Watermelon Day!

Laura woke all hot and sweaty, her first thought “Oh no, the air conditioning is broken again.”  When she saw that the outdoor thermometer already read 79 degrees at 7:00 a.m., Laura knew the day was going to be a scorcher.   Laura took a cooling shower and dressed for work, carefully choosing the thinnest garments.  Pulling her chestnut brown hair back into a low-hanging bun, she went to the kitchen for breakfast.  Surveying the refrigerator contents, she decided that a meal of bacon and eggs was too heavy.  She took out unflavored yogurt and fruit.  Laura cut strawberries into pieces and spooned them onto the yogurt, along with a handful of blueberries.  Instant iced coffee completed her selection.

Laura ate in her tiny-alcove-of-a-breakfast area, jockeying for room on the table to put her laptop so she could catch up on emails.  After deleting several emails touting goods and services she didn’t want, Laura opened an email from her brother, John.  Several months ago, after college, he had moved over 500 miles but promised to send weekly emails; they helped Laura feel she was still part of his life.  In his email today, John complained about his warehouse manager job (workers didn’t listen to him) and his latest girlfriend (he was sure she was the one), then asked how she was doing.

Laura paused after reading John’s email trying to decide how to reply.  She missed having him live nearby.  She thought about what they would be doing on a day like today when they were children.

Before their mother could wake them, Laura, eight, and John, six, were up and dressed.  They wore shorts, tank tops and sandals, knowing that it was going to be a hot summer day.  Laura got the milk and cereal while John got the bowls and spoons.  After quickly downing Sugar Pops, they grabbed a loaf of bread and headed outside.  “I want to go down to the lake,” said John.  “Sure, we’ll go there,” said Laura, ”but first I want to check on the puppies and see if they’ve opened their eyes.”  Waving goodbye to their mother, they left through the garage.

Just five days before, their mixed-collie mongrel, Sally, had birthed six fuzzy babies and she was still a bit skittish when anyone tried to touch them.  Laura carefully knelt down next to the big box inside the garage and gently ran her hand along Sally’s head saying, “It’s Ok Sally, we just want to visit your babies.”  Giving a low, but hesitant, growl Sally allowed first Laura, then John, to touch the puppies.  Their eyes were still closed but they nuzzled up to the warm little hands.

“Now, let’s go to the lake,” said John.  They raced down the street and turned left to the lake.  Walking along the edge of the lake, they looked for fish hiding at the edge in the shadows of big trees.  Every time they saw the dark, slightly undulating, fish bodies, they threw pieces of bread.  Sometimes there were so many fish, they piled in a frenzy on top of each other trying to get at the bread.  In this way, they walked a good way around the lake.

Laura wiped her sweaty brow with a dusty arm and looked up, only to realize how far they were from home.  She didn’t see any roads coming down to the lake.  At the same time, John said, “I’m so thirsty Sis.  Can I drink the water in the lake?”  “Oh no,” said Laura, “we can’t do that and I am so hot and tired that I don’t want to walk all the way back around the lake.”  While they were talking, an elderly woman popped her blue-grey head up over an ivy-covered fence.  Smiling gently, she offered “If you want a drink of water, I can help you.”  At first Laura was going to run because she knew to avoid strangers, but then she recognized her as a woman her parents talked to at church.  “Yes, please,“ she said relievedly.  “I’m Mrs. Sams.  Aren’t you the Brown children?” the woman asked.  “Yep, that’s us,” said John.

Indicating where the children could enter, Mrs. Sams, led them around the fence and into her backyard.  Laura’s eyes widened when she saw that the yard was planted from one end to the other with watermelons.  John eyes got big and he said, “Boy, they’re big.”   “This is my hobby,” said Mrs. Sams. “I sell them to raise money for church missions, but I can spare one for a hungry little boy and girl.”

After calling their parents, Mrs. Sams sat them down in her air-conditioned kitchen and let them eat as much watermelon as they wanted.  They were so hungry and thirsty they ate and ate.  By the time their parents came, both Laura and John were so full that they couldn’t eat their dinners.  Both groaned with  stomach aches.   Any time after that if one of them complained of eating too much, or wanted to get the other to groan in mock distress, the simple cry “Watermelon Day” did the trick.

Laura shook herself back to the present and started her reply to John.  It took very little time.  In the “Re:” line she put “Remember” and in the body she put “Watermelon Day!  Tag, you’re it.”  Smiling to herself, Laura grabbed her briefcase and ran out the door to catch her bus to work.

Laura’s Waiting

Laura was hiding behind boxes in her basement.  She was playing hide ‘n’ seek with her friends Mary, Amy and Josh.  Josh was “it.”  In her six-year old mind, she felt like she had been waiting for a long time.  Laura silently chuckled, holding her hand over her mouth.  She was pleased that she had picked such a good hiding place.  If Josh didn’t find her soon, she was going to sneak out and try to win by getting to home base without being caught.

It was quiet and warm in the basement.  Laura started to feel herself getting sleepy.  She struggled to stay awake, straining to hear Josh coming to find her.  This reminded her of when she was four and Mommy and Daddy had gone away and come back with John, her younger brother.

Daddy had left her with Aunt Barbara.  Aunt Barbara put Laura on the big bed in her bedroom.   “But I don’t want to take a nap Aunt Barbara,” said Laura.  “I don’t have any toys for you to play with so you’re just going to have to take a nap,” said Aunt Barbara.  After Aunt Barbara left and closed the door, Laura got off the bed and looked for something to play with.  She pulled clothes out of the drawers and looked under the bed.  She found a box of colors, like her watercolors.  Using her fingers, she painted a picture onto the mirror behind the bedroom door.  She knew Aunt Barbara would like it because she already had Laura’s watercolor pictures on her refrigerator.  Then she opened the closet door and found lots of blue, red and black high heels.  After trying on all the shoes and leaving them all over the bedroom, she started pulling down Aunt Barbara’s pretty dresses.  She wanted to look pretty for Mommy and Daddy when they came back to get her.  Laura found a blue, shiny dress.  She put in on and found shoes.  Then she sat on the bed to wait.   She must’ve fallen asleep because the next thing she knew Daddy and Aunt Barbara were in the room.

“What did you do in here?” wailed Aunt Barbara.  “I made you a pretty picture, Aunt Barbara,” said Laura as she pointed to the mirror.  “Daddy, do you like my pretty dress?” she asked Daddy.  Daddy quickly picked her up and left the bedroom, leaving Aunt Barbara frantically picking up make-up, shoes and clothes.

When they got home, Mommy was holding a baby.  It was so tiny.  “This is your new brother, John,” said Mommy.  They wouldn’t let her hold John, but she gently touched his hand and hair.  When she reached to touch his hand, John latched onto her finger and wouldn’t let go.

Suddenly, six-year-old Laura heard the noise of someone coming down the basement stairs.  She held her breath and stayed very still.  Then her Daddy called out, “Laura, it’s time for dinner.  All your friends have gone home.  Time to come out.”  Laura straightened up and came out from behind the boxes, hungry for her dinner.