As he waddled down the road, he missed his mom. Of course he did. He had been in school for a while, but it was still short enough that everyday around 10:30am, he missed home. It never really occurred to him on the way to school that in a few hours he would be miserable.
Instead, he would usually count his steps. Or listen to his neighbors as he walked softly past their homes. Sometimes, he'd stop and try to catch the occasional bug or persuade one of the local alley cats to come over to him for a scratch. He had thoughts of stopping to see what his mother had packed him, but he always managed to suppress them. As good as pudding would be for breakfast, he knew he would just be sad later in the day when he would finish his bologna and cheese sandwich to find he had no dessert.
He was happy today and he had decided he wasn't going to get sad. No. Not possible. Not today. No way.
A). It was grilled PB & J with bananas day. His mom would sneak it as his lunch sometimes, knowing it was his favorite - but today, he smelled it seeping through the creases in his lunch bag.
B). It was a bright and sunny day. Recess would be outside! He and his friends had promised (pinky promised) to play tag on the next sunny day. No one in his class could out run him, although he would occasionally slow down so he could have the pleasure of chasing people.
C). It was Friday! Not only was it the weekend tomorrow, but it was the guessing jar today! His teacher always had a new jar filled with candy every week and on fridays, everyone in class would get to guess how many pieces were in it. The student with the closest guess would win it. He studied all week. Counting every visible candy when he had a free moment in class. This weeks prize was pretzel M&Ms and he had counted 174 of them.
He got a sudden itch in his nose as he was walking and as most young boys do, he put a finger in his nostril and spun it around.
It relieved the itch, but he felt something up there. Digging a bit deeper, he eventually pulled his hand out, with a trophy on the end. It was a big one.
He stared at it and giggle. He never understood why people always told him he was "digging for gold." It didn't look anything like good. It wasn't even yellow. It was more green than anything. His friends were such dumbies.
He continued walking, rubbing his hand and prize on a towel hanging off a clothes-line on the side of the street.
Yup, he was going to win those M&M's.
Today was going to be the best friday ever.
Ooooh, I am remembering a certain little someone who was sad mid mornings, wanting to be home (I won't go as far as saying he was missing ME...).
ReplyDeleteI am glad the boy in the story chose the M&Ms over the booger - though both probably have a level of saltiness to them (OK, yuck!).
And, talking about missing people - my heart is breaking I miss you so much.
ieyu, ilys.