Running Northwest (3 page)

Back at Thomas’ rented beachside cottage, there was more to deal with than the dinner that would not be eaten and the reminders of Sarah scattered all over the home. A small boy was there, asleep and being watched over by Thomas’ best friend Derrick. The boy was only five years old and unknowingly had just lost his mother in
a
car accident. As Thomas drove north back up the coast, through the silent and sleeping towns of Tillamook and Garibaldi, he wondered what to say to Daniel. How would he tell the little boy that his mother was dead? Thomas wondered what would happen next.

xi

Lying in bed before sunrise was one of Thomas James’s favorite things to do. It was late spring so the nights were warm enough to leave the windows open and with that meant waking up to the smell of the salt air drifting in from the early morning breeze, the sounds of the waves slapping and sometimes crashing against the rocks and the sandy beach. The gulls screamed at each other as they flew around in circles looking for some sea-life to eat. Somewhere off shore may be a breaching whale or two as they pass the coast heading north on their way home. A pod of dolphins or group of seals looking for some fish to eat could often be seen. All of it seemed to be slightly hidden by the mist that seemed to be present every morning and sometimes most of the day. This was the Pacific Northwest after all; it’s the way of things here.

As Thomas lay in his king sized bed covered with a sheet and the head of very large Bull Mastiff named Layla draped across his stomach, he remembered how much he missed this place when he was back in Michigan. Oregon, specifically the Oregon Coast, always felt more like home to him. He always wanted to come back here and open a small coffee shop, and eventually he did just that. However, the life he had always imagined he would have had out here is not the one he got. Not that he could complain or would for that matter he loved his life now, he loved every part of it or at least the parts he had.

Thomas rolled over to grab his cell phone and see what time it was. The phone was lying next to two framed pictures that he never took down. One was of him and his son Daniel and the other was one of someone else, someone from a past he had to leave behind him. It had been almost four years and yet sometimes as he lay in bed, slowly waking to watch the sunrise, he still forgot that she would never be lying next to him again.
He did not have his glasses or contact
s on so he had to squint to see,
a disadvantage of getting older.
It was 6:15 am.

“Mondays,” he growled as he reached to pet the head of the large, heavy dog and then reached for his glasses with the other hand.

“Well girl, we gotta get the other two up in about a half hour or so. Want to go for a quick walk before we get them up and going and make breakfast? We have school today you know.”

His dog Layla jumped down off the bed and wagged her large tail excitedly. For some reason that Thomas himself could never quite understand he talked to the dogs he had
as if
they were people.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” he laughed as he put on his shorts and a hooded sweatshirt and put his running shoes on his feet.

Thomas and Layla walked out the slider door in his bedroom and stood on the deck for a minute. He took a deep breath trying to wake himself up a little bit more, inhaling the salty morning air.

“
Its
gunna rain today,” he said aloud.

He had gotten good at smelling the rain coming in the air since he had been back in Oregon.
As Thomas stood there on the deck, Layla took off running as fast as she could bu
t not at anything in particular. E
verything had to be smelled as quickly as she possible could.
Thomas
was not
worried about the dog, no one lived all that close him and there usually
were not
a lot of people on the beach this far north of town. The tourists
did not
come up this far often, let alone at this time of day.
However occasionally a few
people
would wander past his home,
usually
waiving politely as they walked along.
He stepped down onto the sand and walked the 70 yards or so towards the shoreline, watching the huge dog run around smelling all the new things the Pacific had washed up during the night. Because of the currents, occasionally he would find things from Japan on shore after they spent who knows how long at sea. Watching the waves come in with the morning fog with the slightest hint of daylight in the sky was one of his favorite ways to start the day. He walked up bent
down, rubbed the dogs’ messy sand-covered face,
and smiled.

“Now don’t tell Harley I brought you out here without him, he will be jealous as hell!” he said laughing. The dog licking his cheek in reply.

After about 30 more minutes of walking, Thomas and Layla headed back to their small cottage looking at it as he approached. When Thomas first moved here, he was just renting the place from a local retired couple. Eventually the owners offered to let him buy it cheap considering the location and land value. However, after everything with Daniel’s mother happened and the article in the paper, strangers and friends alike stepped up and offered help of many types; some Thomas accepted and some he gratefully declined. Nevertheless, that is how the locals were out here in these small coastal towns, everyone cared, and people were willing to help each other. He was not the type to ask for help and had issues even accepting the help that was offered, but it was an adjustment he learned to make.

By the time, Thomas and Layla walked into the cottage, it was a few minutes before 7 am. As they both walked down the hallway, he could hear scratching noises coming behind one of the bedroom doors. He looked down at his large mastiff Layla, who was waiting impatiently at his side for the door to be opened. Her head was cocked slightly to the left. She looked at him, then the door and back to him again.

“You ready?” he said smiling as he slowly turned the doorknob.

As he opened the
door,
a yellow flash streaked out and passed him, emitting a quick bark. At virtually the same time, Layla forced the door open all of the way and launched herself onto the bed. Then she began licking its small, defenseless occupant.

“Layla, that’s gross,” said a child’s squeaky voice from underneath the blankets. “But good morning to you too girl,” he said laughing.

“Hey Dad, g’morning,” the young boy said smiling as he sat up and wiped his eyes.

“Morning to you too Kiddo. How did you sleep?” Tom asked.

“All right I guess, I had some weird dreams but I’m fine I guess.
I am
starving Dad. What’s for breakfast?” Daniel, Thomas’ son asked.

“Well I haven’t decided yet, so get up and get dressed. We will decide together.
I am
sorry but you have school today, ya know. Sadly, our weekend is over,” he said smiling.

Throwing his body back on the bed, he said growling, “Yeah, yeah, I know dang it. Do I gotta go Dad?” he asked.

All he got for a reply was a stern look and a raised right eyebrow from Thomas.

“Fine, fine, you win again!” the boy fussed.

“Well kid, get dressed and I’ll go get your breakfast started.
Its
gunna rain today,” he said as he rubbed the top of Daniel’s head and started walking out of the room.

“Dad…seriously…I know it’s going to rain. It rains a lot; we live on the Coast. Sometimes it rains every day. My teacher says it rains over half the year here,” he said sarcastically then
adding,
“at least we don’t live in Seattle”

“Don’t get smart with me, I haven’t had coffee yet; and it’s not always raining, sometimes it’s a mist or fog. There’s a difference…what do they tell you in school anyway?” Tom asked as he walked down the hallway to the kitchen, turning on the small counter top television when he got there to catch the morning news and starting a pot of coffee.

It had not always been like this. For the first year, that he lived in the cottage with his best friend Derrick Pazinkski. Derrick was a little more than two years younger than
Thomas was
. There were never kids running about, breakfast rarely was made this early and often not at all. They both were consummate bachelors. Nevertheless, sometimes things change no matter how hard you try.

About a year or so, after he moved back to Oregon from the Midwest he started dating a woman named Sarah Bellows. She was a single mom who was at that point 28. Sarah was tall about 5’10”, but still shorter than Thomas’ 6’4”. She was beautiful and vivacious, completely random and exciting. Sarah breathed a bit of fresh life into Thomas, who had left Michigan with a broken heart and what seemed a broken soul because of another woman. Those were good times back then.

Thomas, who always swore he would never date a woman with a child, took a chance. Especially since Sarah was very persistent and convincing. The two became good friends at first before they actually started dating. Thomas loved the fact the she pursued him instead of the opposite. He was very cautious and careful when Sarah finally introduced her son Daniel to him. It took some time for both of them to be comfortable with it, because all three of them had been hurt and let down before. Daniel was about 3½ or so when Thomas first met the boy who would become his son. That was a long time ago. A lifetime ago Thomas sometimes thought.

About 10 minutes later the father and son sat at their kitchen table eating breakfast. This consisted of two different types of cereal mixed together and orange juice for Daniel and just coffee for Thomas. Thomas rarely ever ate breakfast during the week. He usually ate at the coffee shop. Breakfasts were usually quiet affairs, neither one awake enough to have decent morning conversation. Thomas was never really a morning person, and it seemed Daniel was not either. That personality trait made Thomas laugh sometimes because, Sarah, Daniel’s mother was never much of a morning person either.

“Hey Dad?” Daniel said nervously.

Thomas sat back in his chair and squinted his eyes, a worried look on his face. He recognized the tone his son had used.

“Yeah?” he replied cautiously as he sipped his overly strong coffee.

“When I get home from school, do you think that maybe we could call Grandma in Florida?” the boy asked gingerly.

Thomas raised his eyebrows in concern…his mother damn it he thought to
himself
.

“We can do that if you want. Is everything okay?” he asked smoothly.

“Oh yeah, everything is fine I guess. I just miss her. It’s been a while since I talked to her and she sent me a postcard in the mail. I got it on Saturday, so I just wanted to call her and tell her thanks that’s all,” Daniel replied.

To that Thomas got a curious little smirk on his face and said, “Well…that’s very thoughtful of you Daniel, I’m sure Grandma would appreciate that very much. Can I see the postcard buddy? I’m kind of jealous. She never sends me postcards anymore, she must like you better.”

The last remark made the boy smile. Daniel reached into his backpack that was sitting next to him on the floor, pulled the card out of a book, and handed it over to his father who started reading it.

“Make sure I get it back though, Dad. I’m bringing it to school for Show and Tel
l
because it’s from Florida and
that is
really, really far away.  It’s pretty cool.”

“Yeah it is! I’ll give it right back, I promise little man,” Thomas said laughing.

He read the card with an alligator on the front with curiosity looking for some sort of shitty undertone he knew was most likely there, knowing that Daniel would not notice. As he read it, he made a barely audible grunting noise. He then handed the card back to his son, who quickly put it back in his backpack as if he was hoarding treasure, which made Thomas laugh a little.

He did not know his mother had sent Daniel a post card from Florida. Not that he minded much, but he would find out why she did though. Thomas and his mother did not always see eye to eye all the time. Since Thomas adopted Daniel, he noticed a bit of coldness coming from his mother towards the two of them, or maybe it was indifference. She did not think Thomas adopting Daniel two years ago was the “responsible or smart” thing to do for either of them and that Thomas was not ready to be a father. At least that is what she said. Thomas knew there was more to the argument than that.

The word “selfish” came up a lot and they had many arguments about it over the phone. In addition, two arguments in person; one when he and Daniel visited her in Florida and another when she came to Oregon once to see them. He was very careful to conceal those arguments from his son. He more or less proved her wrong so far. And she was never a Mother of the Year candidate a lot of the time when he was growing up. He had bad memories of her drinking too much when he was a child
Therefore;
he just tried to ignore her with certain things.