A warm breeze whishes past her ear.
Her breath whistles through the gap in her teeth.
Her shorts sway as she sits in an unladylike way.
But she doesn’t know that.
She knows she feels comfortable.
She picks up a pebble
And throws it as far as she can.
It goes about ten feet
Before bouncing on the road.
She stares at her line
Her boundary
The one place she’s not allowed to go past.
She stares at the curious rock that sits just beyond it.
Then she picks up a pebble.
She walks her line to the stop sign
And back,
About fifteen times.
It’s only a 20 foot walk after all.
When she’s bored of that,
She walks down her road
Her circle entertains her for a few minutes or so
Until the neighbors want to be in the circle as well.
They gawk
And giggle
And gesture
And gape
And glance.
She walks back up the road.
She sits and listens.
Listens to the cars
To the birds
To the wind
To the pebbles hitting the asphalt
To fireworks going off in the distance
To the neighbor kids playing
To dogs barking
To swings swinging
To the gap in her teeth whistling
She listens.
Then she picks up a pebble.
Author’s Note:
This is an extremely personal piece inspired by own experiences as a very lonely child. I had a difficult time expressing my emotions as a child and it means a lot to me that now I’m able to portray those feelings for a younger me who couldn’t.
Christina Marrero | 17 | North Canton, OH
