The Full Cleveland

by Terry Reed

  But I knew Dad hadn’t even noticed what the man was wearing. To him, he was just out there, lucky to be talking to the neighbor. And, when a few seconds later, I could see they were laughing, I took a step closer to try to hear why.

  Clarine arrived beside me at the picture window. I glanced at her sideways. “I bet you’re going to tell me those clothes have character.” She laughed a lot and slapped at my hair a little and shook her head and walked away. I stood there a moment longer at the picture window, studying the picture of Dad and the neighbor, until I found I was smiling to myself. Not laughing, I mean just smiling. So maybe I already knew something.

  I slid back into a cozy spot between two rocks and put my face in the sun, which was just breaking through a new bank of sky.

  My father walked up the shoreline. I watched him with my eyes half-open. Maybe I was afraid he’d get into trouble if I didn’t watch, the way Lucy watched boxing so the men wouldn’t get hurt. But I don’t think it was really for him I was watching. Let’s face it, it was really for me. It was in my own best interest to watch, because watching him, I inevitably thought of success, and how a father is in a unique position to teach you its meaning. A father is your giant standing at the door to the cave. He can be your clumsiest friend but your fiercest protector. Since so much of what you will become depends on him, he is at once your greatest love and your biggest fear. All I’m saying is, you had to keep an eye on him.

  “Hey, you guys!”

  I tipped my head back and it was Lucy home from church, high up on the bluff, in the prettiest blue dress with a wide sash tied in a bow at the back. In her arms was Lucy’s Cat. Limping behind them was Luke’s Dog. These were our first household pets. That’s why the names were so lame.

  I looked down the beach at my father. He had turned, seen Lucy and her entourage, and was waving.

  “We’re coming down, okay?”

  “Okay.”

  I sat up to see how she would do it. But she was just standing there, teetering, right on the edge, hanging over the rocks. Under one arm was The Cat. Under the other, now, The Dog. And she was wearing Mary Janes.

  I glanced back at my father and realized he wasn’t waving hello, he was waving Lucy away from the edge of the bluff.

  “Luce. Go get your sneakers. You’ll never make it in those shoes.”

  “That’s okay.”

  “Well, believe me, you better go get your sneakers.”

  “That’s okay. This is easy.”

  I looked and saw Dad had started back up the beach. Then, suddenly, he was running. Then leaping, like a hurdler, over the rocks, taking one smooth boulder after another. His eyes, steady as anything, were focused only on my sister. It made me glance back up at her, is all. And the look on her face. It was so happy and hopeful.

  I scrambled to my feet. “What are you doing?”

  “Are you ready?”

  Are you kidding. She was going to jump. On rocks like these, she’d break like an egg.

  “Dad! Stop her!”

  But, of course, completely ignoring all common sense, they all took a fearless leap. And landed whole, in Egg Man’s arms.