Agony of the male foot

Timothy finally reached the end of high school. With his graduation now in the past, he begins looks forward to the end of summer when he heads off to college. But before he and his family start worrying about college preparation, Tim and his mother head down to the shore to celebrate. They head for Tim’s aunts vacation house where they will celebrate with her and his five year old cousin.

Tim was wearing a blue polo shirt with black kaki shorts, brown leather flip flops, and some sunglasses over his eyes. With a past in athletics, like track and baseball, he has a healthy physic. Tim was clean shaven and wearing a not very expensive, but not very cheap cologne that at times got the attention of females. But in Tim’s future was more than just celebration and joy. Little did Tim know, he was in for trouble.

They arrived at the aunts house by mid morning, as they had left their city home while it was still dark. It was a two story house with enough room to house four with a stone covered driveway. There was the master bedroom, the cousins room, and a guest room. Both Tim’s mom and aunt’s husbands were busy with work and would arrive for the celebration later in the evening. Everyone greeted and hugged as Tim and his mother entered the home. While his folks talked, Tim gave the house a once over taking his bag to his cousin’s room, as they places a futon in there for Tim to sleep on. Both Tim and his cousin’s had a good relationship, but what was going to be would not expected by Tim.

Tim placed his suitcase on wheels down in the room and decided he was going to head for the beach to take a walk. Right as he got to the door his mom stopped him.
“Where do you think you’re going?” asked Tim’s mom.
“To the beach,” replied Tim. “I want to check out what’s around.”
“You mean who’s around. But you can’t son because I need you to stay here and watch your cousin Sam.”
“Oh come on. Who comes to the shore to baby sit? Why can’t you do it?”
“Because your Aunt and I are going off the island to do a bit of shopping. It shouldn’t take long.” said Tim’s mother and with that she and her Aunt left the house, jumped in the car and drove off to their destination.

Tim kicked his flip flops off in anger. They thudded up against the wall and feel to the ground one on top the other. Tim then walked over to the couch and flopped down on it. Sam was sitting on the adjacent sofa feeling a bit upset.
“Do you not like me?” asked Sam in a low tone.
“What?” replied Tim. “No I like you, but I wanted to feel the breeze on the beach, see what the town has to offer in entertainment. No offense, but I didn’t want to sit in all day.”
“But you aren’t acting happy to be here with me.”
“Look I’m sorry, can I make it up to you?”
“Yes actually,” said Sam. “Let me stomp on your foot.”
“Stomp on my foot?” said Tim puzzled. “Why that?”
“I don’t know,” said Sam. “It seems like a good pay back.”

Tim found the request to be a bit unusual, but then figured it could be worse. Sam could have made him do something more embarrassing. Besides, how hard could a five year old stomp anyway. It wouldn’t really hurt. Tim didn’t know that Sam’s request was based on a sight he had a seen a year before during a family gathering when Tim and his girlfriend at the time had a disagreement and she stomped on Tim’s foot. Sam remembered Tim’s reaction to it and wanted to see it again.
“Alright come stomp on my foot.” said Tim as he sat up off the couch and laid his foot flat on the floor.”
“Not that way.” said Sam as he stood up on the couch in his sandals. Sam’s mom usually yelled at him for wearing footwear on the couch, but she wasn’t home to say otherwise.
“Why not?”
“My payback my rules. Stand up over here.” pointing to the center point between the two couches.
“Fine.” said Tim reluctantly. He got up and moved to the center point placing his foot out in front and put his arms on his hips staring at Sam. Sam didn’t move from the couch. “Wait you aren’t doing it from there are you?” Sam hesitated before he answered.
“No of course not.” He began to climb down when he suddenly pointed at the door saying “Is that mom?”
“What already? They just left.” said Tim looking towards to the door. In that moment Sam jumped off the couch as high as he could and planted both his sandaled covered feet onto of Tim’s bare right foot.
“YEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!” shouted Tim as his snatched his foot up into his hands and began to hop up and down in pain. Sam was delighted by the sight of his cousin hopping around while clutching his sore foot in his hands. “OOWWWWW! What the hell man?!”
“I wanted to stomp on your foot, you said yes and now we are even.” said Sam with a smile on his face.
“Even?” said Tim no longer hopping but still clutching his foot in his hands. “This isn’t even. This was unnecessary.”

Then without warning Tim darted towards Sam. Sam quickly ran out of the way, resulting in Tim running into the couch, but his athletic background allowed him to simple jump over the couch with ease. Sam raced off towards the kitchen area, but Tim caught up and grabbed him lifting him in the air and sitting him down on the counter top island. Sam was scared thinking Tim was going to do something bad to him.

Tim paced back and forth occasionally to stop and look at Sam or even look at his own toes as he wiggled them. Sam could see they had turned red. But when Tim finally turned and spoke, he didn’t seem mad at all.
“You know,” began Tim. “That took real guts. I respect that.”
“So you aren’t going to hurt me?” asked Sam.
“Hurt you?” Of course I’m going to hurt you, but I just wanted to let you know that I respect what you did. But now I’m going to have to hurt your foot in return. But I haven’t figured out how yet.” Sam looked around and saw a frying pan sitting on the counter. He picked it up and showed it off to Tim.
“What about this?” he asked. Tim looked and smiled a bit.
“That would work perfectly.” Tim then walked over to take up off his cousin. In a split second decision, Sam dropped the pan right as Tim was about to take it off him and watched as it came down hard on Tim’s already injured right barefoot, but closer to the toes. Tim’s eyes widened as the pan landed on his foot and cried aloud as he grasped his foot in his hands once more to hop around in pain. “OWWW OOOOHHH OOOOOOOO OOOOWWW OUCH!” Tim said repeatedly as he hopped around the kitchen. Sam jumped off the counter top and ran out of the kitchen towards the stairs. Before he ascended them, he looked back towards the kitchen and saw Tim still hopping while holding his really sore foot in his hands ‘OCHING and OUCHING’. Sam just went into his room and shut the door and locked it, then hid under his bed sheets.

About a half hour later, Sam emerged from his room. All was quiet in the house now. Sam quietly walked from his room looking behind around thinking Tim was going to surprise him at any moment. When Sam reached the balcony, he looked down and saw Tim lying on the couch. Tim was laying on the couch facing away from Sam with his right foot crossed over his left knee. Sam could see Tim was holding his right foot in his hands rubbing and massaging it as he laid quietly. Sam made his way down the stairs as quietly as he could, thinking Tim was going to jump up any second to come after him, but Tim never did. He continued to lay there even when Sam came into the living room and sat down on the adjacent couch. Tim never looked over at him. He just remained laying there quietly. He looked sad and in deep though. Sam wasn’t sure what to say about everything, but felt he needed to break the tension.
“I’m sorry.” said Sam. Tim still didn’t turn his head, but answered back.
“No, I’m sorry,” he said still staring in the distance while massaging his foot. “I should not have been mean to you and because I was I got what I deserved.” Sam was surprised by this, but was glad to hear it.
“Thanks. How about we start over?”
“Actually, I think just for you I’ll hurt my foot one more time.” said Tim as he let go of his foot and propped himself up from the couch. Sam could see the difference in color between Tim’s feet. Tim’s right foot was still very red. When Tim stood up, he turned back to the couch and with his left foot, he gave the couch a swift kick. “OOOOOWWWWWWWWW!” cried Tim as he grabbed his left foot in his hands and began to jump up and down in pain. Tim turned around so Sam could see his face, and noticed Sam was unusually delighted by the sight. He wasn’t sure why but figured if this would make them friends again it was worth it.

Soon Tim stopped hopping and sat back down on the couch still holding his left foot. He placed it down on the floor for a moment and saw that both feet matched again in that each foot was very red from their injuries. Tim began to wiggle his toes then looked up and smiled at Sam.
“Well, they will sting for a while. What say that we get reacquainted by going to the beach?” asked Tim.
“We aren’t aloud to leave the house.” said Sam. “My mom told me that.”
“Well,” started Tim. “She isn’t here and neither is my mom. I’ll just leave a note and we can go. Grab your school bag so we have something to put our sandals in.”
“Ok.” said Sam and happily ran back to his room to get his bag.

It was a nice day to go for a walk on the beach. The sun was out, a cool breeze blew, and it was still early enough that not many people were on the beach. And luckily the beach was only a block away from their home. Tim and Sam removed their sandals and flip flops as they arrived and placed them in the bag. The sand wasn’t very hot so it didn’t make walking uncomfortable. As they walked further down the beach towards the water they could see many sand castles and sculptures that had been left there from the day before untouched. Tim was admiring them when he saw Sam demolishing one.
“Hey there little man. What are you doing?” he asked
“There are just sand castles.” replied Sam.
“Yeah but somebody spent a lot of time making it to be admired.”
“But nobody is around to see it.” said Sam. Tim couldn’t argue with that logic as nobody was really around looking at the structures. Tim saw a nice sized sand tower that represented something you’d see in fairytales. It was very detailed, but Tim decided it was going to come down sooner or later so why not get in on the fun. If he didn’t it might ruin the reconnection with his cousin. So Tim removed the backpack from his back and positioned himself like a punter would for a field goal. Then he gave the tower a decent kick, but instead of the tower dissolving into dust, it crumbled like a regular building. That was because Tim discovered the creator built the tower out of large rocks and covered it with sand.
“AAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!” cried out Tim as he clutched his right foot in his hand and began hopping around the beach crying in pain. “OWWWW OOOOOOOOOOO OWWWW! Rocks are you kidding me?!” Sam couldn’t believe it either and inspected the destruction. Sam picked up a rock with both hands and looked it over front and back before dropping it behind him, except when he did that the rock landed on Tim’s left foot. “YEEEEOOOOOOWWWWWWW! Shouted Tim as he switched feet and hopping around while holding his left foot in his hands.
“I’m so sorry!” said Sam apologetically. Tim was in too much pain to answer. The only things he was capable of saying was “OUCH OOOCH YEOWCH OW!” Tim couldn’t maintain his balance anymore and just fell back into the sand. This allowed him to cradle both his feet as he sat in the butterfly position. He even started kissing both his feet, but specifically the toes on his right foot that connected with the rocks. “I’m so sorry.” Sam said again to Tim.
“It’s alright,” said Tim rubbing both his feet. “Who knew that sand structure was made of rocks?”
“I did.” said a voice from behind the cousins. Tim and Sam looked back and saw a person no older than twenty walking towards them in his red lifeguard t-shirt and shorts.
“I’m so sorry for destroying your tower.” said Tim still sitting.
“Ah don’t be. I build it with rocks for that purpose anyway. I knew somebody would come by and destroy it so I wanted to give them a surprise. I was glad I was there to see it.” said the lifeguard.
“That isn’t very nice.” said Sam.
“Destroying other peoples sand castles isn’t nice either, but it happens all the time. This was a way of teaching people a lesson. It will make you think twice before destroying another sculpture.”
“Oh yeah.” said Sam. Sam grabbed the biggest rock he could find from the pile and picked it up and dropped it right on the lifeguards right barefoot.
“YEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW!” shouted the lifeguard as he lifted his foot up to grab with his hands. The lifeguard started hopping around to maintain his balance. Tim decided it was time to move on and got up, shouldered the back pack and picked up Sam and took off running down the beach leaving the lifeguard hopping around while holding his foot in pain. “AHHHHHH I’ll get you for this!” shouted the guard at the cousins as he continued to hop around while watching them run away.

When they were far out of the lifeguards sight, Tim put Sam down then sat down in the sand. His feet still hurt from the rock tower, and the adrenaline that allowed him to run finally wore off. Tim just clutched each foot in his hands and inspected them then rubbed them, but he was still puzzled by one thing.
“Why did you drop the rock on that guys foot?” Tim asked Sam.
“He was being mean and caused you pain.” he replied.
“Still, you don’t go dropping rocks on people’s feet. Doing it to me is one thing, but to strangers is another.” Sam seemed visibly upset.
“I’m sorry.” he said.
“Ah it’s ok,” said Tim. “Besides, just between you and me I’m glad you did. Just make sure not to do it again.”
“Ok.” said Sam with a smile. Sam then looked toward the water and saw something small walking across the sand. “What’s that?”
“Looks like a baby crab.” Tim said as he finished massaging his left foot. Just then his cell phone rang. “Hello?”
“Hi honey.” said the person on the phone.
“Hi mom.” replied Tim.
“Listen honey, there is a lot of crowds and traffic so we are going to be out longer than expected. Hope you don’t mind.”
“No no it’s fine.” said Tim. “We are just watching television and playing games.”
“Ummm Tim?” said Sam suddenly as he tugged on to Tim’s shirt. Tim looked down and saw a lot of things moving in the sand. He then realized they were all crabs and none of them are babies.
“Crap.” said Tim.
“What’s that honey?” replied Tim’s mom.
“Oh nothing mom. Got to go now. See you when you get home.” said Tim then he closed his phone.

The crabs were all heading for the ocean, but Tim wasn’t sure what they would do if obstacles got in their way. He picked Sam up in his arms so Sam wouldn’t get hurt. Tim tip toed around the crabs trying not to get in their way. The crabs didn’t march in any particular manner, which made it hard to maneuver around them. They finally made it to a clearing where Tim could put Sam down. It was a cool sight to see all the crabs walking along the beach. Unknowingly to Tim though, a crab had emerged from the sand in front of his left foot. Unsure by the strange thing in front of it, the crab took it’s pinchers and clamped down on Tim’s big and middle toes.
“YEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWW!” cried out Tim. Tim lifted his foot up to grab his toes, but found the crab still dangling on to them so he grabbed his foot instead. “Get it off get it off!!!!”
“How?” asked Sam concerned.
“Hit it with something. I don’t know.” said Tim hopping up and down while holding onto his left foot. Sam looked around for the backpack, but realized it was still on Tim’s back. Sam then saw a stick in the sand so he grabbed it and swung at the crab sending it sailing a distance towards the water. Tim then clutched his toes tightly and continued to hop around in a mini circle. “OW OW OW OW OW OW OW OW!”
“Hurts doesn’t it?” said a voice. Tim turned himself in the direction of the voice, still holding his toes in his hands and saw it was the lifeguard. “I’ve had my toes crunched a few times by them. Hurts every time, like that rock the little man dropped on my foot.”
“I apologize for that.” said Tim gingerly setting his left foot down. “I don’t know why he did it, but I hope it didn’t seriously hurt you.”
“Na, it didn’t seriously hurt me. It hurt, but I’ll live. And one of you will be sorry. If I was on duty, I’d just throw you off the beach, but I’m not so I want revenge.” said the lifeguard. Tim gave a visible gulp.
“Look it doesn’t have to be this way.” said Tim holding his hands up slightly in surrender.
“I disagree. Kid’s just can’t be going around hurting other people. But since I can’t do anything to the little guy, I’ll have to take my frustration out on you. After all, you both just fled the scene after he dropped the rock on my foot.” said the lifeguard. He then gripped Tim up by the shirt and pulled him close. “Seeing as the crab put a hurting on your toes, I’ll just punch some sense into you.”
“Look man, I’m sorry. He’s sorry. Let’s not do this.” pleaded Tim but the lifeguard didn’t want to hear it. Sensing trouble, Sam decided to take action. He was still holding on to the stick he used to hit the crab. So with all his force, five year old Sam whacked the lifeguards right barefoot with it.
“YEOW!” cried out the lifeguard, but he didn’t go to grab his foot. The whack hurt, but it wasn’t even close to the pain felt by the rock. But it did turn the lifeguards attention away from Tim, long enough for Tim to respond by putting a well placed stomp on the lifeguards injured foot. “AAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOWWWWWWW!” the lifeguard cried this time lifting his foot up and clutching it in his hands resulting in him hopping up and down in pain.
“I think it’s time to go home Sam.” said Tim as he snatched him in his arms and ran off towards home.
“I won’t forget this!” shouted the lifeguard still hopping in pain. “I’ll get my revenge someday.”

Tim and Sam went straight home not stopping for anything. When they arrived at the house, they went to the back to hose their feet down to clean off any sand or dirt from their trip. Once their feet were washed they headed inside where Tim went straight for the living room couch to lay down on. He propped his feet up on arm of the couch so he could get a good look at them. His feet were a red as a fire truck, partially due to the heated sand and partially due to all they pain they endured. All of his toes had a throbbing pain that made them feel like they were pulsating like in the cartoons. He brought each foot closer to him to inspect, then blew cool air on them with his mouth. Tim then decided to go unpack his suitcase. So Tim headed upstairs to Sam’s room with Sam following behind. Tim has a suitcase on wheels, which made it easier to drag around, but not so easy to manhandle. Tim had just tossed the bag on the futon when he arrived, so he pulled it closer to him, but when it was upside down he turned it over except the bag slipped off the bed and the wheel end of the case came down on Tim’s two toes the crab had crunched with its pinchers.
“AAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWW!” yelled Tim pulling his foot away from under the case. “Why is this happened to me?” He clutched his toes in his hands and hopped backwards to distance himself from the bag. Tim squeezed his toes hard as his moaned from the pain. After having both his feet and toes put through torture he started to get fed up with it all, and unfortunately kicked the suitcase out of anger with his left foot. “YEEEEEEEOOOOOOOWWWWWW!” shouted Tim as he retracted his left foot and held it in his hands. He then began to hop around in a circle while crying in pain.

Sam was stunned by the sight of seeing his cousin hopping around in pain. He wanted to smile like he did most of the other times, but found he could not this time. Even Sam began to feel sorry for Tim and his feet. Tim could no longer stand hopping around and just hopped over and fell onto the futon cradling his foot. He rocked back and forth while clutching his foot. Tim could see bruises on his feet and toes from all the abuse they’ve taken. The sight of the bruises prompted Tim to roll over and route through his bag, pulling out black socks. He then slipped them on his feet.
“Our parent’s don’t know that we’ve been to the beach.” said Tim to Sam. “I don’t want them seeing my feet and asking questions.”
“Right.” said Sam.
“Remember. We have been home the entire time. Understand?”
“I understand.”
“Good.” replied Tim then he went back to massaging his left foot.

Several hours later, Tim and Sam’s mothers arrived home. Then their fathers showed up shortly after each with what appeared to be gifts. Tim and Sam joined them all then soon the party began. Tim’s mother and aunt bought him a New England Patriots cap, while his father and uncle bought him a set of hand weights. Tim was happy with his gifts and soon all of them went out for a night on the town. They went to dinner, walked along the board walk, but not the beach. Tim couldn’t help but keep an eye out for the lifeguard just incase they would cross paths. Then in the evening, everyone went home and headed for bed, except for Tim and Sam. Tim was too busy looking over his weights and feeling them out. By that time, both Tim and Sam were in the night gear and pajamas. Tim was sporting a white t-shirt and was wearing blue checkered boxers and was still wearing his Patriots hat and was once again barefoot. Even Sam was checking the weights out.
“Be careful little man.” said Tim. “They are a bit heavy.”
“I’ll be fine.” replied Sam. He grabbed each individual weight to see if he could lift them. Sam did fine up until he grabbed the twenty pound weight. He could barely lift it, but still managed to do so with two hands. Tim turned around and laughed as he watched Sam struggling with the weight. Sam tried to walk it back to the weight rack, but before he got there he dropped the weight from about knee height, but did so on Tim’s right barefoot closer to the toes. Tim’s eye’s widened and mouth opened up, but no sound came out at first. Tim lifted his right foot up and grabbed it with his left hand. He used his right to cover his mouth when he was finally able to find words.
“OWWWWW OOOOOOOOO AAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOWWWWW EEEEEEOOOOWWWW!” muffled Tim. Eventually, Tim just bit his lips and grabbed his right foot with both hands and began to hop up and down.
“I’m so sorry!” said Sam.
“OW OW OW OW my foot my foot!” whispered Tim as he jumped up and down.
Tim never could figure out why that day was full of disaster for his feet. All he did know was college could not come fast enough. His feet would be safer there.