​

The man standing on the beach looked out at the waves; the wind whipped his pants tight against his thin legs, and he shivered, but he didn’t leave. He had lived near Puget Sound nearly all of his eighty years, but he had never really looked at its temperamental waters when he had been young. There was something magical about  water that could look so dangerous on a fall day like this and so friendly in the summer. The man smiled. Magic. He had thought magic unimportant, once. He might never have seen the water if it had not been for a magic trick...he remembered.



**



The man seldom saw his family in the morning. He got up before dawn and stood at the kitchen counter eating his toast, reviewing his agenda for the day. Sometimes his son would get up, too, and they would smile at each other as his son fixed himself some cereal.



“Can you help me with my spelling words, Dad?”



“Sorry I can’t, son. I have to catch the ferry. I’m sure your mother will help you.”



“Okay, Dad. Have a good day.” His son would switch on the TV.



The man liked his early mornings on the ferry. He liked the peace of the fog on the water. He liked sitting by the window, sipping his coffee, scanning the newspaper. He liked his work. Being a stockbroker was challenging, and he was good at it. He brought in a very respectable income, but more importantly (he told himself), he was making a contribution to society. He always intended to end his day by five, but somehow there was always one more task to accomplish, a loose end or two to take care of. He seldom caught his homebound ferry before seven. He would arrive home in time to say good night to his son.



“Tomorrow night could you read me a story, Dad?”



“Sure, son, tomorrow night I’ll get home earlier and we’ll read a story or play a game -- whatever you want.”



His son would smile his gap toothed smile as the man turned out the light.

​

After their child was settled, the man and his wife would sit in the living room, watching TV, reading, and talking. The man would listen to his wife talk about her part-time job and the things she had done around the house. He tried to let her know that he valued her contribution to their lives. What she did was necessary, and he wanted her to be happy. The orderliness of his life was disturbed when she was not happy.



Eventually, however, his wife reported something different at their evening conference.



“They’ve offered me a full-time position at the gift shop.”



“Mmm, yes? That’s very nice, dear. It shows that they value you as an employee.”



“I’ve decided to accept.” She was working on some sort of tole-painted figures, to be sold in the gift shop, the man assumed. As near as he could tell, she was sticking little wire hooks into the tops of their little wooden heads.



He put his newspaper down. “Accept? But what about me? What about the boy?”



She laughed. “You don’t spend more than two waking hours with us anymore. During the week, anyway.” She dangled a farmer’s wife by her wire hook.

He was shocked. “But I’m providing for us! And very well!”

She put down the wife and picked up a wooden cow. “Yes, I know you are. And that’s why I haven’t wanted to complain. Because I love living here on the island, and I am so happy not to have to worry about money as we did when we were young. But I’m bored and lonely during the week! And I’ve figured everything out. You don’t have to do a thing. I’ve arranged for our son to go next door for the hour that he’ll be home and I won’t.” She finished the cow and picked up a pig.

“But -- what about the house? You’re always saying how difficult it is to keep clean.”

“I’ve found a cleaning service to come in. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier.” She finished the pig and picked up a farmer.
“I don’t like it,” said the man, trying to think of another rational objection.

“I know you don’t, honey, and I’m sorry. I know change is hard for you, but I promise -- you won’t notice a thing.” She jammed a wire hook into the head of a farmer, then put him back into the box.



The cleaner was hired, the boy began spending his afternoons at the neighbor’s, and the wife seemed very happy. The boy seemed happy, too; he was best friends with the neighbor’s son.

Only the man was unhappy, and he didn’t know why. The thing that he had feared most, that his daily routine would change, hadn’t happened. He did the same things; but they did not. When he got up in the morning he ate his toast, and when his son got up, they smiled at each other. His son would fix his bowl of cereal and then start working on something. He didn’t turn on the TV. He didn’t ask his father to do anything.

 

The man might venture a comment: “Sorry I can’t stay, son, but I have to catch the ferry. “

His son wouldn’t look up. “Bye, Dad.”

When he got home at night and said good night, his son didn’t ask him anything. “I’ll try to get home earlier tomorrow night.”

“That’s okay, Dad."

When he went out to the living room, his wife wasn’t reading or watching TV. “I got behind on my paperwork today,“ she would say with a smile. “I’ll be staying up a little late. Go to bed when you feel like it, honey. I know that you have to get up early.” She would kiss him and sit at the kitchen table, papers spread out before her. The overhead light would shine on her hair.



One morning the boy got up and didn’t even fix breakfast, but immediately began working on something. “What are you working on, Son?”

His son’s tongue was between his teeth and he was whispering to himself. “What? It’s just something I need to practice.”
“Would you like some help?”

His son looked up, plainly shocked. “Do you know magic, Dad?”

“Magic! Of course not. magic is just a -- just a trick!”

“That’s right, Dad. I don’t think you can help. Thanks, anyway.”

The man frowned. “Did you get your homework done?”

“Yes.”

“Well. Don’t forget to have breakfast.”



 “I won’t. Bye, Dad.”



The man always took the afternoon of his son’s parent-teacher conference off.  School was a priority with him, he would tell his colleagues. But usually he would go with his wife, and she would talk to the teacher about their son’s homework habits and health. This time his wife had asked him to go alone. She had an appointment at work. Reminding himself to find time to talk to her about her priorities, The man sat down next to the teacher’s desk and looked at his son’s schoolwork with her.

“Your son’s reading and math skills have changed this quarter. Have you been doing something different lately?”

“Ahh, well. My wife is working full-time and unfortunately our son has to go to a neighbor’s after school. I think it may not be a good idea.”

“Oh, that’s right! He told me about that. I don’t think I made myself clear. Your son’s scores have improved!”

“Oh, well... that’s fine! I wasn’t sure about that neighbor arrangement.”

“I don’t think there could be a better caretaker for your son than your neighbor. He is wonderful with children. He volunteers here every Friday.”

“He? He works here?”

“He volunteers, yes. He has a home based business, so he can make time for the things he thinks are important. He says that school is a priority for him. The children love him. He does magic tricks for them.” The teacher smiled. “Your son is doing very well.” She handed him a stack of papers and said good bye. The man walked out in a daze. He drove home in a daze. He sat in the kitchen in a daze.
His son -- his son! -- was improving his school scores by working with another boy’s father. His son was learning magic tricks from another boy’s father. His son was learning at school with another boy’s father. By the time his wife got home, the man had decided what needed to be done.

“You’ll have to quit your job,” he told his wife.

“Pardon me?” she asked as she put down her briefcase. “Did you go to the conference? Is he doing poorly?”

“He’s doing very well, but you didn’t tell me that this neighbor who’s caring for him is a man.”

“What difference does that make?” She raised one eyebrow. He hated that.

The man paced the kitchen. “Ahh, well, what if he’s some sort of pervert?”

“Whatever gave you that idea? Is that what the teacher said?”

“No.”

“Doesn’t he volunteer at the school?”

“Yes.”

“Well, then he’s been fingerprinted and checked out by the state patrol.”

He watched her walk to the sink and pour herself a glass of water. She was wearing a red jacket and a red skirt, and she looked very beautiful and very competent. She acted and sounded very competent. He didn’t like it. “I don’t like it.”

She laughed. “Well, you’ll have to have a better reason than that to get me to quit my job.” She put her glass in the sink and went into the bedroom to change.

He was still staring blankly into space when their son walked in.

​

“Hi, Dad! It’s weird seeing you home this early!”
The man stared at him helplessly, wanting to scream and shout, “I don’t like it!” But his son’s open happiness made him dumb. His son was almost up to his shoulder! His son was becoming a person, with his own thoughts and ideas. The man realized that he didn’t know his son at all.  

“You okay, Dad?”

 

“Ahh, yes. Yes, son, I think I’m fine. I think I’ll be much better, but... I’m fine. And I’d love to see one of your magic tricks.”



**



A loud, deep-toned horn startled the old man. He stumbled on the rocky beach and nearly lost his balance. “Damn ferry horn,” he muttered. He glanced around to see if anyone had been watching him. Old age could be so embarrassing. Caroline was always telling him not to walk on the rocks anymore. As he tried to negotiate his way up the beach to the parking lot, he thought perhaps she was right. He finally made it back to the car, where Caroline stood, surveying him critically.

“You got your pants wet.”

He put his arm around her. ”I’m glad you took that full-time job.”

“What? Are you senile? I haven’t worked full-time in over fifteen years.”

“I know.”

She looked at him suspiciously, then leaned into his arm. “You certainly weren’t glad at the time!”

“No, I wasn’t. The water made me think of it.”

“You are senile.” But she said it softly, and she turned her head to give him a kiss. The walk-on passengers began to debark. He searched eagerly for his son. To his annoyance, Caroline spotted him first.

“Andrew! Here we are! Andrew!” She waved wildly.

“For heaven’s sake, Caroline, he’s not in the next county! You don’t need to screech!”

She ignored him as the young man reached them and put his overnight bag down. She drew Andrew into her arms. Andrew looked at his father over his mother’s shoulder. “Hi, Dad,” he said with a grin -- no longer gap toothed, but still, the man thought, basically the same. When his mother released him, Andrew stuck his hand out to his father. The man took his son’s hand and pulled him into his arms. He knew what was important.