sunday stories

I wasn't going to do one of these but the words captured my senses. Does that happen to you? A song, a phrase, a pretty sight captures your senses and makes you want to create?


(THIS WEEK'S WORDS come from "Bell Birds" by Henry Kendall : moss, cedar, light, sing, fear, fairies, woodlands, wayfarer, pebbles, childhood, keep, glimpses)

The childhood wayfarer


she packed her school lunchbox with a thermos of juice, a sandwich and some chips. Then she gathered her book, her crayons and paper, and a little blanket and took off after saying she'd see her mom later.


It was Saturday, and she lived in a time when kids were encouraged to explore and come back before dark. Luckily she enjoyed her own company and imagination so she headed to that magical part of the trees where she felt magical herself.


It was warm today, as usual, and the trees were shady with lots of oak leaves and hanging moss. She looked up to see sunlight dancing with the moss swaying, and wondered if the movement was from fairies flitting from leaf to leaf. Yes she decided, definitely fairies, but good ones who were pretty and liked to laugh.

She liked the idea of woods, the protected shady areas where you could be alone to play. She sang her favorite song, one from a movie, and imagined herself as a grown woman singing on a stage because she was going to be a famous singer and an actress an everyone would love her.


Looking around she found a nice place to put the blanket and lay out her supplies for the day. Her lunch box would keep her snacks cool on the side, while she played with the tiny dolls she had in her pocket. They had names and stories and lived in the rocks and pebbles next to the blanket, so she started up a storyline with them. Her favorite thing to play was making up stories for little objects like these dolls. Her mother hated to hear her talking for them, and told her to be quiet but noone here would say that.


After a bit, she noticed a squirrel was crawling near her lunchbox, and he looked like a little old man! How funny! she turned her head and he ran off back up a tree, where she glimpsed some piece of red fluff stuck to the rough trunk. Looking closer she thought it must be a message to her... and she imagined she was an explorer, tracking a lost girl through the woods, and this was a bit of the girl's sweater. She would be the one to find her! She tracked slowly and quietly from tree to tree til she glimpsed a car through the trees. A tiny fear ran down her back... so she turned around to return to her safe little blanket in the middle of the exotic woods that held a castle and a princess and a handsome knight who was in love with the princess.


She sat down and started eating her sandwich, while imagining she was at her grown up own house and sitting with her husband and kids at a table. She sat her dolls up nicely and put a little sandwich in front of them, and talked for all the players in her little imaginary scene. Sipping her juice that was still cold, from the red cup off the thermos, she knew her dishes would be delicate. "Margie! stop fiddling with that fork and eat your dinner! " she said to one doll, and coquettishly she looked at her husband and whispered, "children!"


After her snack she picked up her book, the one she got from the big library, and started to read. The grass was kind of prickly under her blanket and a bug crawled onto it as she read. Circling her forefinger and thumb she flicked it off and turned the page. She felt like she was in the story... yes she was the girl in the story and felt what it must be like. She hummed to herself as she read and imagined and flicked bugs.


OH! what was that sound? she put down her book and stood up, and saw a bike going by. How could that be when she was far far away in the magical woods??? It was Joey from four houses away from hers, but luckily he didn't see her. Whew! what was he doing here? She looked up and saw the light was different and she thought it might be getting darker and one didn't want to stay in the woods after dark right? In all the stories that's when trouble started so she packed up her stuff, put the little dolls in her pockets, closed the red lid on the thermos and closed the lunchbox with the empty waxed paper inside.


Her Mom would ask where she'd been, when she got home to the boring old house. She would say just playing because she knew her mom wouldn't understand all the places she'd gone, and the things she'd seen and felt. Her mom didn't understand magic.

Linking to
http://sundayswhirligig.blogspot.com/