CHAPTER 2: SOIL
2:22pm – Thursday, July 7th/1984
Wade runs around in circles in the sand. He is playing at the beach with his dog, Hardy. The dog is small in stature and has a furry brown and white coat of long messy hair. Hardy is a small Shih Tzu and is about seven years old. Wade is also around seven and shares a close bond with his small furry friend. He laughs hysterically as the dog chases him around the beach.
“Come get me, boy!”
Wade says playfully as he kicks sand around Hardy, getting him to chase his feet. Hardy reaches Wade’s feet and bites his toes. Wade giggles while the dog nips at his tiny feet. Wade falls on his bum, and Hardy jumps on his chest. The dog starts licking his face, and Wade giggles, turning his cheek to the side.
Wade sits up as Hardy lies beside him. He starts scooping sand with his hands and throwing it toward the water. Watching it hit the water and ripple on the reflecting surface gives Wade a wonderful feeling. He is content with his bum in the sand, the dog at his side, and the sound of water splashing against the beach. His father calls to him,
“Wade! What do you want to eat? Your Mother is going to get some food.”
Wade turns his head around and lays it down in the sand, looking at his family upside down. He giggles to himself, and his father sternly says,
“WADE! What do you want to EAT?”
Hardy licks Wade’s face, and Wade laughs. He pushes him off and says,
“Uhhhhh... A hot dog? I want a hot dog.”
His father nods and yells over to Susan, who is standing near the parking lot beside the food truck,
“YA, HE WANTS A HOT DOG.”
Wade turns to his Mom and yells,
“NO MUSTARD!”
She smiles and waves back at him. Wade sits back up and starts throwing sand back into the water. A little girl walking by sees Hardy sitting in Wade’s lap and runs toward them to pet him. Wade throws sand in her direction, and it gets in her eye. The little girl covers her face and screams,
“OW!”
Wade giggles to himself as Hardy sits up from his lap. Hardy starts to bark at her, and the girl yells,
“WHY DID YOU DO THAT?”
Hardy starts barking at the girl, and Wade throws another pile of sand at her and laughs out loud. She yells,
“STOP IT!”
As she runs away from them. Hardy continues to bark, and Wade giggles. Wade hears his Mom yell,
“EXCUSE ME, WADE! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING? GET OVER HERE!”
Wade turns around in fear. He sees his Mother standing beside his father, holding a cardboard food box, looking very angry. She yells,
“GET OVER HERE, MISTER.”
Wade immediately stands up and slowly walks towards his Mother with his head down. As he gets close to her, his Mother yells,
“WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?”
She stands furious, holding the food box and looks down at his father, Michael, “Did you see what he did?” Michael replies,
“Honestly, no. What happened?”
Susan looks over at Wade and says,
“Why don’t you tell your father what you just did? And DON’T lie about it because I watched you.”
Wade looks distraught and looks over at his dad. His father sits there with his eyebrows raised, awaiting an answer. He says,
“Well, Wade? What did you do?”
Wade looks back up at his Mother in fear. She says,
“He just threw a bunch of sand at a little girl and made her cry for no reason.”
Wade quickly looks over to his dad, scared. Michael asks,
“Why did you do that?”
Wade shrugs his shoulders and looks down at the ground. Susan puts the food down and kneels in front of Wade,
“Wade? Why did you do that? That was VERY rude. What is wrong with you?”
She looks over at Michael as he sits there, staring at Wade. His father says,
“Wade. Answer your Mother.”
Wade continues to stare at the ground. Susan says to Michael,
“I think you should spank him because he’s being a little BRAT.”
She looks at Wade scornfully, and he looks up at his father in fear. Michael says,
“I don’t think he did it on purpose. Did you, Wade?”
Wade interrupts,
“It was an accident!”
“NO IT WASN’T! I WATCHED IT HAPPEN! MICHAEL! DISCIPLINE YOUR SON!”
Susan yells at the both of them. Michael quickly stands out of his chair and grabs Wade by the shoulder. He turns him around, pulls his swimsuit down, and smacks him very hard on the behind. Wade shrieks and runs forward. Hardy starts to bark at Michael viciously, and he sits back down in his chair. Susan says,
“Get back over here and eat. We’re going to leave if you keep this shit up.”
They sit and eat in awkward silence. Wade feeds Hardy little bites of the hot dog bun and pets him. Susan says,
“I’m going to the bathroom. I’ll be right back.”
Michael replies,
“Okay, Hunny.”
Wade stares into the water, thinking about what he has done. As Susan leaves, Michael says to Wade,
“I’m sorry, buddy. Your Mom makes me discipline you like that. I hope you know I didn’t mean to hurt ya. She’ll get even more pissed if I don’t.”
Wade turns around and looks at his dad and says,
“It’s okay, Dad. I love you.”
“I love you too, buddy. Do you want to go back out there and play?”
Michael asks Wade. He replies,
“Yeah! Can we play frisbee?”
Michael says,
“Why don’t you play frisbee with Hardy?”
Michael reaches back and pulls the frisbee out of his bag. He tosses it in the empty spot in front of them, and Hardy runs after it. Wade turns to smile at his dad and quickly runs toward Hardy.
Wade grabs the frisbee from the dog’s mouth and chucks it down the beach. It goes out of sight from Hardy’s view, and he says,
“Go on, boy! Go get it!”
Hardy looks up at Wade in confusion. Wade looks over to where the frisbee landed, and a little girl picks up the frisbee. She sees Wade waving his hands in the air and starts to walk toward them. Hardy sees the little girl holding the bright orange frisbee and runs after her. As the girl approaches them, Hardy jumps up and bites her hand. The girl drops the frisbee and screams in pain. Wade chuckles to himself as Hardy runs back to him with the frisbee. The girl shakes her hand, and blood drips into the sand. Wade is shocked that he bit her that hard and comes over to ask if she is okay. She replies,
“No! Your dog just made me bleed!”
Wade giggles about it and looks at Hardy jumping up and down with the frisbee. He laughs and says,
“He’s just a silly dog.”
The girl starts to cry again and turns around to walk away. Michael stands up out of his chair and walks over to Wade,
“Wade! What was that? Did you say sorry?”
Wade looks frightened as he turns around and looks up at his father walking towards him. Michael notices the blood in the sand and says,
“Oh my god, is that blood?”
Wade looks down and nods his head, saying,
“It was Hardy. He’s a dog. It’s okay.”
Michael picks up Hardy and pets him. He looks down at Wade, who looks scared that his father will hit him. He then says,
“Hardy, that’s not very nice.”
He looks at Wade and says,
“Don’t tell your mother about this, okay?”
Michael slides his foot through the sand to kick a pile of it over top of the blood. He says,
“Deal?”
Wade looks up at him and smiles,
“Deal.”
2:42pm – Thursday, July 7th/1984
