time being. Better make the best of it! Pete lugged all of the equipment using both of his very thick, black-furred arms. He basically had to hug the necessities close to him in order to carry them, but he got the job done.

Once their spot was chosen, Pete set up large towel, an umbrella, chairs, and other superfluous necessities. The overweight yet strong cat was dressed in a very dark green (almost black) buttoned Hawaiian shirt with a red flower design everywhere on the fabric. He also wore navy swim trunks, sandals (with bare black feet), and sunglasses. He still wore his classic white gloves, however.

Satisfied, Pete turned and parked his large rear end on his chair. He kicked back, took a deep sigh, and began to relax. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. What could possibly annoy him here?

[minniemouse]

Minnie was pretty quick on the uptake (well at least most of the time) so it only took Mickey's response about the picnic basket for her to cast her eyes upwards for a brief moment to scan for seagulls. Seeing the same thing he had been thinking, she decided that the basket was of higher priority than the towels and skipped her sandal-clad feet over to it, picking it up gently and securing it under the umbrella and between the two chairs. "There!" she said proudly, and then turned her attention towards the beach bags to retrieve their towels. With a flick of the wrist, the first towel was opened and neatly laid upon the sand in front of the umbrella, obviously for tanning purposes. The second one was unraveled just as neatly, but in the action of opening into the air it also kicked up a rather large dust cloud of sand. "Oh my!" Minnie placed the towel down quickly and proceeded to apologize to the beach-goers whose day may have been interrupted by the slight sandstorm. Afterward, feeling slightly embarrassed, she fixed the towel that had been previously placed in a rush.

By this time, Mickey had finished with the inflatables and was reaching in the beach bag for something or other. Minnie had turned to see just what it was after hearing him snap. She wandered over to him as he pulled out the suntan lotion, patiently awaiting her turn. Listening to the offer of a nice walk on the beach, hunting for seashells, watching the sunset...Minnie faded off in her daydreaming, as she often did, making things much more romantic than they really were, but such was her nature. She smiled, although clearly not paying attention anymore, and clasped her hands together. "Oh Mickey!" she giggled, "That sounds so romantic."

And then, with terrific timing, she was brought back to her senses by the cold feeling of suntan lotion as it fell onto her arm. Other than bringing her back to reality, it really didn't faze her that much and she kept her cheerful disposition as she rubbed it in. She turned her attention back to Mickey, only to giggle at the mess he had made. "Why thank you, sir!" she curtsied, trying to make him feel a little less embarrassed, and then took some of the lotion from his hand to apply it to herself. Suddenly her tone of voice changed to an almost maternal tone as she pointed to the other mouse. "Mickey Mouse! Don't you forget your nose! Nobody likes to be sunburned but so many forget their face." She rubbed some on her own face to drive the point home and then smiled gently, "Oh! And let me get your back for you!" reverting right back to her charming self. After all, she was only looking out for her date. She merrily went to apply some lotion to his back, "What do you want to do first? We could go swimming, or build a sand castle! Hee hee! Or maybe--" her ears suddenly twitched, causing her eyes to wander the crowd. Stange; The young mouse swore she heard the voice of Goofy, but looking around she wasn't quite sure she had seen him and so, as to get her thoughts back on track, decided to shrug the thought off. Today was her day off to be with her beau! How often did that really happen...without incident anyway? Thinking about it only made her more nervous and she scanned the crowd once more, still unsure, but still not seeing anything out of the ordinary.

Or maybe she was just looking for the wrong sign of trouble.

[Mickey Mouse]

<Hope you don’t mind me pushing this along! If you don’t want them to go for a walk I can change the posts.>

Minnie’s stern tone made Mickey feel instantly ashamed, although he was not quite sure what he had done wrong. Nevertheless for a split second he felt as if he were a kid with his hand caught in the cookie jar, his great orb ears drooping slightly. Flushing when he realized that the issue was merely a matter of sunscreen application, he quickly dabbed some on his nose, brightening up and laughing at his own silly concern when Minnie‘s attitude changed.

“Thanks!” Mickey said sheepishly, blushing for another reason when Minnie applied the lotion to his back. He pondered over her suggestions and then turned to return the favour by lathering Minnie’s back with suntan lotion as any gentleman or mouse would do. “Why don’t we take a walk down the beach?” he suggested. Running his hands along Minnie’s shoulders, he finished with the lotion and moved to face her, tacking on a final comment with a cheeky wink. “We wouldn’t want this sunscreen to go waste after all!”

No one would take their belongings if they abandoned their spot for a little bit; there were too many beach goers here for someone to get far with it anyway and he was confident that their food was well protected from the scavenging gulls. “What’dya say Minnie?” he asked, proudly offering her his arm. “Would you accompany me down the beach?”

Arm in arm, the pair walked, taking in the lively atmosphere. All around them people were sunbathing on towels or in chairs, kids were running through the sand whooping with delight, while others relaxed with a book in the umbrella shade. There were swimmers out in the water, people lined up at one soon-to-be-very-rich ice cream vendor’s stand, and a hot dog stand as well. Ah yes, it was a great day to be outside!

“Hey, Minnie! Look!” Mickey said suddenly, pointing to a sign plunked into the sand up ahead. “A Surf and Turf contest! At one o’clock they’re having a sandcastle competition and the winner gets a giant lobster as a prize! WOW! I wonder where the turf part comes in,” he added. “What do you think? Should we enter?”

Although the prize was a generous amount of lobster, one that would provide a filling meal for both of them, Mickey wasn’t going to enter it just to be competitive. Sandcastle building was one of Minnie’s earlier suggestions after all and the contest would be a way of fulfilling that desire, plus it would be neat to see what other participants would create.

[Peg]

Peg had the same intentions as Pete- after all, with all the chaos they normally faced at home, who wouldn’t want to just kick back and relax on a day like today? Like so many others facing the heat, she pulled out that always important sun lotion and rubbed it all over before flopping on to her stomach to tan. With a breezy and contented sigh, she stared out at the ocean, saying to Pete, “I’m glad we did this.”

Through a half-lidded gaze, Peg watched the activity around her, eventually spotting her kids with Goofy further down the beach. Another pair was walking by and Peg squinted, trying to confirm what she saw.

“Say,” she said, lifting her shades. “Isn’t that Mickey and Minnie over there?” Peg had been to the House of Mouse quite a few times since Pete was the landlord but unlike her husband, she actually liked the productions that went on there and went to be entertained. She was blissfully ignorant to most of Pete’s schemes however, for if she knew of them, he certainly would never have gotten away with half of those zany ideas!

“Hi Minnie!” Peg called. “How are you? I just love that colour on you!” she added, referring to the mouse’s swimming attire.

At that moment, little Pistol came zipping up the beach, flinging herself on to Pete, bouncing up and down excitedly.

"Daddy, daddy, daddy! Can I have money for ice cream? Can I daddy? Please, please, please, pleeeeeaaaaasseee!!!!!"