The beginning of the story...

It is summer but the weather is not very good, it’s raining day after day, like almost every day of the year. In my opinion, these days are terrible; I can’t stand the rain, the clouds, thunder... We can never go out without an umbrella under the arm, and I don’t like to take it everywhere I go, it’s a nuisance for me.

I wish I could live in Spain rather than in England; it’s sunnier and hotter… I think the weather there is perfect, like the climate and the food. Oh! Spanish food is delicious! I’m pleased, this year I have convinced my parents and Simon, my little brother, to go there on holiday. We are going to take the plane tomorrow and, after two hours more or less, we are going to land in Girona, a city of Catalonia. I’m convinced that I’ll have a good time on the beach and I hope to get a suntan: I really need it, my skin is too light! On the other hand, I have listened on the TV that the sun there is very hot, so I will be able to wear T-shirts and shorts!

***

At this moment, I am treading Spain: it’s marvellous! I am convinced that this will be my favourite country. Last night I couldn’t fall asleep because of the nerves, but now I am not the least bit sleepy. We are going to our hotel and then, we will go to a beach called L’Estartit after having put us some sun lotion. My mother has said to Simon and me that we have to be sensible, there are a lot of rocks on this beach and we cannot go to this zone, it’s dangerous. But for Mum, all we do is risky. Simon and I think that she is a little bit easily frightened; she is always concerned about us.

When we arrived, the sun blinded my eyes. The first thing I could see was the large beach, which was crowded of people: I realised that everybody had thought like us. I ran to the middle of the beach and I found a place where we left the bags and where we laid out our towels. After that, I went away to the sea with Simon, who followed me. We spent some time playing with the big rubber ring we had bought and, then, we returned to the sand with our parents, who had stayed there all the time and they had fallen asleep. I decided to sunbathe but the sun was burning a lot and, after a while, my skin was already red.

Then, I looked at the scenery and I saw the rocks. I noticed that there were people who were jumping into the sea. My mother had said to me that I had to be careful, but I decided to go there with those boys and girls who were 12 or 13 years old, like me. All of them were Spanish and they seemed to be friends. They invited me to jump into the water and I accepted. I saw my brother watching me from the sand and, then, I saw the sea under my feet: it was blue, very dark blue. I was a little bit afraid but, finally, I jumped into it.

***

Marianne dived head-first into the sea; she couldn’t see the bottom of it, the rocks that were near her…