Running Northwest (20 page)

About a half an hour or so later they were all done eating and had paid the bill and left. The four of them were now standing outside in the parking lot. Erin and Daniel were sitting on her motorcycle talking about school and other things. Derrick and Thomas had wondered over to Thomas truck and were enjoying a much needed cigarette and chatting.

Thomas glanced over at Erin and his son who were talking and looked back at his friend Derrick and said, “She is so ready to have a kid for real, Bro.”

“I know, man. She talks about it more and more since her birthday,” Derrick replied.

Derrick’s girlfriend Erin had turned 30 years old the previous November. She had taken it hard by all accounts but most people tend to freak out when they turn 30. Erin had a younger brother who was 28 and an older sister who was 32, both of who were married. The older sister had two children also. To make matters worse Erin had parents who were pushing for more grandchildren. Erin had quite the adventurous time during her 20’s and her parents nicknamed her the wild child, but Erin now was feeling her biological clock ticking. She wanted the normal life that she had been putting off for a while now. It was something that Thomas and Derrick understood because they both did the same thing. She and Derrick had been together for over a year and a half. Thomas knew from talks with Tracie that Erin had wondered if Derrick would ever ask her to marry him. It was something Thomas had wondered about especially, since his friend was not getting any younger.

“So what about you man, you thinking you might want a little Derrick running wild around town?” Thomas said, staring at his friend out of the corner of his eye trying to gauge his Derrick’s reaction to the question.

Derrick slowly inhaled his cigarette as he looked over at his girlfriend who was playing with Daniel and answered with, “Someday…maybe.”

“Well from me to you Derrick, I think you would make a great dad. I’ve seen how you are with Daniel, and you’re great with him. But you’re right, maybe someday,” Thomas said.

“Thanks man. You and I will talk about it later,” Derrick said coolly.

After a few minutes later of light chatting Thomas and Derrick walked back over to the bikes where Erin and Daniel were.

“Hey baby I think we should let these two guys get on their way to finish their day,” Derrick said as he went up to Erin, pulled her into his arms and kissed her.

“Okay sounds good, Daniel seemed pretty excited about what they’re off to do,” Erin said as she let go of Derrick and turned around to hug Thomas goodbye. Derrick bent down and gave Daniel a big hug. Daniel then turned around and looked at the Derrick’s motorcycle again with his back to the adults.

“So what are you two going to do with the rest of your day?” Thomas asked Derrick and Erin.

“Oh, I don’t know. I think we may go do some shopping in town, then go home and relax for a bit before I head up to The Whaleback tonight,” Derrick said.

“All right, sounds good. I’ll see you later then. You two have fun with your day,” Thomas said and then continued, “Erin don’t be a stranger Hun, stop by the coffee shop some time. I miss your pretty face. Oh, and Erin, I’m suppos
ed to tell you that Tracie is gu
nna
call you tonight.”

“Great, I need to talk to her about a couple things anyway. When did you see her?” Erin asked

With his back still to the grownups, in his squeaky 7-year-old boy voice, Daniel piped up out of nowhere and said, “We saw her at the coffee shop this morning. And she stayed over last night; she had breakfast with us…it was pretty cool.”

As soon as the boy said that, Derrick and Erin’s jaws dropped, and their eyes widened and quickly shot back toward Thomas. He instantly felt unsure about what to say or do.

“Oh really?” Derrick said, trying not to laugh.

Erin added a simple, “Hmm…interesting,” and a knowing smile.

“It’s not that big of a deal, you two, so knock it off. She had dinner with me and Mr. Bigmouth here last night. It got late and she was tired. I didn’t want her driving all the way home so she stayed over,” Thomas quickly said trying to explain and then said, “And I slept on the couch.” But suddenly he wasn’t sure why he felt the need to clarify that part.

“Oh…I see” Erin said with a smile on her face.

“Stop…” Thomas said trying not to smile.

Derrick and Erin were trying their best not to laugh or make things awkward in front of Daniel. Thomas thought to himself that he was very glad his son was only a few feet away, because who knew what his friends would say if he wasn’t.

“Well then, I’m going to be sure to call Ms. Adams as soon as I get the chance. It seems we may have a lot to talk about,” Erin said in a mischievous tone and smiling.

“Yes, it would seem we do also,” Derrick said as he looked directly at Thomas.

“Oh jeez, all right; we will see you two nosey kids later. You ready to go Kiddo?” Thomas said, backing away nervously and putting his hand on his son’s shoulder.

“I’m ready Dad,” the boy said.

“Well let’s get out of here, things are getting deep buddy,” Thomas said as he and his son started towards the truck.

As he walked away he could hear Derrick and Erin making kissing noises behind him. He waved his hand in the air trying to get them to stop, which they did not.

A short time later Thomas and his son were in the truck and heading south down the road, the dogs quietly
sitting in the back seat
. When they had left the diner, Thomas had noticed that the skies were beginning to cloud up. The breeze off the Pacific started to pick up again and it was periodically blowing the truck with light gusts. Thomas wondered briefly if it was going to rain while they were out. Periodic rain was something he had grown used to though being out in Oregon as long as what he had been. In many of the seasons on the Oregon coast it would rain at some point of the day, several days of the week. Or it would be very misty usually in the mornings, which to visitors would seem like rain even though it wasn’t. A long time ago Thomas had begun bringing a light rain coat for his son when they went out of their excursions. He wasn’t as much concerned about himself, but the last thing he wanted was for Daniel to get sick

At some point while he was driving Thomas decided to roll down the windows to blow some fresh air through the cab of the truck. He loved driving down the coast road he always saw something new, it seemed.

As Thomas drove, he remembered the first time he had come to Oregon almost fifteen years prior. He was much younger then, in his early twenties. It was the first time he had been that far away from Michigan alone, and that far from his family. Everything was new and perfect and amazing to him then, it was a whole new life and world and he loved it. This beach had changed a lot since then; so had he.

As the ocean breeze blew through the trees and into the truck it brought him back to where he was and how amazing that smell was the very first time it reached his nose. The way the wind and ocean spray from the Pacific blended with the Douglas fir, red cedar, and spruce trees among the others that lined the coast made the smell intoxicating. The wild lilacs that grew along the roads on the coast added to the natural outdoor perfume. And as the father and son continued down the road they both took huge deep breaths of the
air.

Occasionally a few drops of rain would hit the windshield but Thomas still wasn’t concerned. It wasn’t quite the busy tourism season yet, but even if it was the rain usually kept the less hardcore tourists indoors for a while. Thomas was thinking the beach they were heading to would be fairly empty with the weather like this, he didn’t mind at all.

About twenty minutes later they got to the beach they were heading for. It was actually inside a state park and was surrounded by a thick coastal forest. When they pulled in Thomas noticed it was nearly empty which made him happy, because they could let dogs run and not worry about it. They parked their truck, grabbed their backpacks and put the dogs temporarily on their leashes and headed towards the beach. The beach itself was large and open with a steep rocky cliff at one end that was more than two hundred feet tall
.
The tall jagged cliff extended out into the ocean another several hundred feet. And at the bottom of it the ocean surf slammed against the rock in large thunderous crashes, the spray drifting towards the sandy beach and then disappearing.

In the middle of the beach was a large reddish rocky mass that was actually the start of the cliff. Thomas and Daniel had climbed on, around and over it more times than he could count. At high tide the ocean swelled up around the rocky mass and the water was either too rough or deep to wade around. The only option was to go over which wasn’t easy for some, especially for kids but Daniel was good at it. The large mound of rocks acted as a natural barrier in a way because on the other side of it was another large sandy beach. It was private and quiet and was one of Thomas’ favorite places in the entire world. This is where Thomas would come to be alone and just think when the stress of his life started to get to him. This particular beach also had a lot of very good memories attached to it. It was where he and Daniel’s mother Sarah had kissed for the first
time;
it was also where Sarah first told Thomas that she was in love with him. He would come here when he needed to remember her and find some sort of direction.

One side of the beach was lined with large spruce and fir trees on that hung awkwardly over the sand and rocks. In many places it looked as though they may fall over at any minute. The air smelled cleaner, their noses were battered with the smell of the ocean and the scents of the forest. Thomas and his son left a paved pathway and walked down a small ledge that went down to the beach. As they did, large smiles came across their
faces;
this was their special place and would always be their place.

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.