蘇珊·尤尼/Susan Union
My girl is going to school.
However, I still could see how several weeks ago the scene was playing itself out as clearly as if it had been written in a movie script.“Five more minutes, honey, then we have to leave.”I called to my five-year-old daughter, who had been frolicking in the Pacific Ocean for the past hour. She was a proficient pool swimmer, but the deep blue sea was a different matter.
Maybe she didn’t hear me calling her name above the roar of the ocean;maybe she did hear and was just ignoring me-it was impossible to tell.
“Hey, time’s up, we have to go now.”She turned, gave me a“see ya, Mom”look and headed farther into the surf. I splashed out and grabbed her arm. My shorts were soaked.
“No!”she screamed,“I don’t want to leave!”She jerked her arm away from me and pushed her little body away.
Now she was in over her head. Overcome with fear and rage I grabbed her, firmly this time, and began to drag her out. She screamed and thrashed about like a wild animal caught in a trap, growling and scratching. The gritty sand clung to our wet skin.
By now I was shaking. I could hardly believe what happened next. I smacked her on the bottom hard. It stunned her enough to make her freeze and stop her hysterical ravings. She stood there almost completely covered in sand and with her mouth wide open, unable to take a breath.
“Come on!”I said through clenched teeth as I pulled her along toward the path that would lead us away from the beach. She hopped alongside of me, seething and jibbering. I realized she was trying to tell me something. Her unintelligible words alternated with jagged sobs as she shifted her weight from one foot to another. Her feet!Now that we were out of the surf, the sand was scalding hot. I had been clutching her thongs all along.“I’m so sorry, sweetie. Put these on.”I slipped her thongs on her trembling feet.
That was weeks ago. Now it was September, and I was back on the beach, alone. As I walked the beach, tears welled up in my eyes. I could see the image of my daughter earlier that morning, heading into her freshly painted kindergarten classroom for her first day of school. Her new day pack was slung proudly over her shoulder. The design of yellow and purple puppies and kittens verified her tender years.