Post by Sadie on Oct 13, 2009 14:25:49 GMT -5
On days like these, there was only one thing that could possibly be on the minds of all humanity.
The outside.
The green hills had waves sweeping across them, like the ocean except that the individual blades of grass seemed to dance. The breeze was scented with cherries from the countryside and left the town smelling sweet. Beneath the warming sun, the sky was cloudless save for a few stray masses of white that sailed at a slow pace into the distance.
The brown basket was rough inside of Kuki Sanban’s hand, but it wasn’t the basket that counted – it was the treasure inside it. The juicy apples, the crispy chips, and the homemade sandwiches that were dressed up with her favorite ingredients. A checkered blanket had been folded and placed on top, as well as a few bottles of water.
Around her, the group chattered excitedly about different things. Abby and Nigel were discussing the new ice cream shop that had opened on the other side of town, and Wally and Hoagie were bantering back and forth in a heated debate about which superhero could defeat the other. Peaceful days like these were the ones that Kuki enjoyed the most.
Upon reaching their favorite spot, the top of a hill in a less-crowded piece of town, they settled, and food was distributed among them. For a time there was little noise other than the crunching of food and the occasional expressions of delight at the delectable taste. Around them, the birds were creating a melody that would remain uncaptured by humans, one that swelled into their ears.
Once they had finished eating, they began to run off and pursue their individual activities. Hoagie, excited to try his newest contraption, sprinted off into the distance with a string in his hand that kept his elaborate kite grounded to the earth. Abby, leaning back against the tree at the base of the hill, was immediately captured by sleep, her eyes hidden beneath her hat, which usefully blocked out the sun.
Nigel scaled up the tree, careful not to disturb the sleeping girl, and began to pick apples for the treehouse refrigerator, neatly dropping them into the soft grass below to be collected and washed later. The leaves rustled around him, brushing against his face and tickling the nerves in his cheeks. Later that week, there would be a feast of sweet applesauce, enough for the entire treehouse gang.
Wally was the only disgruntled member of the five, for he had accidentally left his dodgeball at home. This area was perfect for a good game of catch or kickball or dodgeball, and he had forgotten it. It was now sitting complacently on the table in the kitchen. Now, with nothing to amuse him, Wally was left with Kuki.
The girl had quite a few strange ideas on how the afternoon could be spent – making daisy chains, cloud watching, rolling down the hill, perhaps? – and Wally disliked all of them. They were much too gentle for an energy-filled boy such as himself. So he suggested something much more masculine, something that he was sure that she was going to refuse the moment it left his breath.
She didn’t, and soon the game was on.
“Tag, you’re it!” Slapping a hand against the boy’s shoulder with barely enough force to kill a fly, the girl took off running down the grass, with the extensions on her sleeve flying behind her. The other was on his feet in barely a second, running after her with the fervor that a carnivore would have while chasing its prey.
The wind whistled through them, changing their hair from curtains to whips and sinking through their clothing to cool them. The sun was trying to achieve the opposite effect by pouring down onto their cheeks and warming their skin beneath its gentle touch. Quick pants of breath and flushed cheeks were the result as the two wandered far away from where the others were relaxing.
Both of them being exceedingly quick on their feet, the title of “it” was exchanged between them on a frequent basis, and their gasps of breath had given way to squeals and shouts of laughter, and the occasional whoop of triumph from the male of the pair. She was graceful like water, and managed to dance out of his reach numerous times. But he was faster, and the two contrasts between them left both of them convulsed with bursts of laughter that echoed through the countryside.
When they were too tired to run anymore, they collapsed on the grass beside each other, with air leaving their mouths in bursts. The flush that had originally taken on their cheeks had spread down their neck, and sweat was trickling across their faces as they laughed faintly together.
There was a long period of silence between them, for both of them were perfectly content to observe the sky in the quiet. It wasn’t until Wally had almost drifted off to sleep that Kuki reached over and grasped his shoulder, shaking it and bringing back into full consciousness. When he looked over at her inquiringly, her thin finger reached upward into the sky and pointed at a cloud that was drifting above them.
“Look! That cloud makes a ‘K’!” She was excited about the natural phenomenon and Wally couldn’t help but feel endeared by her natural enthusiasm for life. It was refreshing, when it didn’t pertain to anything that was particularly feminine in nature, and clouds were certainly not.
“Yeah, well, that one looks like a ‘W’.” The cloud in question could only barely pass for the letter, but it was close enough that Wally felt that it would work. The two clouds continued to float west, leaving the two beaming at the thought that their marks were in the sky. It was Kuki who pieced the thoughts together.
“That means we’re in the sky together, Wally.” The boy’s face took on an entirely new shade of red that could not be credited to the sun as he thought about the implications behind the sentence. Her voice had only a hint of awe at the idea that the two were close to the heavens and not bounded by the pull of gravity.
“I’d go to the sky with ya.” With a wide grin that showed his teeth, the boy glanced at her and felt a certain triumph when her face darkened to match his. The sky, untouchable and limitless, was only the first place that he would take her if he could.
The quiet settled back between them, and they were left quite pleased at the events of the afternoon. Their breathing had synchronized unknowingly, and as their chests lifted as one and then dropped as one, they were both filled with a complete peace that felt appropriate on such a day.
“Tag, you’re it!”
Of course, that peace could only last for so long.
Racing back toward the tree in the distance, the air was filled with laughter and merriment once more, and the world heaved a sigh of relief, disguised as a breeze of wind, at the simple joy of two young people that found such a delight in the presence of each other.
The outside.
The green hills had waves sweeping across them, like the ocean except that the individual blades of grass seemed to dance. The breeze was scented with cherries from the countryside and left the town smelling sweet. Beneath the warming sun, the sky was cloudless save for a few stray masses of white that sailed at a slow pace into the distance.
The brown basket was rough inside of Kuki Sanban’s hand, but it wasn’t the basket that counted – it was the treasure inside it. The juicy apples, the crispy chips, and the homemade sandwiches that were dressed up with her favorite ingredients. A checkered blanket had been folded and placed on top, as well as a few bottles of water.
Around her, the group chattered excitedly about different things. Abby and Nigel were discussing the new ice cream shop that had opened on the other side of town, and Wally and Hoagie were bantering back and forth in a heated debate about which superhero could defeat the other. Peaceful days like these were the ones that Kuki enjoyed the most.
Upon reaching their favorite spot, the top of a hill in a less-crowded piece of town, they settled, and food was distributed among them. For a time there was little noise other than the crunching of food and the occasional expressions of delight at the delectable taste. Around them, the birds were creating a melody that would remain uncaptured by humans, one that swelled into their ears.
Once they had finished eating, they began to run off and pursue their individual activities. Hoagie, excited to try his newest contraption, sprinted off into the distance with a string in his hand that kept his elaborate kite grounded to the earth. Abby, leaning back against the tree at the base of the hill, was immediately captured by sleep, her eyes hidden beneath her hat, which usefully blocked out the sun.
Nigel scaled up the tree, careful not to disturb the sleeping girl, and began to pick apples for the treehouse refrigerator, neatly dropping them into the soft grass below to be collected and washed later. The leaves rustled around him, brushing against his face and tickling the nerves in his cheeks. Later that week, there would be a feast of sweet applesauce, enough for the entire treehouse gang.
Wally was the only disgruntled member of the five, for he had accidentally left his dodgeball at home. This area was perfect for a good game of catch or kickball or dodgeball, and he had forgotten it. It was now sitting complacently on the table in the kitchen. Now, with nothing to amuse him, Wally was left with Kuki.
The girl had quite a few strange ideas on how the afternoon could be spent – making daisy chains, cloud watching, rolling down the hill, perhaps? – and Wally disliked all of them. They were much too gentle for an energy-filled boy such as himself. So he suggested something much more masculine, something that he was sure that she was going to refuse the moment it left his breath.
She didn’t, and soon the game was on.
“Tag, you’re it!” Slapping a hand against the boy’s shoulder with barely enough force to kill a fly, the girl took off running down the grass, with the extensions on her sleeve flying behind her. The other was on his feet in barely a second, running after her with the fervor that a carnivore would have while chasing its prey.
The wind whistled through them, changing their hair from curtains to whips and sinking through their clothing to cool them. The sun was trying to achieve the opposite effect by pouring down onto their cheeks and warming their skin beneath its gentle touch. Quick pants of breath and flushed cheeks were the result as the two wandered far away from where the others were relaxing.
Both of them being exceedingly quick on their feet, the title of “it” was exchanged between them on a frequent basis, and their gasps of breath had given way to squeals and shouts of laughter, and the occasional whoop of triumph from the male of the pair. She was graceful like water, and managed to dance out of his reach numerous times. But he was faster, and the two contrasts between them left both of them convulsed with bursts of laughter that echoed through the countryside.
When they were too tired to run anymore, they collapsed on the grass beside each other, with air leaving their mouths in bursts. The flush that had originally taken on their cheeks had spread down their neck, and sweat was trickling across their faces as they laughed faintly together.
There was a long period of silence between them, for both of them were perfectly content to observe the sky in the quiet. It wasn’t until Wally had almost drifted off to sleep that Kuki reached over and grasped his shoulder, shaking it and bringing back into full consciousness. When he looked over at her inquiringly, her thin finger reached upward into the sky and pointed at a cloud that was drifting above them.
“Look! That cloud makes a ‘K’!” She was excited about the natural phenomenon and Wally couldn’t help but feel endeared by her natural enthusiasm for life. It was refreshing, when it didn’t pertain to anything that was particularly feminine in nature, and clouds were certainly not.
“Yeah, well, that one looks like a ‘W’.” The cloud in question could only barely pass for the letter, but it was close enough that Wally felt that it would work. The two clouds continued to float west, leaving the two beaming at the thought that their marks were in the sky. It was Kuki who pieced the thoughts together.
“That means we’re in the sky together, Wally.” The boy’s face took on an entirely new shade of red that could not be credited to the sun as he thought about the implications behind the sentence. Her voice had only a hint of awe at the idea that the two were close to the heavens and not bounded by the pull of gravity.
“I’d go to the sky with ya.” With a wide grin that showed his teeth, the boy glanced at her and felt a certain triumph when her face darkened to match his. The sky, untouchable and limitless, was only the first place that he would take her if he could.
The quiet settled back between them, and they were left quite pleased at the events of the afternoon. Their breathing had synchronized unknowingly, and as their chests lifted as one and then dropped as one, they were both filled with a complete peace that felt appropriate on such a day.
“Tag, you’re it!”
Of course, that peace could only last for so long.
Racing back toward the tree in the distance, the air was filled with laughter and merriment once more, and the world heaved a sigh of relief, disguised as a breeze of wind, at the simple joy of two young people that found such a delight in the presence of each other.
