A Father’s Day Tale

Midge took his daughter, Mia, to the seaside so they could play on the beach, build sandcastles and eat too much ice cream. They didn’t want to eat the sand which is there, nor sit on their ice creams but Mia ended up doing both. Having a picnic on the beach can be hazardous especially when the wind picks up and what it picks up is sand which like everything that goes up, comes down – in this case, on the sandwiches.

And when you are not careful with the cone in your hand its not difficult to dislodge the ice cream scoops which sit gracefully in the circle of the cone but not securely. And as all beach people know, getting up and down off a beach blanket can be awkward at the best of times but when you are attempting to cover the sandwiches and keep your ice cream in your hand (and off the sand) at the same time, from a sedantary position, something is likely to give.

Involuntarily Mia gave the ice cream [up] to the beach towel and promptly sat on it. Its one thing to lose the connection between cone and scoop and another to crown an inglorious moment with a wet bum and unlicked ice cream, together with an ice cream adorned beach towel. Mia was unhappy and made no bones about expressing her displeasure. Its doubtful this was the worst day of her life up till now and even more unlikely it would not be uptaged by some much more consequential incident in her future.

But to her this was, evidently, a disaster of incalculable misfortune that ought to have elicited gasps of horror from co-existing beach bums yet hardly a head was turned and no gasps, if there were any, were audible. Midge obviously didn’t appreciate the gravity of the situation. Maybe the muted laugh was one of heightened anxiety but alas, his eyes indicated quite the opposite to the chagrin of Mia who immediately withdrew her previous pledge of devotion and declaration of familial solidarity.

This became the turning point for their seaside adventure with Mia declaring not only the day to be over but her life to have been devalued to a point it was beyond recovery. And so Midge packed up their belongings and headed back to the car with Mia in tow and sobs delivered in erratic yet persistent fashion. Apparently she didn’t want the ice cream anyway and the sandwiches were not to her taste, the laughter from those still enjoying the beach was an affront to her sense of grievance and Midge was persona non grata.

Yet Mia was not open to the suggestion that they should call it a day and go home. Stoically she gathered her wits and reconsidered her previous assertion that the day was ruined. It would seem there was hope yet of recovering the unmitigated disaster though all she could offer were two puppy dog eyes waiting for Midge to come up with a suggestion. Remarkably the whole sorry debacle was easily redeemed with a bag of chips and bottle of pop.

And so they sat on a bench taking in the view and afterwards Mia went for a paddle in the sea. They went back to the car and rescued the beach ball to enjoy half an hour on the beach, passing and kicking the ball to each other with squeals and giggles emenating from the little girl who not long before was mortified beyond consolation. If Midge had any reservations about the success of the day out they were wiped away by Mia’s exhuberant proclamations of unparalleled joy and unreserved love.

The ride home was filled with singing, laughter and sharing the highlights of the day. Mia’s recollection would henceforth be dominated by the memory of eating chips and drinking pop with her father. But what of the dropped ice cream upon which she sat? Well that was a mere outtake that would long be considered the funniest thing that ever happened to her.