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Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Two If By Land


My daughter is just on the verge of 3 years old, but already she has a favorite story of when her mama was a little girl. It hearkens back to the days of Atlas Pit before it became a reputable fishing spot, when drunken teenagers broke their necks diving from cliffs.

I was the only subscriber to the every other week Dad Weekends. The rest of the kids were grown, and on their own or nearly so. It had to be hard for Dad, I imagine, working himself up to an entire weekend as the prime caretaker of a young girl. He would have had to have been out of his element considering his entire family history was made up of two nearly full time jobs and until then, a wife to tend the children. But, he took me on and often times I groaned to myself of the boredom. What an older father thinks is interesting to a young girl often is not.

The day my daughter dreams about came with chocolate malts and summertime. As was a normal weekend event, we went for a drive through town in Dad's big, black Chevy pick-up truck. The window behind my head was open so Butch, hot and wind-free beneath the truck topper, could drool over my shoulder. We pulled into the drive at Atlas Pit.

Dad must have thought I would be excited or impressed to see what a 4 wheel drive could do as the tires ground over a loose gravel shore. He talked about trees, water, fish. I sat, a docile, complacent child when in his presence. He wasn't a terrible man, I just feared the raising of my father's voice after hearing the pandemonium prior to my parents' separation and tried to stay under the radar.

In his talking he pointed out the shore, the trees, the ducks dropping their metallic green or spotted brown heads below the flat reservoir. He inched the truck up, closer to the shoreline, dipping the front tires like toes in a pool. I watched, disbelieving. He was driving into the water.

I held on, quiet, a slow terror rolled in my gut. This was my dad, nothing would happen, the truck is safe, the water, shallow. We rolled forward still. I looked out my window and down. Water, but not deep. Still. Water!

Out it came, a horror, my complacency denied. A cry I tried to suck up escaped into the cab, then another sob. I was terrible at swimming, frightened by the thought of not being able to touch bottom. My body required I find purchase on land, stable and safe. Though I adored any chance I had at a beach or pool, I was timid and panicked if confronted by the deep. Whatever Dad was trying to prove, this was not okay.

He didn't persist, but threw the truck into reverse and calmed me with a laugh and easy words.

My daughter is fascinated by this story, that Mama could be so small and scared. She presses for details and I give what I can. It is comforting for her, I imagine, to know the little grow big and the scared grow strong as she looks to me for guidance, for purchase on this huge overpowering land.

6 comments:

  1. I love this line: my body required I find purchase on land, stable and safe.

    Though I never had that experience of someone I trust drive into the water, boat ramps unsettle me just the same.

    Great story!

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  2. Thanks for reading! I can understand the boat ramp thing, but I've never had to deal with that part of boating. Someday maybe I'll tell the story of driving my truck through an intersection near my old apt. and having the truck fill up with water. Brrr.

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  3. Atlas Pit -- that is so evocative. I am fascinated that your daughter is fascinated by this story. Lovely writing. Write more! i will read you.

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  4. Chargord,

    Thank you so much for visiting and reading. I find myself fascinated by most things she finds interesting especially that it is so amazing that her parents were ever little and afraid.

    This is my second blog and the hardest to keep up-probably because memory can be so fleating and I want the stories to hold their truth. Though, it is my intention to write more.

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  5. What an amazing jewel of an anecdote. Good God, what was the father thinking...the father character, because to think of him as Daddy...takes a lot of breathing and some perspective, I bet. I love the straightforward narrative, no dodging the truth here.

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  6. Tania,

    Thank you again. I sometimes think about asking him about this day, but I'm guessing he's forgotten it by now. Though there are other events he remembers. I think it's funny how parents have specific memories of their kids growing up and kids often have very different experiences that leave lasting impressions.

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