The Sandbox CHAPTER 7

It had been raining for the past week. But this time, it was heavy rain. A storm. With all the matching lightning and thunder that magically manufactures nightmares into your thoughts. Pretty weird for summer.

No sign of Alexi at the park the past week. No signs of any kid at the park. Not even me. I can deal with rain, but I do not want to be sitting on that swing when lightning strikes.

But today, the rain has stopped. But grey clouds still cover the sky. Behind it, you can see a little glimpse of the rays of the sun wanting to just punch through. Underneath all that, me. Sitting on the wet rubber seat of my favorite swing in the world.

But nevermind the swing today. Something else is the spotlight of the sandbox. The sand. The texture of today’s sand from the past week’s rain makes it perfect. And I just knew it. That’s why I brought with me my own pail and shovel today.

Yup! It’s all part of the plan. The rain has stopped. The sand is perfect. And soon enough, the sun will come out. Soon enough, Alexi will come to the sandbox and play. So before that happens, I want to build her something great with the sand.

So I dig. I shovel. I mold. I carve. And 2 hours later, I’m done.

I stand at the corner of the sandbox and stare at my works of art. To my left, I have made a tulip. A giant one. As big as Alexi. In full bloom and as beautiful as her.

To my right, the lower half of a mermaid. Like last time. But this time, I dig a deep hole inside so she just has to slip right in.
And right in front of me, the biggest sand castle I have ever made. It’s complete with a tower, a gate, and brick walls. There’s about a 6 feet square middle where Alexi can enter through an opening at the side and play. She has the smile of a princess, but when she steps inside, she’ll be queen of the castle. Queen of the sandbox.

As I stare at what I did, I begin to tell myself how good it really looks and how I couldn’t have made it any better. Suddenly, the clouds disappear and out comes the sun shining over the sandbox.

The sun glistens the sand inch by inch as the clouds move away.

The tulip looks like it had bloomed a bit more.

The mermaid fin shines as if it has just hopped out of the water.

And my castle…wow! Remember that part at the end of Beauty and the Beast where the castle which had been dark and filled with gargoyle sculptures suddenly transformed into a white castle with angels? Errr. I don’t. I never watched that movie! No! But the effect of the sun on the sand castle that I had made had just about the same effect as in the Beauty and the Beast movie… err, as my cousin has told me the story of that movie before.

It’s as if the sun has brought life to the sand figures. I always thought of the sun as the symbol of light. But right now, it’s the symbol of life… of being alive.

Though it’s hard to look at the sun right now, I talk to it. “You’re right on time,” I tell it.

Suddenly I hear footsteps behind me. I knew it! The sun is out and Alexi has come out to play!

I turn around to greet her.

Wait...

It’s not Alexi.

My smile turns upside down. But so do my eyebrows. This person. It’s not Alexi. She’s much taller. And much older. But she looks just like her. She even has that sparkle in her eye just like Alexi.

But this sparkle. It’s not a sparkle in her eye. I can tell, because the sparkle is flowing down from her eyes over her cheeks. She has that same disappointed and unhappy look as when I first saw Alexi.

She stares at me in silence for a few seconds. Then she talked. “Hi there! Are you… Jacob?”

“Yes?” I reply in complete bewilderment of who she is and what’s going on.

She tries to wipe away the drops of tears from her face, but even more comes along.

“Hello there, Jacob! My name is…” She stops again for another moment to gather herself and wipe away more tears before she continues. “I’m…my…. I’m Alexi’s mother….”



End Chapter 7.