Running Northwest

by Michael Melville

  As they got farther down on the beach Thomas looked around to see if there were any people nearby. Harley and Layla knew where they were at and were very anxious to run and explore. The only people Thomas could see were about a quarter mile north and were walking on the beach; they had two small dogs with them also. Thomas wasn’t worried since he and his son were going the opposite way and eventually over the large rock mound. He bent down, unhooked the leashes from the two dog’s collars and let them do what dogs do best. The large six or so foot waves were breaking just before they hit the shore and large puddles of water raced up the beach. Harley and Layla as soon as they were unleashed ran as fast as they could towards the ocean. They ran in circles and back and forth chasing each other and splashing water all over. They looked like little kids playing and were completely ignorant of the coolness of the water that humans would be unwilling to go into. The father and son were beside themselves at the sight of the dogs thrashing about in the water. After a minute or so of watching the dogs Thomas and his son headed south on the beach. As they headed towards the large rock mound Thomas turned and whistled as loud as he could. Harley and Layla stopped what they were doing and ran towards their owner as fast they could.

  As they got closer to the rocky mound Thomas looked for a place to climb up. The dogs who found their own way up were already sitting near the top waiting for the two humans to catch up. Daniel climbed up first with his father behind him just in case he fell. The climb wasn’t steep and more of a gradual curve. And after a few minutes the two of them were at the top nearly 30 feet above the sand below.

  Thomas and his son sat on a large flat rock near the top, the two dogs lying in periodic moments of sun warming them up nearby. Daniel opened his backpack and pulled out a bottle of water for himself. His father did the same and poured some into a large bowl he brought for the dogs who were panting hard from playing in the ocean.

  Thomas looked over at his son and said, “All right Kiddo, what kind of stuff do we have to get for school?”

  “A lot…well it seems like a lot,” Daniel replied as he pulled out his list and handing it to his father.

  Thomas looked at it, only sure what few of these things were.

  “Do you know what this stuff looks like, Daniel?” Thomas asked.

  “Of course I do Dad,” he said in his squeaky voice and adding, “Don’t you?”

  “Well, most of them I think I do, but there are a few that I’m not sure about; you know it’s been a while and I’m old and stiff,” Thomas answered. As he was talking, he noticed that his son was staring out at the ocean in front of them and squinting his eyes.

  “What do you see buddy?” Thomas asked.

  “Well…hmm I’m not sure, hold on a second,” the boy said excitedly as he reached into his back pack and pulled out his binoculars. As he held them to his eyes, Thomas saw a small smile on his son’s face.

  After a minute of looking Daniel handed the glasses over to his father and said, “Look Dad, out there,” and pointed out and slightly to the left.

  Thomas held the binoculars to his eyes and looked in the direction his son had pointed. It only took a few seconds of looking for Thomas to see what had gotten his son so excited. About a half mile or so out there was a group of humpback whales breaching out of the water. As Thomas looked a particularly large one jumped out of the water and made a giant splash as it landed. The whales were quite a distance away but they could see them fairly well with the help of the binoculars. It was late spring and the whales were starting their long trek back north from the warmer southern waters where they went in the winter months. Daniel got quiet for a minute as he watched the whales.

  “Mom would have liked to see that, Dad. She and I used to come here sometimes ya know. We would sit way up there on the cliff and watch the whales when they went by,” he said pointing up behind them.

  “You remember that, huh? That was a long time ago,” Thomas said.

  “I do because it was one of my favorite things me and her used to do together. Even though I was little I still remember that stuff,” Daniel said, pausing and then adding, “I like to think that Mom is up in heaven watching the whales at the same time we are. So we’re still kind of seeing and sharing the same things even though she’s up there,” he said, looking up and smiling.

  “I bet she is too buddy, I bet she is too,” Thomas replied very simply.

  He looked down at his son and smiled. It was things like this that helped him never forget Sarah. Little things her son – their son – would say that sounded like they came from her mouth. Some people have said that Daniel was lucky to have someone like Thomas as his father and to have him in his life. But it was times like this one that Thomas realized that he was in fact the lucky one. He didn’t know what he would do if he hadn’t been able to have the little boy in his life. Thomas reached over and put his arm around his son and pulled him close to him as they looked out at the whales that were moving slowly up the coast.

  “Hey Dad…you know I love you right? I mean, I know things have been tough and all, but I just want you to know I love you,” the boy said quietly.

  Thomas kissed the top of Daniel’s head and said, “I love you too buddy. I think we make a pretty good team, you and I. I think your mom would be pretty proud of us and how far we’ve come, you know what I mean?”

  Daniel leaned back, looked at Thomas, smiled and said “Yeah, I think she would be too, Dad.”

  Thomas stood up and looked down at his son and said, “All right buddy, let’s go and see if we can find what you need for school. Sound good?”

  “Yeah, we should get started,” the boy replied as he stood up also and grabbed his back pack.

  A few minutes later Thomas and his son started down the far side of rocky mound and made it down to the beach on the opposite side with only a little effort. Thomas liked this part of the beach because when the water was high a lot of tourists didn’t even realize that this small section of beach was even there. Harley and Layla were making themselves busy running around the enclosed beach smelling whatever they could. Thomas and Daniel made their way over to a grouping of semi large rocks that sat at the base of the large dark cliff. As they got closer they saw pools of water that sat in between them. Looking through tide pools on the coast was one of Thomas and his son’s favorite things to do in their spare time. And Daniel was very excited when they were assigned this particular science project.

  Daniel opened up his backpack and pulled out several plastic containers and set them next to his feet. He would put what he found in the tide pool inside of them and bring them to school. After Daniel was done with them Thomas would make sure they got put back in a different tide pool per his son’s wishes. They spent the first few minutes looking for the biggest sea urchin they could find, since that was the first thing on list.

  “You know Daniel, if we had more time to get this done we could call Grandma in Florida and have her pick up some things off the beach and send them here overnight,” Thomas said

  “Yeah we could have, but Grandma doesn’t like touching gross things like this so I don’t think she would be okay with doing that,” Daniel said laughing and then adding, “She’s very girlie you know.”

  “That’s true. She’s not much into touching stuff like this,” Thomas said.

  “Nope and I don’t get why…it’s so cool,” the boy said smoothly.

  The father and son spent the next hour and a half sloshing threw various tide pools and holes in the cliff. They took a lot of pictures and talked about “cool nature stuff “according to Daniel. Thomas brought two tennis balls and he and Daniel spent quite a while playing fetch with the two dogs. They repeatedly threw the yellow balls out into the ocean or down the beach and laughed as the two dogs happily chased after them. After they were finished, they slowly walked down the beach and back over the large rock to see what else had washed up. The two dogs following close by and were constantly scanning the beach for anything new to smell or
chase. As they searched the beach, they found pieces of coral, sand dollars only two of which were intact and various types of shells. They also found a few jellyfish that had washed up which they did not mess with. Thomas was very careful to keep Daniel and the dogs away from them, he was not sure what kind they were or if they were poisonous.

  They eventually sat down on the beach and looked out at the Pacific Ocean, not at anything in particular though. They talked about maybe when school was out going fishing out on a charter boat, or going out on a whale watching boat. They could both see out on the horizon dark clouds heading their way. There would be rain for sure later that night, and by the looks of it there would be a lot.

  As the day went on, they got nearly everything on the list that Daniel needed for school so they decided to take a hike into the forest that lined the beach. Since this was part of a state park there were many cleared hiking trails going through the woods, most of which led back to the parking area at some point and all made for a nice and relatively easy walk. Thomas had decided to leash the dogs as they left the beach and followed a trail into the woods. It was more for Harley and Layla’s own protection because who knew what animals were lurking out of sight. This area was full of the normal and relatively harmless woodland creatures like skunks, raccoons, squirrels and deer. But bear and the occasional elk and mountain lion were known to be in the area also and could be a problem for the two dogs. As they walked Thomas held onto Layla since she was the larger of the two dogs and Daniel held onto Harley.

  It was late spring on the Oregon Coast and the forest was in in full bloom. The tall thick fir, cedar and spruce trees were a bright green and loaded with leaves and needles. Wild flowers were scattered about and massive amounts of wild ferns covered the ground beneath the towering trees. They could hear small woodland animals scurrying about on the forest floor, which also got both dogs attentions; the constant chattering of the squirrels and chipmunks and the chirping of various birds in the trees above. Thomas loved walking though the forest in Oregon, he missed the states forest’s when he lived back in Michigan. But even here he sometimes found himself missing the woods and fields back in Michigan also. Being out here with Daniel reminded him of walking through the woods with his own father. The times they would go deer hunting back in Michigan during the fall, and also the occasional fishing in the spring.

  Thomas missed his father Edward a lot these days. They talked on the phone at least twice a week but it wasn’t the same as hanging out with him and chatting over coffee. Daniel missed his grandfather a lot also and actually talked to him at least every other day for nearly an hour at a time. Thomas joked that Daniel knew more about what was going on with his grandfather than what Thomas knew himself. But Thomas didn’t mind, Daniel and his grandfather were immensely close even with the distance between them and he was glad his son had a grandfather like Edward in his life.

  As they walked and Thomas was lost in thought he missed a bit of what his son who was talking nonstop was saying. He felt a small tap on his arm and looked down at his Daniel who had stopped walking and looked up at him.

  “Sorry buddy, I was thinking about something. What’s up?” Thomas said.

  “I could tell. Did you hear what I just said?” the boy asked.

  “Sorry, I didn’t,” Thomas said feeling a little bad.

  “I gotta pee…like really bad, dude,” Daniel said.

  “Oh, okay bud, let me take Harley and go do your thing,” Thomas said as he grabbed the dog’s leash.

  “Jeez Dad,” Daniel scoffed then headed a few feet off the trail.

  “Sorry man…and don’t call me dude Daniel, you know I hate it when you call me dude. It makes me feel like I’m some kid you go to school with,” Thomas said.

  “Okay Dad, I won’t call you dude anymore,” the boy replied sarcastically and laughing as he walked away, returning a few minutes later and grabbing Harley’s leash back.

  They stayed on the path that they were on and kept walking and talking as they went through the woods. After about half an hour or so later they finished walking the path and ended up in the parking lot where they had started from earlier. There were more vehicles in it than what there had been a few hours before and Thomas was relieved they gotten there so soon. Thomas gave the dogs some water then loaded them and the rest of their gear into the pickup truck, and a short time later they were heading north towards town. It didn’t take long for Daniel and the two dogs to pass out and fall sleep, Thomas was left alone to his own thoughts as he drove.

  He had planned on being at the beach much longer than they actually had been, but found himself tired all the same. At the start of the day there had been a small possibility of going to another smaller beach farther south. But that had become unnecessary since they had good luck at the beach they just left. He glanced at the clock on the trucks dashboard and saw that it was nearly five o’clock and thought for a minute. After considering the time, he decided they would just head home; it would take less than an hour to get there. He wasn’t supposed to drop Daniel off of at Tracie’s place until nine and then meet Derrick at nine thirty. Thomas wondered if he could change the meeting with Derrick and do it sooner than they had planned. Considering the fact that it was a school night he really didn’t like having Daniel out that late. He thought quietly to himself as he drove trying to figure out all his options. He sent a text message to Derrick to see if they could meet at eight o’clock instead of nine thirty. A few minutes later he got the response he was hoping for from Derrick saying that eight o’clock would work. Then he sent another text message to Tracie, asking her if it would be all right if he dropped Daniel off at seven forty five instead of nine. If it worked it would give him time to get home and make Daniel and possibly himself a quick dinner. It would also give them both time to take showers and get the sand and salt off of them from the beach. He would have to wait to give the dogs a bath when he got home later on and get the sand off them.

  He was listening to the radio as he drove and heard his phone ring that was on the arm rest of the truck. He picked it up and looked and saw Tracie had replied. He clicked a button to open the message and smiled as he read it. She said that it was “more than okay to drop Daniel off early and take your time at the meeting with Derrick.” He sent her a message back saying thank you.

  He glanced over at his son who was fast asleep in the passenger seat. They were both worn out from their day, but they had a lot of fun. Thomas loved days like this when they could just get out of town for a few hours and have fun. Thomas continued driving north heading for home with the rest of his night on his mind not knowing what it would bring.

  Eleven

  Hotdogs and Mac & Cheese with extra cheese; that is what Daniel wanted for dinner. Thomas and his son had gotten home just after 6 pm. And all the way there Thomas never even thought about what they were going to have for dinner. So when they had gotten back to their small house on the beach Thomas had to scramble to find something quick and easy for them to eat. Thomas made dinner while his son went and took a shower and got ready to go to Tracie’s. Daniel was excited about hanging out with her for a little bit and to show her what they had found at the beach earlier in the day. Thomas wasn’t hungry so after his son took his shower and while he was sitting on the couch eating his dinner, Thomas took his own brief shower. He was always amazed at how much sand could be stuck in various places of his body, and not knowing how it got there.

  They finished getting ready, left their house at seven fifteen and headed to Tracie’s place. It had taken them about 20 minutes to get there. Thomas had decided to leave the dogs at home while they were gone. He shut all the bedroom doors so they could not lie on the beds, relegating them to the couches and their dog pillows in the living room.

  Thomas had called Tracie when they left and told her they were on their way there. When they pulled up to her small rental house she was waiting out on the front porch for them. Daniel, once the truck was stopped jumped out, ran t
owards her, and jumped into her arms. She was not the strongest woman he had ever known but she had no problem lifting the small boy up and off the ground and giving him a big hug. It made Thomas smile just watching the two of them together. Daniel had grabbed his bag and went inside of the house to wait for Tracie, leaving her and Thomas outside by themselves.

  As soon as Daniel was clearly inside the house, Tracie walked closer to Thomas and wrapped her arms around his neck. He put his arms around her and pulled her close to him. They looked into each other’s eyes and smiled and then as if on cue their lips met and they kissed each other deeply. They kept it short just in case Daniel decided to come back out. Thomas leaned against the side of his truck, reached down, and grabbed Tracie’s small hands, rubbing them with his thumb.

  “So it seems like you missed me Mr. James,” Tracie said smiling as she looked up at Thomas.

  “Well…maybe,” he answered and giving her a wink.

  “Just maybe?” she asked.

  “Well if maybe means all day, then yes, maybe,” he said smiling.

  “That’s a good answer, because I missed you a lot to” she said.

  “So it seems that we are on the same page then. You missed me and I missed you, so it works,” he said.

  “Yeah, I think it does,” Tracie said as she laid her head on Thomas’ chest.

  “I should get going to meet Derrick, but I just wanted to say thanks for watching Daniel. It means a lot to me, I wasn’t thrilled with the idea of having him up until damn near midnight,” Thomas said as he reached up and ran his fingers though her hair.

  “Yeah, I know you; I wondered if you were gunna change the time. It’s weird for you to have him out that late on a school night,” she replied.