the sandcastle.

"play with me," he half-commanded, half-pleaded. his dad glanced at the clock on the wall. "okay," he said, offering his hand to his son. the boy pulled his father towards the sandbox, letting go of his dad's hand to clamber into the sandbox. his dad perched awkwardly on the ledge.

together they shoveled sand into a sandcastle mould, the boy gibbering away, his dad nodding in apparent understanding. the boy was on his knees in the sand, oblivious to the fact that he was getting damp sand all over his clothes and into his shoes. he added sand to the mould steadily, not seeming to mind when he missed and ended up throwing the sand back into the sandbox instead. his dad put in sand every once in a while, just enough to keep his little boss happy while staying subordinate.

when the mould filled up, they patted the sand down to make sure it was compact and then added more sand, repeating the process until the top was level. then with a jubilant "one, two THREE!" they turned the mould over. the dad eased the mould off the sandcastle while the boy hit the top of the mould with his shovel to make sure all the sand got out.

it was a perfect sandcastle: its ridges were perfectly defined, the sides were smooth, and it stood straight up, not crumbling to one side like the sandcastles in this sandbox usually did. the boy smiled at his dad. "well, ezra," his dad said. "that was fun, but i have to get going now." the boy's smile drooped a little, but he gave his dad a hug and a kiss before he left.

"wow, ezra," i said, walking up to him. "that's some sandcastle. it looks amazing!" and i meant it. i wasn't doling out the obligatory praise that smudges of paint on paper and unidentifiable blobs of playdoh usually got. he didn't look at me, but half-smiled at the sandcastle.

a girl climbed into the sandbox, her foot narrowly missing the sandcastle. "be careful, jori!" i exclaimed, rushing to put a protective hand between her flailing limbs and the magnificent monument. "we don't want to hurt the sandcastle ezra worked so hard to build with his dad."

the boy didn't seem to notice my efforts, but continued to contemplate the sandcastle with satisfaction, waving his shovel in the air gently and unconcernedly. i wondered what he was thinking. maybe he was remembering that he had built the sandcastle with his dad. or maybe he was just admiring it's sharp corners and clean nooks. i hoped he would be okay when it got destroyed, as it was bound to be eventually. pity though, it's such a beautiful -

"thwack, thwack, thwack!" ezra completely demolished the sandcastle with his shovel, leveling the ground for good measure. then he smiled at me, dropped his shovel, and climbed out of the sandbox.