Monsters
by ©Richard Budig, 1999


“Gee, Dad, that was really scary,” he said
as we drove home from the beach that day.
“Scary?” I said.  “I didn’t know it scared you.”
“Yeah,” he said, dragging out the word,
“I was afraid he’d get me with his pincher.”
So we drove the 50 miles home talking
about the sand crab that found us too near
his soggy, sandy hideout at water’s edge.
He scrabbled out sideways flailing his big claw,
challenging us according to ancient codes
written into his genetic wiring diagram.
We retreated in what I thought a gracious move
but my son must have seen it differently,
and suddenly, I was taken back to a time
when I, too, had sallied out confidently
only to find my path blocked by monsters.