“The Sandbox”

By Gavin Welcher

“Where’s Dad?” asked Dylan, Tyler’s brother. The brothers sat in the sandbox, at the local playground. Tyler was building a magnificent sandcastle, and Dylan was playing with his toy cars. Tyler wanted to make his sandcastle amazing, so he scooped up some sand with his plastic shovel and put it into a little pail. He filled up the little bucket, and flipped it over. He patted the top of the pail to make the sand inside more sturdy, and then he slowly lifted the pail off the ground, revealing a guard tower. Tyler was going to build four of these, each guarding a corner of his great utopia. He would make the towers, and fill in the space between them with grand walls that will scare invaders away and show the world the power of Tyler and his kingdom of sand.

“He said he would be here later, he just had to take care of some things somewhere,”  Tyler said, scooping more sand.

Dylan made pathways in the sand, to resemble the streets of their little town. He was using two specific cars, a blue car and a red car. He moved the blue car around the streets with care, careful not to mess up the paths. He moved the red car with speed, crashing into things and ruining the sand streets. 

When Tyler’s parents had told him they were going to go to the park today, he was so excited. They had just gotten a brand new car, and Tyler loved it. It had a tablet installed on the backs of the driver side and passenger side seats, and he always played hangman. In the back of the car was a fresh new suit for little Tyler, and he was so excited to wear it next weekend.

“Why’s mom sad?” Dylan asked. Tyler looked up from his sand scooping to find his mother, who was sitting in her normal seat on a bench a little ways away. She was scrolling through something on her phone. She had bags under her eyes and her hair was a mess. 

“Today’s just not a good day for Mom,” Tyler assumed. He thought about what she could be looking at on her phone, but after a few moments decided it wasn’t that important, gave up, and went back to scooping sand. He flipped the bucket over and formed his second great tower. His kingdom is going to be so epic!

Dylan decided to expand his little city of roads, and decided to include the school. He drew a big box with his finger in the sand, and made streets branching off of it. “When does third grade start again?” he asked.

“Next week,” Tyler responded, confused. “We just went and got school supplies a couple weeks ago.”

“Oh yeah,” Dylan said, remembering. He looked towards the sky, and back at his cars. He suddenly threw his red car away into the wood chips. Tyler looked up at his brother, confused at his sudden outburst. Dylan sighed and went to retrieve his car. While he was gone, Tyler looked around the park. He saw kids chasing each other, he saw some kids climbing across the monkey bars, some were swinging and others were laughing. He saw their parents sitting on their own benches, looking at their phones and reading books. Tyler wonders why no one else is using the sandbox.

Dylan hops back into the sandbox with a thump, sending sand everywhere, ruining some of Dylan’s streets and spraying Tyler.

“Watch it!” Tyler yelled at his brother. Dylan was close to knocking down the sandcastle, and Tyler was afraid he might do it anyway.

“Sorry Tyler,” Dylan says as he starts to draw his streets again. The brothers sat in silence for a few minutes, as they couldn’t find anything particular to talk about.

“Have you ever wondered why we get sad?” Dylan asks, ripping the silence between them apart.

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, do you ever think about why we get sad?”

Tyler thought about this for a moment. “Because we lose something, right?” He scooped more sand and created his third guard tower.

“Because we can’t let go,” Dylan says, making his red car drive in circles doing donuts.

“I’m not sure what that means,” Tyler said quietly, preparing to finish building his fourth tower.

“That woman,” Dylan says, pointing at a bench not too far away, “she’s sad. She lost someone. She’s fiddling with her wedding ring.”

Sure enough, when Tyler looked at the sad woman, she was looking down at her hand, moving her ring up and down.

“She can’t let go,” Dylan says again.

Tyler watched the woman for a moment and saw a tear fall down her cheek. “She doesn’t want to let go.”

“This world is unforgiving. Not many people get second chances.” Dylan said, moving his red car behind the blue car. The blue car is still careful with its driving, but the red car is impatient.

Tyler started to build his grand wall. “Why does that matter?” he asks as he pats down sand around his castle.

“There,” Dylan says, pointing at another bench. “That woman there, she’s sad too. Her left eye is dark. It’s bruised. Her husband hits her. She’s at the park today to let her daughter or son escape the house. She wants her kid to be happy. She knows bringing them here won’t go very well later today. But at least they’re here, having fun. Even if it’s only temporary,”

Dylan went back to playing with his toy cars. He looked up and noticed Tyler was staring at him, confused.

“How do you know all that?”

“I don’t know. I think it’s obvious.”

The boys fell back into what seemed to be an endless silence. It was broken when Tyler noticed his dad was finally at the park, with their brand new car parked just beyond his parents in the parking lot. Tyler waved at his dad. He smiled and waved back.

Tyler was nearly finished with his sandcastle. All he needed to do was-

“Boom!” Dylan yelled as he crashed his toy cars into the south eastern guard tower. Tyler couldn't believe what his brother just did. He was working so hard on his kingdom. He was so excited to see it complete. He was almost done.

“What the heck Dylan?” Tyler shouted. “I was almost done!”

“It’s okay Tyler you can just make it again.”

“What’s the point if you’re just going to knock it down again!”

“I won’t knock it down, I promise.”

Tyler sat in the sandbox for a moment to recollect his thoughts. Why has the world been so against him lately? His parents haven’t been happy lately, and they keep bringing him to this weird place with a doctor and toys and-

“Calm down Tyler, really,” Dylan said patting his brother on the shoulder. “Some kid would have ruined it anyway.”

“Leave me alone! Tyler yelled. Dylan looked over at their parents. They weren’t at the bench anymore. He looked around some more and saw that they were standing with some other parents. They were hugging each other.

With his parents gone and talking with friends that meant that they would have to stay longer. Tyler pouted and sat back down, with his small arms crossed. He turned away from his brother and looked in the other direction. “Go away!” Tyler yelled.

Dylan looked at his brother and sighed. He set his tiny toy cars, the ones that were blue and red, into the sand.

 Tyler looked up from his pouting and looked around for Dylan. He disappeared. “Dylan?” he called out. “Dylan!” he called out again. He turned his head back towards where he was looking before. Where did he go? Wasn’t he just here? He has to give his brother credit, when Tyler wanted to be left alone, Dylan left him alone. Suddenly, Dylan was right back where he was sitting in the sand before he got up to leave.

“Mom and Dad said that we’re gonna go soon,” Dylan said as Tyler turned around.

“Aw man I wanted to go now!”

“Too bad, I’m still enjoying my time here!” Dylan said, picking up his cars again. 

With his castle destroyed and torn to the ground, his giant guard towers having failed their duty, and his grand wall turned to dust, Tyler didn’t know how to spend his time. He sat and watched his brother move around his cars. Were they racing? Tyler really didn’t know. “Hey what are you playing?” he asked.

“City,” Dylan responded. He holds up the blue car. “That’s me,” he says. Dylan then goes on to show Tyler that he likes being a safe driver, and a cautious driver, while the other red car is a mean driver, an angry driver, and that it’s looking for the blue car to crush and destroy. 

“So it’s like a game of cat and mouse?” Tyler asks.

“Kind of like a game of cat and mouse,” Dylan says, “but with cars!”

The sky started to darken while Dylan talked about his cars, and Tyler looked up to greet the grumpy sky. The clouds were dark and looked pretty nasty, while some clouds looked lighter and less terrifying. Tyler looked around the playground again, and tried to find the mother with the daughter or son that was playing here. He couldn’t find her. She must have left with her kid. He silently wishes them luck, and then returns to looking around. Tyler’s attention isn’t really that great.

“Tyler?” Dylan says, knocking Tyler out of a long stare. “Did you hear me?”

“What?”

“Did you hear what I said?”

“What did you say?”

“I asked about where Mom and Dad have started taking you.”

Tyler remembered that his mother and father have been taking him to a weird building with sometimes other kids, but other times it is just a weird building with a creepy doctor woman who tries to talk to him but he really just doesn’t want to talk to her. “Therapy, I think it’s called,” Tyler said, trying to remember what he does there. “I don’t like it very much.”

“What do you do there?” Dylan asks, curious.

“The doctor lady tries to make me talk about myself. She tries to help me she says, but I don’t think she’s helping. I think she’s a creepy scary lady!”

“Why do you think the doctor lady isn’t helping?”

“Because she keeps asking me questions like, ‘would you like to talk about that?’ or, ‘have you kept up on your journal entries?’ or, ‘have you had any strange dreams lately?’” 

Dylan looked at his brother and shook his head. “You know she’s trying to help, right?”

“No, she’s not! She’s creepy and scary!”

“What’s so creepy and scary about her?”

“She...She.. Well, she…” Tyler sat in defeat while he thought about this. He hasn’t really been given a reason to hate this woman, except that he just does. He hasn’t been going there very long, just a few weeks, but when he first walked inside the building for the first time, he didn’t feel good. It didn’t feel like a place Tyler would want to be in. So he pouted and cried and told his Mom he wanted to go home, and that he doesn’t like it here. But all she said to him was that this place is important, and that Doctor H is going to help him feel better and help him talk about whatever is on his mind. Tyler’s Dad didn’t say much either. All he said to him was that they’ll be home soon, and that they could get ice cream on the way back, or go out for dinner. Neither parent was really much help. No one was helping Tyler, but everyone thought that they were.

“I don’t like going to therapy,” Tyler said to Dylan. “I don’t like going, and everyone treats me like I’m just some kid that needs to talk about my feelings and crap!”

Dylan was puzzled by this. “Why would you turn down help that they’re trying to give?”

Thunder cracked in the distance. Tyler looked around and saw parents getting up to find their kids. His mom and dad will come looking soon. 

“We have to go, Dylan,” Tyler says. He starts to climb outside of the sandbox.

“But I’m not finished making my city!” Dylan said back. Tyler turned back towards the sandbox, climbed back in, and then moved his hand across the sand where Dylan’s mini city had been. 

“The rain would have ruined it anyway,” Tyler said back. Dylan jumped up and shoved his brother.

“Tyler!” called someone in the distance. His mother. Rain drops started to fall from the sky. A light sprinkle. The playground was becoming a barren wasteland, full of only playground equipment, wood chips, and a creaky swing. Kids and their parents walked to their cars, shielding their heads from the rain. Dylan never understood why people didn’t like rain very much, it didn’t affect them much. It was just water. Dylan looked at the sky and let the sprinkles splash against his face.

“We have to go now,” said Tyler. He was walking away from the sandbox. His sandcastle lay in ruins, drops of water hitting its burial site. Dylan stayed in the sandbox, holding his toy cars. 

“Tyler,” Dylan called out. “Wait just a minute.”

Tyler turned, once again, back towards the sandbox. It seemed no matter what he did today, he always ended up back at this pit of sand. He just wanted to go home. Maybe have some dinosaur nuggets, maybe some juice. There was a new episode of his favorite show on tonight. The trees moved with the wind, shaking water off of its leaves. The light sprinkle now became a quiet pour. Tyler wiped the rain drops out of his eyes.

“We need to go! Mom is looking for us!”

“Don’t let this world bring you down Tyler. Don’t let yourself give up. Live life the way you want to live it,” Dylan said, racing his cars against one another. Dylan ignored the rain hitting his head, his shoulders, his clothing. He was racing his cars. He was happy. “Don’t expect everything to go your way. This world is unforgiving, afterall.”

Dylan then rammed his cars together, making a huge BOOM sound as he did. The cars crashed together, and fell into the sand. Tyler’s sandcastle fell, and all that remained of his once grand kingdom was a pile of sand. Dylan laughed.

“Tyler!” Tyler’s mom called. “Where are you?”

“Coming!” he yelled back, finally walking away from the sandbox. He was done with it. Done with the sandcastle. Done with everything. On his walk back to his parents brand new car, with his new suit in the back, he thought about what Dylan said. It echoed in his head. This world is unforgiving, afterall. This world is unforgiving. 

Live life the way you want to live it. 

“Tyler I was worried about you!” Tyler’s mom said as he finally reached the car. She held out her umbrella so they could both walk under. Tyler had forgotten it was raining. Tyler’s attention isn’t really that great.

“Here, hold this,” his mother said as she handed the umbrella off to his father. She opened the car door and lifted Tyler inside, grabbing a towel and wiping his hair dry, as much as she could anyway. Tyler was shivering, so she grabbed a blanket from the back and wrapped it around him. After the family had all gotten into the car, the clouds just couldn’t hold back anymore. Thunder boomed loudly, and rain fell fast. Tyler’s dad started the car and turned on the heat. The windshield wipers were on full power.

“What were you doing out there buddy?” Tyler’s dad asked. 

“I was in the sandbox, making a huge sandcastle! It had guard towers and an awesome wall and it would have been so good at defending if Dylan hadn’t knocked it down.” Tyler’s parents went silent. They looked at each other. Tyler’s mom started to cry. Tyler looked next to him, and saw that the seat was empty. He looked outside the car, but he couldn’t see much through the thick rain. “Where’s Dylan?” he asked.

His mother started to cry, and her tears mixed with the rain that was just falling on her. Tyler was confused.

Tyler’s dad took a moment to collect himself, then turned to talk to his son. “Tyler, you know how sensitive that subject is to your mother. To all of us.”

Tyler didn’t understand. What subject? Why was his mom crying? Where was Dylan? It was raining super hard out, and he was still out there. Tyler knew he didn’t mind the rain, but it was time to go and he wasn’t anywhere to be found.

Tyler’s mother looked out her window and wiped her nose. She took out her phone and started scrolling through pictures from her camera roll. They were pictures of her family. The four of them.

The rain started to get calmer. The sky wasn’t as dark as it once was, and the clouds had parted. The rain became a drizzle, and then a light mist.

“Well, at least it didn’t last long!” Tyler’s dad said, trying to lighten the mood. The last few weeks weren’t the easiest for Tyler’s family.

The rain started to clear up. The thick blanket that was just covering the playground was now lifted, revealing a colorful structure that sat innocently beneath the trees. 

Suddenly, Tyler remembered. He remembered why his mom was sad. He remembered why he was going to the creepy therapist building. He remembered why they got a new car.

Tyler’s dad put his hand on his wife’s shoulder. “We’ll be home soon, honey, don’t worry.” She looked back at him and nodded. She was scared for the ride home.

Tyler looked back at where he was playing, where he was building his grand sandcastle. Where Dylan had been playing with his toy cars.

The sandbox was empty.