Family by the Sea
(Inspired by Chris Van Allsburg's 6th picture on this link --> http://www.chrisvanallsburg.com/drawings.html)
Tide 1:
I woke up with the sun beaming on my face from my window. The ocean outside hadn’t decided if it was happy or sad today, but neither did I. It was way too early in the morning to feel like anything other than ‘ugh’.
After I washed my face and brushed my teeth I went to the kitchen because my nose and my stomach were begging me to. I noticed how bright the sun was and how happy the sea was when I looked out the hallway window. Mommy was happy too. She said, “Good morning baby!” I said good morning back and gave her a hug. I was happy she was happy. We had scrambled eggs with cheese and steak strips on the side. We always had plenty of red meat. Any meat we didn’t finish after a meal went to our pet Shark, who was always outside the window.
After breakfast, mommy played pirate with me in her room. She captured me and threw me on her bed. It was always so wavy. Oh, and the ships on her walls looked like they were dancing. I think I fell asleep after she tickled me and I surrendered. It was a happy day. I wish that daddy would play with us too, but he’s always at work. It was ok though, because mommy was there and it was always fun watching Shark beg for food. It was a little too chilly to go outside today, but we kept the windows open to feel the beaming sun and the cool breeze.
Tide 2:
I woke up extra early the next morning. The sun hadn’t even come up yet, and I’m not sure it wanted to. The ocean looked black and it was rumbling in an eager way. I heard noises in the kitchen so I put on my slippers and tip toed out of my room. I saw boots filled with water at the front door. Excited, I followed the blobs of water on the floor. A big hand reached from the kitchen and patted me on the head, and I knew who it was then. “Daddy!” His hands got my hair wet, but I didn’t mind. I heard mommy get up, I could tell because the floor was creaking. Suddenly the sky became dark and thunder began to roll. I got scared and daddy told me to go to bed. I ran, the thunder was snapping at my ears yelling at me to go and hide. I ran into mommy, she told me that the thunder can’t hurt me if I hide under the covers. I asked her if she would come with me, but she said sorry sweetie with a sad face and walked towards the kitchen. She said she’d come to get me when the storm was over. Shark didn’t even come out this morning rubbing his nose against my window; it must have scared him too.
Tide 3:
Mommy woke me up and showed me how the sun was playing peek-a-boo in the clouds. She gave me a piggy back ride to her room, but it wasn’t fun like before. The boats on the walls looked like they were sinking. I asked where daddy was and I felt mommy’s body shake. She told me he was in the kitchen. I saw red streaks on mommy’s arms, I thought it was paint and I tried to get it off, but mommy said ‘ow.’ I asked her how she got the red lines and she said Shark was play fighting when she fed him earlier, but she wouldn’t look at me when she said it. It must have hurt, so I kissed it to make it better.
The Ocean looked hungry. It was a deep blue today, like mommy’s eyes. I didn’t know why the ocean was sad, but it made me sad too. Mommy stayed in her room with me almost the whole day until we ran out of sandwiches and tea for our tea party at lunch time. She told me she would be right back so I waited and looked out of the window. The ocean tried to touch the window; I wonder what it was reaching for…
I rolled myself in the blanked on mommy’s bed, but when I got to the end of it; it was wet. Now it looked like the floor was crying too! I heard mommy scream, and the ocean kept reaching and reaching. I was afraid to get up and step on the floor when it was crying. I started to cry too, I couldn’t help mommy. What if Shark was playing mean again? I looked at the upside down ships as my eye sight got blurry from my tears.
Tide 4:
My tummy started to rumble when my salt water tears dried on my face. The ocean seemed hungry too; still reaching for our windows. I could barely hear mommy; she was mumbling something. I couldn’t understand because she was too far away. The floor was damp, so I thought it would be ok to get up now. I could hear something bumping against the front door. It sounded too large to be a knock. So I went to go see what it was. I slowly walked past the kitchen. Mommy was on the floor crying. I ran to her to ask her what was wrong. This time there were red marks on her face too. The bumps against the door were even louder now. Daddy came out of nowhere and walked over us, stomping like me when I get angry. He flung the door open and the hungry sea ate him. Daddy vanished, and mommy seemed relieved. The ocean was calm and quiet. Mommy shut the door and took me to her room. The ships on the wall were dancing again. She smiled and I smiled. The sun was shining bright. And you know what? Shark didn’t come to the window. Guess he wasn’t hungry…