Family Ties

He climbed under the covers on the couch, and I did the same on my cot.

He yawned and checked his watch.

“You set an alarm?” he asked.

“No. My stupid body will probably wake me up at five thirty. Eastern, of course.”

“Try not to wake me when it does,” he said with a laugh. His watch beeped as he set an alarm for himself.

Both of us were tired, so we didn’t chit-chat much. The night was cool, but a couple of blankets were more than enough to keep me warm. The cot would take some getting used to, though. Still, it was clean and dry, as promised.

Sure enough, I woke up disgustingly early. I rolled over and tried to go back to sleep, but I gave up after an hour or so. I opened my suitcase by feel and found my running clothes. I moved as quietly as I could, but the cot creaked when I sat down to tie my shoes.

“You too?” Danny said.

“Sorry. Did I wake you?”

“No. Been awake about an hour, trying to go back to sleep.” His watch beeped as he pressed buttons.

“I’m going for a run,” I said.

“Wait up.

“Um… you don’t have to. I won’t get lost or anything. Two blocks down, hit the beach, turn right. I saw a park when we were driving in last night.

“Depends.” I began stretching.

“What I’ve got going on in my head. Yesterday I was thinking about what I wanted to say to your dad.”

“So, how far’d you run?”

“Twelve, thirteen miles.”

“Normal is probably eight or nine.”

“How ’bout we do a half-normal day? Maybe a third-normal?”

“For you,” I said magnanimously, “anything.

He laughed and tied his shoes. Then he began stretching too. We slipped

out the screen door when he was ready.

Danny was a good running companion. He was taller than me and had longer legs, but he wasn’t used to running, so he was happy to go at my pace.

His watch beeped after half an hour.

“Three miles and change,” I said. “You wanna go for another three?”

“You’re a bad influence,” he puffed, but kept going.

The park had a decent running path that paralleled the beach. I could see exercise bars and a playground in the predawn light.

“You surf?” Danny asked.

“Uh-uh. You do, though. Right?”

“Yeah. Grew up on the waves. When we lived in Hawaii.”

“How about Christy?”

“She learned in Hawaii too. The second time Dad was there. I was in college.”

“Birdy’s good at anything she does. She’s fearless.”

I nodded and we fell silent. Danny managed to make it to an hour before he slowed to a walk.