Too Many Questions
The child busily concentrated on his sandcastle, patting more here, smoothing there, making the moat a little deeper. 'There,' he thought to himself, 'now my castle is finished.' He sat and admired it and looked at his mother, wanting to show it to her, but she was busy reading her book. She was always reading books, but not to him. He looked back to his castle and frowned, balling up his little fist. Jumping to his feet he stomped on his creation, yelling and growling like a powerful monster.
His noise had the desired effect. "Takeo, stop that noise! Mommy's trying to read her book," his mother rebuked him. "Sit down and play quietly like a good boy."
"Sorry Mommy." Takeo watched her turn back to her book and tried to stick his fist into his mouth. After a few failed tries, he gave up and padded quietly to his mother. Patting her shoulder with his wet hand he didn't miss the look of irritation that crossed her face when she turned to face him.
"What do you want, Takeo?" she asked crossly.
"Can I go in the water?"
"I told you, Mommy's busy. If you play quietly and stop bothering me, we will go in the water later, okay?"
"Okay." Takeo went back to the site of his ruined castle and sat down, bored. He tried the fist in the mouth experiment again, but sand had stuck to the wet skin and it wasn't as fun anymore. Longingly, he looked at the older kids playing in the water and sighed, turning it into a motorboat sound. Suddenly he spied a strange figure walking along the sand near the edge of the water. His head was down and he looked like he was carrying his shoes. Curious, Takeo looked closer and wondered why he was not in shorts like everyone else at the beach.
Stealing a glance at his mother to make sure she was occupied, he quietly stood up and stole away to where the figure had seated himself on the sand. Takeo approached him from behind and saw the long brown braid down the stranger's back. As he got closer, he suddenly remembered his mother's admonishment to never talk to strangers and looked back at her. She hadn't even noticed he was gone and was still deep in her book.
He looked back at the figure and the braid drew his attention again. Well, if the man was a stranger, he was probably nice. Bad men can't have hair that long, his five-year-old mind reasoned. Slowly, he reached out to the tantalizing length and gave it a tug.
"Hey!" the figure exclaimed, whirling around. Takeo found himself in the stranger's tight grasp and prepared to scream his loudest. His preparation was cut short when the stranger released him. "Oh, it's just a kid. Get lost."
Now more curious than ever, Takeo circled around to face the man who had returned to gazing out to sea after making sure his braid was unharmed. He studied him again, noticing he wore dark sunglasses like this mother did sometimes and his shirt had a really weird thing on top. "Are you a girl?" he asked after a few moments of intense study.
"No. Where's your mom, kid?"
"Over there." Takeo pointed to his mother under the umbrella, still engrossed in her book.
"Well, ya better get back before she notices you're gone. Go on, scram!" he added when the boy did not move.
"Are you a Oz soldier?"
"What? No. Now, go away."
"Mommy says Oz soldiers are bad and the only thing worse are Gundam pilots."
"Does she? Hm." Duo was silent for a moment, looking back at the boy. He was wearing plastic kid sandals and swim trunks that reached almost below his knees. He had the standard kid's potbelly and a short haircut, so short it stuck up on top. "Hey, kid, what's your name?"
"Takeo!" he exclaimed loudly, holding his fists up in the air for emphasis. "Now you have to tell me your name," he proclaimed.
"My name is Duo," Duo said and solemnly extended his hand. Takeo shook it with equal solemnity.
"Now we are not strangers!" He stood expectantly, not knowing what to do next and tried putting his other fist in his mouth.
"I guess not," Duo agreed, finding himself charmed by the small person.
"Will you take me to the water?" Takeo asked suddenly.
"I don't think that's such a good idea, kid. I don't think your mom would like that." Duo glanced over his shoulder at the woman Takeo had pointed out as his mother. She was still reading her book.
"Are you here with your mommy?"
"No, I'm here by myself."
"Where's your mommy?"
"I don't have a mom anymore."
"How come?"
"Boy, you sure do ask a lot of questions. She went away," Duo said after a moment.
"Oh. Like my daddy. Mommy said he went away too."
"Did she tell you where?"
"She said Oz took him."
"Oz?"
Takeo nodded seriously and leaned in closer, his head almost touching Duo's. "My daddy works for Oz," the boy whispered, barely above the sound of the pounding surf.
Duo felt a shock go through him and he leaned back from the child. 'I wonder...' "Do you know your daddy's name?"
"Daddy!"
Duo shook his head wryly and took his sunglasses off to massage his eyes. "Kid, you are something else, you know that?" They regarded each other silently for a few moments, the child of the Oz soldier and the Gundam pilot. Finally Duo asked, "Does your mommy work for Oz?"
Takeo shook his head again. "No. Mommy hates Oz. She says they took Daddy away." The boy looked back at his mother under the umbrella. "She's sad sometimes. I saw her crying one time."
"When you see your mom sad, you need to be tough. Boys don't cry, ok?" Duo put his sunglasses back on and looked back out at the endless water.
"Okay," he heard the boy echo. Takeo decided he was tired of standing and plopped down next to his new friend. "I like to make sand castles. Do you?"
"I don't know. I've never made one," Duo answered distantly.
"You never made a castle?" Takeo asked, incredulous. "I made one, but then I messed it up."
"Sounds familiar. I mess up lots of stuff."
"Do you have a girlfriend?"
"No. I don't have the time these days. How about you, short man?"
"Yuck! Girls are icky!" Takeo exclaimed, sticking his tongue out to illustrate his distaste.
"Oh, they won't stay icky for long," Duo mused, smiling at the boy's expression.
Changing the subject once again, Takeo asked, "Are you a Gundam pilot?"
"Yes. But it's a secret, okay?" Duo looked sharply at the youngster, glad to see him nod agreement.
"I want to be a Gundam pilot. So I can fight Oz and get Daddy back for Mommy," Takeo proclaimed.
"One day we might not need Gundams or their pilots. Keep that in mind."
"I know," the child said, secure that one-day he would pilot one of those fantastic weapons and get his daddy back, no matter what his friend said. He looked back at his mom and saw her starting to put her book away. "Uh oh, I hafta go."
He stood up and carefully wiped the sand from his bottom. "Mommy's going to take me to the water now." He put his hand out to Duo. "It was nice talking to you, Duo."
Duo shook the small hand. "Nice talking to you too, Takeo. Have fun in the water with your mom."
Takeo nodded and raced off through the sand to his mother who was only now starting to realize her son had wandered away. Duo watched them as she picked him and looked around the beach for anyone suspicious and lightly scolded her son. He sighed and hugged his knees to his chest, rocking slightly in the warm sand, listening to the waves and the calling of the sea birds.
After a while, he noticed the sun was lower in the sky and most of the people on the beach were gone, including his little friend and his mother. With a joint-popping stretch, Shinigami rose and walked slowly back to his Gundam.