Short Stories

Sandcastles

Sandcastles

"Ms. Haley!"

I quickly spun on my heel at the sound of the small squeaking voice. My eyes were met with the dazzled appearance of a disheveled looking seven-year-old sprinting in my direction. Molly had tears welling up in her eyes and a thick layer of dirt coated her bright purple shorts.

Honestly, how much trouble could seven year olds get into?

"Ms. Haley!" She cried again.

I bent down, my knees giving a loud crack in protest, and opened my arms. Molly immediately wrapped her short chubby arms around my neck and buried her head into my shoulder. I managed to straighten myself out, still holding a sobbing Molly in my arms.

"What happened, Molly?" I asked, running my fingers through her tangled red hair. "Why are you crying?"

Molly looked up at me, her big blue eyes brimming with tears. I quickly swiped them away and gave her my warmest smile. I rubbed soothing circles on her back and whispered reassuring words into her ear.

"He was being mean, Ms. Haley!" Molly hiccupped, rubbing her eyes. "I was just trying to build a sandcastle by the river and h—he jumped on it! I hate Ryan! He's—he's just a big fluffy bugger monster!"

I couldn't help but giggle at her chose of swear words. Molly was definitely one of the most creative children in my group of camp kids. She also had one of the biggest potty mouths I had heard in a while. She came up with new "child swears" everyday and was quickly becoming my biggest source of amusement.

"Well, you know what?" I whispered towards her.

"What?" Molly asked.

"We are going to march down to the river and force Ryan to apologize to you, okay?"

"We can't do that!"

"And why not?" I asked.

Molly looked at me like I was crazy. "Because he is a bully! I don't want him to bully you too, Ms. Haley!"

These were the times that I was glad I became a camp counselor. The job had some serious ups and downs. The relationships I formed with my campers were definitely some of the better outcomes and it definitely helped that most of them were adorable little troublemakers…like Molly.

"I'll be with you the whole time." I placed her back on the ground and took her tiny freckled hand in mine. "I'll even walk with you down there. You won't be alone."

Molly thought about it for a moment and then perked up. She wiped the dried mud off of her purple shorts and began tugging my hand as we made or way back down to the river. A smile broke out onto her face and I knew nothing good could possibly come out of it.

I kept walking with her anyways.

"I'm going to make Ryan wish he never jumped on my princess castle!" Molly shouted, triumphantly. "I am going to lock him in the dungeon! No! I am going to lock his fluffy bugger monster butt in the tower! The tower is so much worse than the dungeon!"

"Let's not go crazy, Molly." I laughed.

Molly smiled toothlessly at me and continued skipping down the pathway. Kids could be so bipolar sometimes. I didn't get how she could be bawling her eyes out one minute and be skipping the next.

They were always so carefree.

It didn't take us long to find Ryan when we finally made it to the river. He was obviously the little boy trying to fix up what looked like a destroyed princess castle. I watched as his small hands dug into the sand, building up the walls until they were as tall as his knees.