Thursday 12/19/24
“Can people walk their dog on the beach in winter?”
“They can, but not as many do. It gets windier on a beach than it does other places because there aren’t any trees to slow the wind down. A beach is like sledding for the wind where it gets to go super fast with nothing in its way. It’s a good place to be the wind.”
“That sounds like fun.”
“I know, doesn’t it? But cold. Are you warm enough?”
“Yes.”
“The woman got out of the car carrying the penguin and walked with her towards the water. The sound of the breaking waves filled the air. Rush, woosh, crashhhh, shhhhh, woosh. The waves were loud, but loud waves can still help you feel calm.”
“Wooooooooooosh.”
“Exactly. It was a long walk across the sand because this was a big beach. The penguin had been here before, but she may not have known it, because this was the same beach where someone had found her when she was hurt and wasn’t even awake. The woman kept her mittens in her coat pockets so that she was holding the penguin with her bare hands and she’d left her hat in the car on purpose because she wanted her face and her head to look like they normally did. Sometimes when we have on our winter hats and we’ve pulled them down tight it’s hard to see who we are. Like that time I thought you were your friend Kyle at first when I came to your school and you and your friends were playing outside.”
“He’s a boy.”
“I know. But he had on the same type of hat and his jacket was a lot like yours. We all make mistakes.”
“Maybe.”
“I think we probably do. I seem to remember someone eating that big Santa cookie from the bakery yesterday that she wasn’t supposed to have before dinner and spoiling her appetite.”
“Oh yeah.”
“'Oh yeah’ is right.”
“It was good.”
“So you said.”
“The lady wanted the penguin to see her without her hat?”
“She just wanted to be how she normally was.”
“Then what?”
“Well, she carried the penguin until they were maybe ten steps from where the waves washed up the highest. Remember how you and daddy played that game walking along the beach trying to jump out of the way of the water and not get wet?”
“I won.”
“You did! But instead of having the ocean on the side of them like you and daddy, it was straight in front of the woman and the penguin. And it was so big that a person could barely believe it. It went super far to the left, and super far to the right, and it stretched out forwards…well, it wasn’t forever, but when you stand in front of the ocean like that, it feels like it’s forever. It’s not like when we go to grandma and grandpa’s cabin in New Hampshire and you can stand at the edge of the water and see the other side like that time grandma waved to us and we waved back.”
“Is grandpa and grandma there now?”
“No. They’re home in New Jersey. Remember you spoke to them there on Thanksgiving? And they asked you what you wanted for Christmas? You better tell them. Time’s running out.”
“Can we call them when I wake up?”
“We will call them when you wake up. And maybe we can tell them that you slept in your bed all night for the second night in a row. Wow. Wouldn’t that be great?”
“Maybe.”
“Maybe indeed, you wandering rascal. You almost pushed mommy right out of her bed last time.”
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“But what about the penguin? What were they doing?”
“What they were doing was the last thing they were going to do together. In a way. But in another way, when a person does something for someone, that thing doesn’t stop. It goes on and becomes a part of all of these other things that the person who was helped is able to do and maybe gets to be because of what that other person did for them. Or what they do for someone.”
“Or something?”
“Hmmm. Yes. I hadn’t thought of that, but for something, too. Anything that helps someone or something.”
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