The Heart of The Season

From high above the field, we see two long lines snaking across the expanse. As we drop towards the earth, movement catches our eye and we follow one of them as he starts across the divide. The waiting team roars its challenge and our man picks up speed. His head is down and his arms are pumping air as he lunges forward and with an explosion of cries from the defenders he slams into their ranks and tears open a hole in the defenses. There is one voice above the others, calling for more strength as our man brings one of them back across the field and the line is set for another attack. Red Rover, Red Rover.

"I fell out of a tree."
"What were you doing in a tree?"
"Climbing."
"That doesn't sound like a very smart idea."
"Its fun."
"Well, look what having fun gets you."

He rocked forward on his heels, balancing in a squat, waiting, as the water cleared, the sand settled and he could make out the waving strands of its feelers. They pinched, if you weren't careful. He'd never eaten one before, his mother always looked into the pail and told him to put them back in the creek. It was never about eating them. It was about catching them.

"We could make a pie.", he looked at me like I was from another planet. It just didn't seem worth it to me. The bushes were so dense and the thorns, when they scratched you, left welts that hurt for days. The seeds stuck your teeth and you could feel them every time you closed your mouth.
"You don't know how to make a pie.", I said. I left him there, scrabbling across the rocky ground and decided to go home and turn on the sprinkler. Sometimes it was the only thing that could take the sting out of the sun, especially on days like this. I'm going to ask for a kite for my birthday. I saw a cool one in the window at the hardware store. It was a box kite and has two handles to control it.
"Hey, wait up."

The door creaked open and it woke him up. He could hear that it was raining outside and there was a familiar rumble in the distance. He asked if it was coming this way and she answered that she thought so. When he opened the porch door, everyone was there, wearing their pajamas; his mother wrapped in a long housecoat with the tie trailing behind her. The dog was so terrified that she had to let him back into the house and he went to find some place he could hide. As he sat down on the veranda the sky flashed silently and they started to count in unison. "One, two, three...", and the sound reached them, subdued and gentle. It was closer that time. The breeze picked up the scent of the lilacs and brushed past them and they all lifted their heads to take in the smell. He kicked his legs and started to swing them over the edge and then the sky lit up again. "One, two, three..."