I've been away too long and now that the bruises are going away (I took a nasty spill down an icy hill), and I can actually sit comfortably for more than a few minutes, I had to get in on the current FFF challenge.
The prompt this time was words: Grass, knee, sunburn and sister. The genre was open and the length was to be under 1,000 words. The theme was a delightful one. Our stories should deal with those glorious days before the loss of all things childlike--the wonder, the innocence--you remember. Hopefully mine captured a moment from that time. Please enjoy.
DEAR DIARY
Dear Diary, Today was just the bestest day ever, ever, ever. You know today is Saturday and that means no school and no Mrs. meanie the teacher and no homework and no other icky stuff. My very bestest friend in the whole world and me rolled around on the grass in the yard after lunch till we started to turn green and our mommies yelled at us to stop. We were laughing so hard our tummies hurt and that’s the bestest tummy hurt you can get. I love Carrie so much. She is like my sister but I don’t have a sister. Joey is my big brother but you know that. He picks on me sometimes but he is OK because he reaches stuff up high for me when I can’t. I have to get a bath now because mommy says I can’t get in the bed when I am green. Bye.
Dear Diary, Carrie and me couldn’t go outside today because it is raining. But her mommy got her a umbrella and they came to our house so we could play in my room. Our mommies were talking real quiet in the kitchen and we tried to hear but they are just too good at talking quiet. Mommies are like that. Daddies aren’t so good at that at all. I know because my mommy is always telling my daddy to talk quiet but he doesn’t know how. I don’t like it too much when he talks loud but when he laughs loud it makes me happy. My daddy is real good at that. Carrie hurt her knee when we were jumping on my bed. Our mommies told us to stop so we did and got some cookies. I love Carrie so much and I am happy she came over to play in my room today. When they left her mommy was crying. I don’t know why. I have to say my prayers now and go to sleep. I think I will say a little one for Carrie’s mom. Bye.
Dear Diary, Today I want to just die. Don’t try to make me change my mind because I won’t. I am going to lay down in the grass until I get so sunburn I turn into a pile of powder like the stuff daddy takes out of our fireplace when he cleans it. Then I will just disappear and no one will ever know that I was here. My mommy told me Carrie was moving away and her mommy was crying because she will miss my mommy. They are going to be so far away like across the oceans and I will never see Carrie again. There is no sunshine today, Diary, so I can’t burn myself up yet. I will try tomorrow. I have to go and eat my dinner now. We are having pizza. I love pizza. Bye.
Dear Diary, Laying in the grass didn’t burn me up into powder but I got kind of red and mommy had to put cream on my face and it felt nice and cool. She told me not to do that again and I said OK. Carrie is gone you know and I just don’t think I’ll lay down in the grass anymore ever. I’m going to have to figure out some other way to make myself die that doesn’t make my face hurt. I miss Carrie and her house is all empty. My mommy said when you remember somebody they are always with you in your heart. Maybe that’s enough for big people, but not for me. Daddy’s going to read me a story about trains now. Bye.
Dear Diary, Some people moveded into Carrie’s house today and I hate them. Joey said well just kick me down like a feather just look at all the furniture they have. Joey says stuff like that all the time and I don’t always get it but that’s OK. He said we should give them a chance but I don’t want to so I won’t. I looked at them through the window though. There’s a real big man with no hair on his head and I think he must be the daddy. The lady is very small but she has a old face like my mommy so I think she must be the mommy over there. There is a kid too and she looks like she is my size but I hate her. I hope she has bad dreams in Carrie’s room every night. I’m going to watch a movie about the circus now and we get to have popcorn too. Bye.
Dear Diary, The girl who sleeps in Carrie’s room came over to my house after breakfast today to ask if I could come outside to play. Her name is Lyla. I told her that my very bestest friend in the whole world used to sleep in her room but she moveded far far away. Lyla said she would like to be my very bestest friend in the whole world and I said OK. I don’t really want to die anymore either Diary because I found out that Lyla likes to roll around on the grass until she is green. Bye.
I remember times like that as a kid thinking the whole world had ended for some reason. Because of those memories I do my best to cushion my words when I see my kids that way now.
ReplyDeleteGreat story, hope to get motivated soon and write some fiction myself.
Aaaah! :-)
ReplyDeleteJoyce, you have captured the child-like logic to a tee! (and the mood swings!)
Joyce, you always bring such great realism to your writing. This is as always natural and well crafted and a great story in itself, then again you never deliver anything less.
ReplyDeleteJoyce you captured being a kid perfectly! she is so, so real and believable. I wonder if she will see Carrie again one day, and if she'll stay bestest friends with Lyla... Rolling in the green grass brought back such wonderful memories, such dirty clothes... :-D
ReplyDeleteLovely! Another fine submission, Joyce.
ReplyDeleteBeach, Thanks for stopping by. First of all, really looking forward to reading more of your work! I agree that what we may see as trivial can mean the end of the universe to a child. This prompt reminded me of an incident when I was a kid growing up in Chicago, and then looking harder at some of my grandchildren's issues. We need to remember not only what we did as a child, but how it felt to be one.
ReplyDeleteHi Sue, Thanks for your comments. I dug down deep and observing my grandkids helped a ton too. How a child can go from the depths of despair to jumping up and down over mac and cheese in three seconds flat never ceases to amaze me!
ReplyDeleteRichard, Thanks so much for your comments. I tried so hard to remember the minute to minute emotional changes children experience, all completely logical and natural in their minds. So happy it came through the way I intended.
ReplyDeleteIngrid, So glad it brought back some fun memories. Writing it certainly brought back some great ones for me. Living in the heart of the city didn't involve much rolling in the yard, but when I was a bit older, we ended up in the suburbs and actually had a yard. I can't tell you how many of the world's problems were solved laying on the grass in our yard with my very bestest friend Janet. Those were the days. By the way, Carrie will call and send postcards and my diary writer and Lyla will graduate together. That has to be, right?
ReplyDeleteFlannery, Thanks so much. When I saw the prompt, I panicked. I thought, there's no way I can come up with something for this one. I mean, somehow bodies dropping didn't really seem too appropriate! (lol) Then, one of my grandkids made a comment and I remembered something that happened forever ago and this little tale happened. This one really felt good to write. Glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteYou certainly mastered the language of a child and it gifted this tale with a lot of heart. Wonderful tale dear, really.
ReplyDeleteDoc
Doc, Thanks so much for your comments. I tried so hard to go back in my mind and remember how it felt. So glad it came through.
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