Fun Run by Olivia Spooner

29th September 2022

No one is on the beach. Dana scans the golden sands of the horseshoe-shaped bay one last time to ensure the coast is clear before reaching down to unclip Archie’s lead.

“Way you go, boy,” she says, her voice instantly whipped from her lips in the wind.

He takes off down the beach, running at full speed along the hard, wet sand. Dana can’t remember the last time she ran for no reason. She remembers as a teenager racing her sister into the waves to see who could dive under first but that had a purpose: to make the difficult transition from hot to cold as quickly as possible.

Dana wonders how her sister is going in her new townhouse in the city. The townhouse her sister’s fiancée, Mark says they paid too much for, but what choice did they have? Everything in Auckland costs too much. It’s one of the reasons Dana knows she will never live there again. Not the main reason, but one of the many she reminds herself of when she craves someone other than Archie to talk to. Or when she gets an urge for a meal out. Dana likes to cook but still…it would be nice to have an evening off every once in a while. Though there’s no way she’d go to a restaurant on her own even if she was back in the city, and the alternative; to go with her sister and Mark and watch them exchange secret glances of adoration would be even worse. Better a frozen pizza reheated in the oven, eaten on the couch in front of Bridgerton, her dog curled at her feet.

Archie has turned in a graceful arc and is heading back, his eyes fixed on her as if she’s the finish line. He can only allow so much space to open up between them before he bounces back like a rubber band. He looks so happy, his ears flapping, his paws barely brushing the sand.

You need to lighten up, have some fun. Jasper’s words slap at her cheek as if caught up in the wind. She turns away from them, her dark curly hair blowing across her face. Dana flicks her head and brushes the hair from her watering eyes. Taking a deep breath she looks down at the cool sand seeping between her toes. She didn’t know how to have fun at those work dinners, the cocktail parties, the champagne boat cruises on the Waitemata harbour with everyone pressed so close to one another she’d feel panicked before they’d even left their berth. Dana didn’t know how to relax with Jasper. She was always on edge, trying to figure out how to please him.

Archie arrives in a flurry of hair and energy. He brushes against her, panting.

“That looked fun.” Dana bends to rub his ears. “Wanna go again?”

She curls her toes into the sand and fixes her eyes on the tall outcrop of rock halfway down the beach. Tilting forward, she takes off sprinting as fast as her legs will carry her.

“Let’s go, Arch,” she yells, the wind drying out her teeth as she grins. He’s already caught up to her, running alongside, barking madly.

Dana’s legs hurt and her lungs burn but she won’t stop. Not until she touches that rock. As it draws close she glances up at the scraggly pohutukawa trees clinging to the top of the rock. Amongst the branches she spies the benchseat at the lookout she clambers up to most mornings to watch the sun rise out of the Pacific Ocean. There’s a man up there perched on the edge of the seat watching her. An old guy in a fisherman’s shirt, baggy jeans, and black gumboots. He stands and claps. “You can do it,” he hollers, cupping his hands around his mouth.

Laughing, Dana surges forward. She can do it. She can move on from Jasper and all the crap he put her through. She can have fun and laugh on this beach she loves fifty kilometers from the nearest grocery store and hundreds of kilometers from that life she refuses to live anymore.

Dana slows down as she arrives. Breathing heavily, she places her palm on the rough, black rock and presses hard. Then she steps back and smiles up at the old man. He’s still clapping and he looks proud. Proud that she ran for no reason. No reason at all.

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