Shamma Muhammed

Wet Grass

"Come back here right now!" yelled my sister. She was exactly six feet behind me trying her best to carry all the bags and chase after me at the same time. I can feel her footfalls on the pavement as she tried to catch up with me but I knew that if I ran placing each foot on alternate squares of the pavement I'd be too quick for her. I looked up and saw the blue sky above me.

I stopped in my tracks gazing in wonderment. The sky was a brilliant blue; it looked like the picture of my mother in a blue dress. She could have cut a piece of the sky today and made it in to a dress. Where was she? Why was she not around anymore? I looked down and saw my feet on a grey square of the pavement.

I should keep moving, leave a square and step on the next one. The whole pattern would go wrong if I stepped on the wrong square and it would... it would just not be right. It is hard to walk like this but I cannot take smaller strides. I walk faster and right in to someone.

"Watch it kiddo!" yelled the man as he hurried off; I had stepped on the wrong square. The was bad... there was a bad feeling about all of this. I needed to; no I have to step off the pavement. I could feel the vibration of the ground beneath me as the speeding cars zoomed past. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be so free and so fast? I wanted to touch one as it drove past me. I got closer.

The blaring horn behind caught me surprise and horror. It was so loud! Loud things were never pleasant and stepped back as quickly as I could. I looked around me and saw green in the distance.

The garden had a white fence around it. Drops of water on each blade of grass glistened in the sunlight. It was beautiful. I stood there trying to soak it all in. To make a mental picture of the grass in my head more perfect. Sprinklers in the garden rotated the left twice and once to the right. Each time the grass sparkled even more in the sunlight with every new drop of water.

Suddenly my feet felt itchy. I pulled off my sandals stood on one foot while I itched my other foot with my left hand. My skin felt dry and dusty. I started to wobble on one foot and finally lost balance.

The wet grass felt like heaven! And I lay face down, rubbing the silky wet grass with my palms. I rolled over and laughed out loud. I'm glistening like a water droplet in the sun now! This felt good...This felt just perfect.

"There you are! Get up from the grass! See how muddy your clothes are!" I heard my sister calling to me a few feet behind. I lifted my head and smiled. She stopped and smiled at me too. "Seems like somebody had a good time alone in the city" she said as she held out a hand to pull me up.

I took her hand and stood up. I looked at the grass and wished I could have stayed longer. I looked at my hand my sister was holding firmly and sighed. There was no way I could wriggle out of that grip. I tried to say something but I only made a few sounds which she took no notice of as she bent down to pick up the many bags she was carrying. I sighed again and started walking with her.