Sitting in my asphalt driveway, I drew chalk mermaids. It was hot. Sweat beadlets wiggled down my leg from my knee.
A neighbor mowed his yard. I filled in the mermaid’s tail with green chalk.
Above the noise of the lawnmower, the clatter of a red wagon arrested my attention. Matt. He walked my way with a hopeful spring in his step. He smiled.
I grabbed a pink piece of chalk and carefully drew locks of hair streaming from the mermaid’s head. I added yellow highlights with glints of blue chalk mixed in.
The clatter of the wagon rolled up to me. I saw two scuffed spiderman tennis shoes. Matt stood on my mermaid’s hair. “Can I play with you?”
“No.”
[via]
“John, do not lie to me! You came in at 3 in the morning! No good thing—
“Honey, I told you work was going to go long—
I tiptoed past the room where my parents fought. Yanking on my spiderman tennis shoes, I ran outside. Breathing deeply of the sunshined air, I looked up the street. Ella sat in her driveway drawing.
Grabbing my wheel barrow, I clattered up to her. “Can I play with you?”
She didn’t look at me. “No.”
My lip quivered. I bit it hard. Dragging my wagon behind, I slowly walked back to my house. Something shattered. My mother screamed. I sat down in my front yard with hands over my ears.
[via]
Her two youngest children squabbled over the plastic building blocks. Marie glanced out the window to the sunny, summery day. Ella, her oldest, sat in the driveway intently drawing. From down the street, little Matt Hessleman pulled a red wagon up into our driveway. His parents did not try to hide their difficulties from neighbor or child.
Walking to the screen door, little Matt asked my daughter a question. Ella didn’t even look up. A moment later, Matt’s little shoulders slumped. He turned around and wheeled his wagon away.
She couldn’t believe it. Ella, her most compassionate, sharing daughter had turned that little boy away.
What About You?
Have you ever thought about all the different sides of a story?
[…] Short Story: Three Perspectives […]