TouchedByMadness

Travelogue - 4 July 2008 (part II)

Now that it’s hot, lots of people begin showing up on the beach. Mostly we see families. The bay is more child-friendly than the ocean. Most people stay a good distance away from our blanket. I wonder if they think we’re honeymooners. I am glad they give us space.

I secretly watch the families. One man walks along the water’s edge carrying a toddler. I doubt she’s much more than a year old. She wears a skirted swimsuit and white sandals. He wears red swim trunks and a brown baseball cap. He puts her down so she can feel the sand and water. He kneels in front of her, talking to her as she experiences the beach, perhaps for the first time. She stumbles and he scoops her up. He continues his parade down the sand. He is the proudest father on the beach. I can feel it even from where I sit. I guess this is his first baby. I look for the rest of his family, but if there are more, I never see them. The man hoists the child onto his shoulder and slowly disappears from view.

Another father sets up his blanket not far to the right of us. He and his two boys take off down the beach. A few moments later a woman approaches the blanket, a small boy in tow. She looks around and starts yelling at the man.

“John? John. John! John, come here so I don’t have to shout across the beach!”

He dutifully returns, followed by the older boys.

“Why did you park our stuff here? She instructed me to be right by the parking lot. They always park near the lot. We were supposed to be by the lot.”

They are not far from the lot and the beach isn’t that crowded. He may be pointing this out, but we can’t hear him. Only her.

“The whole reason we came was to be with them, wasn’t it? Isn’t that why we’re here? They’ll NEVER find us over here. We were supposed to be near the parking lot. She told me to be near the lot. Why can’t you follow directions?”

He wordlessly begins to pack up their stuff to move it.

“No, leave it. Leave it! We’ll just pretend we came here to be alone. I said LEAVE IT! Why aren’t you listening? Leave it. We’ll sit here because Daddy can’t follow directions. We’ll sit here and they’ll sit over there. We’ll stay here so Daddy knows he’s a screw up.”

I press my face to the Captain’s stomach so she won’t see me laughing. The Captain is snickering too.

“One day that could be us,” I whisper.

“I know,” he chuckles.

“Where’s the sunscreen? Oh God, you left it in the car, didn’t you? The car? Now I’ll have to walk a mile to get it because we’re so far from the parking lot.”

We go in the water to escape the noise of her nagging. When we return their blanket is about fifteen feet further away from us.