Monster Hunters

My wife decided to spend the day doing a full cleaning on the house, which held zero appeal for Troy and me. So as a treat for him, I decided to take him out for an adventure. I had discovered this walking trail that winds in-between the houses of several neighborhoods before dumping out at a playground. Wanting to entertain him and wear him out before his nap, I thought this would be the perfect thing to do with him. We get some “boys time,” and we get out of the house…and out of cleaning.

It turned out better than I could have imagined! Troy is very much into monsters right now. His imagination sees them everywhere; not in a scary way, but in a cool point of fact way. Some days we’re being hunted, some days we’re the hunters. So, as we started down the path, he whispered, “Dada. Do you hear that? It’s a monster.”

I acknowledged that I did, and I said that I thought he was further up the path. As fate would have it, at the same time, I noticed a very large canine footprint in the mud next to us. I pointed it out. “There’s the beast’s footprint. It’s still fresh. He passed this way only a short time ago.”

Excitedly, he replied, “Yeah, we’re close. Let’s hurry, so we can catch him!” We took off running until we reached a fork in the trail. Troy stopped. “Which way did he go?”

I pretended to ponder both options carefully, knowing full well which way we needed to go. “Well, monsters always follow the yellow path. Do you see a yellow path?”

Troy walked up and down each path until he found a chipped, faded yellow stripe in the middle of one of them. “I found it, dada! The monster went this way!” So off we went again. Suddenly Troy stopped and grabbed my arm. “What’s that noise, dada?”

It sounded like a pump for a pool or fountain in someone’s backyard. It was grinding and humming. I whispered, “It sounds like growling. I think the monster knows we’re after him. He’s going to get away!” So off we ran again.

Suddenly, Troy stopped again. He pointed at a black, twisted tree poking up over the fence. “Dada! There he is! That’s his hand on the fence!”

“I see it! We’re so close!” And off we ran again.

Around the next bend, it started to sprinkle on us. I wasn’t too worried, because the weather report said that it wasn’t going to rain until this afternoon. Troy held his hand up to the drops. “What’s this, dada?”

“The monster is scared, so he’s sending rain to try to throw us off the scent.”

“Yeah,” Troy replied, as if that was the most obvious answer.

We finally reached the playground just before the rain started (so much for weather reports). We quickly squeezed into a little tube that looked like a tree to wait it out. Troy didn’t mind. He was monster hunting with his dada. It was going to take more than a little rain to dampen his spirits (pun intended). Unfortunately, the rain didn’t stop. So, we had no alternative but to try to hoof it back down the trail.

I put him on my shoulders, so I could go faster. For his part, he continued the game. He said this was good, because from this vantage point, he had a better chance to spot the monsters. And he did…all the way down the trail. “Hurry, dada, the monster is chasing us! He’s getter closer! Go faster!”

I was attempting to run the mile back to the car with 40 extra pounds on my shoulders in the rain…while being chased by a monster. Troy had no sympathy for me. If I was going to be a monster hunter, then I needed to toughen up!

We made it back safely and only mildly damp. But both of us were all smiles from our adventure. Who knew hunting monsters with my son could be so much fun?!