Look Out, Sunshine! A Short

I feel like I'm getting a sunburn. My face is tingling and I guess that's what it would be like if one was getting burned. I've never had one so I wouldn't know. But since I'm outside and the sun isn't being covered by clouds right now, it would be the perfect time. That's what my mom said anyway. Just think if I was a piece of toast, would I be tingling all over? Well, I suppose I tingle in really freezing weather too so I guess that doesn't count. Maybe it's just the fact that I'm probably as red and a tomato right now, or so my mom said I would, that means that I have a sunburn. Let me think. No. I know that's it. I don't like sunscreen. It makes my face look like a cake. I bet sunscreen on my face is how a cake feels when it has too much frosting. So, no sunscreen for me. So, sunburn for me.

I picked up the pebble beside my foot that happened to be placed in the grass blades beside me. It was alone and I was wondering how a rock got there in the first place. I had no clue. It just sort of happened to be there in the mixture of dirt, grass, and teeny ants. Maybe the ants are strong enough to carry rocks all the way over from the street a hop-skip away. I heard that ants were strong, but they are so tiny. I'm tiny, maybe I'm strong. I held the pebble in front of my face. It was brown. I rubbed it in my palm for a second and the brown didn't rub off. It wasn't dirt. Maybe it was getting sunburned too. That makes me feel a bit better. It must not have put on sunscreen either, but I didn't know rocks had sunscreen.

Now what do I do with a pebble? Why did I even pick it up? I think that maybe it can talk to me. Just like a person could, it might be a friend. But, there isn't much to do with it. I'm not the kids across the street that are much taller than me and goes to the big school down the road. They throw many colored and sunburned pebbles, I guess, at passing cars and I don't see fun of it. It sometimes makes little scars in the car. I'm pretty sure that car scars have names. They aren't people and they don't look like people scars. I tried putting a band aid on a car scar my mom got from accidentally sliding on ice one time. It didn't get better and my mom just took it off and told me, "You're sweet."

I didn't want to stand anymore. Why was I standing? I stand up almost all the time. It seems like that is all I do, along with my parents. I stand in the lunch lines at school and I stand up in gym class and to brush my teeth. My legs I bet would probably be crying from all of the stuff I make them do. They deserve a break once in awhile. I want to sit down anyway. My toes are meeting some of the army ants that carried the sunburned rock.

Plop, that's what it sounded like anyway. The grass felt pointy on my legs and it made them itch. I didn't mind though so I lay completely down so I was lying in the grass like my bed. My hand was getting warm from the sunburned pebble. I bet that's what my face felt like. It probably felt like the Sun in the sky. I lifted my arm up and held the rock in front of the Sun. It was a bright thing and it hurt my eyes. Can eyes get sunburned? That kind of scares me. My parents only said to put on sunscreen and I don't remember them saying put it on your eyes.

Ouch! That burns! I'm done with this. I threw the rock as hard as I could into the sky, up to the only cloud that was floating around. I closed my eyes with my hands as soon as I let go and I counted to as high as I could.

It was a long time. I lost count multiple times. But I opened my eyes anyway. The cloud was gone. The Sun was gone. And the rock was gone. Then suddenly a little drop of water fell onto my face. It felt good. It was cold and my face was hot. Then another drop came, and then another. I liked this after the Sun went away.

My mommy was standing on the porch behind me when I got up and turned around to look. She was standing with her arms crossed, whistling. I still can't whistle. She said that it takes practice and I practice but I can't do it. I told her it was magic like those rabbits out of hats she showed me in picture books. She always tells me, "You're sweet."

"Mommy! Mommy! Guess what?" I yelled at her.

She looked at me with that strange face she makes when I ask her things. "What, dear?"

"I got sunburned!" I yelled again.

She smiled and laughed a little. "Yes you did, sweet pea," my mom said.

"And so did my rock! But I wanted it to get better. I have you to help me, and I don't think rocks have mommies. But I wanted to be its friend, so I thought that maybe since the ants had to carry it, it was tired. I helped it get to those clouds up there!" I was excited. I was jumping up and down and pointing up into the sky. The clouds changed colors. I knew they did that because we did those in weather lessons in class, but this is the first time I've really seen them.

"You're sweet." My mom said again.

I smiled. I like helping others. I looked up at the now grey sky.

"Mommy?" I asked again, "Why didn't it come back down?"

"Was it supposed to dear?"

"I thought it might, to thank me."

"Did this rock talk to you?"

I nodded.

"I'm sure it did, honey."

I smiled again. We beat you, Sun!