As Fate Would Have It
It was a cool winter day, and the wind lifted the kites as the children joyfully played. I was taking part in the weekly ritual, by taking my son, Robbie, to the park to fly kites. We do this every Sunday, and like every Sunday, it was perfect kite-flying weather.
On the car ride to the park, I was talking to Robbie about his grades. Although Robbie responded to my questions, the responses were minimal. It seemed like my questions were going in one ear and right out the other. Although my son’s grades were not the best, I hoped for him to reach his full potential and to have a bright future.
As we pulled in to the lot at the county park, the wind was roaring and all of Robbie’s friends were already maneuvering their kites in the sky. Clouds began to develop. The winter winds sent chills up my spine. I joined all of the other dads on the park bench and watched the children wrestle with the windy skies. While sitting on the bench, one of the men started talking about a book he had been reading called The Kite Runner. Out of curiosity I asked about the book, and what it was about. His description of the book made me want to read it, until he reached the middle of his summary. I became overwhelmingly joyous, to say the least, that my son was not into “fighting kites.” I had butterflies in my stomach after the man’s summary: The book sounded too solemn for my current tastes.
Suddenly, out of the corner of my eye I saw a purple kite, just like my son’s, and a little boy very much like my son chasing after it. It was not long before I realized that it was my son. I swiftly rose to my feet, and saw the now tiny purple kite flying through the sky. Now the kite was no longer over the meadow. It began to soar over the woods. As I told my son to stay with his friends, I ran into the woods. Not long after running into the woods, I lost sight of the kite. It was all downhill from there.
I began to focus on the task at hand, and continued running. As I looked to the sky one more time, I ran right into a thick, low-lying branch at the base of a stout tree trunk. I tried to stand up, but it was no use. I was way too dizzy to stand up. I had been knocked senseless by an immovable object.
I started to gain my senses once again. The first sense to return was my eye sight. As soon as I could see clearly, I saw the purple kite twisting through the air with a pink contrail. I stood up as fast as I could and took off directly towards it. I didn’t run long before I found the kite. It was off in the distance, at the top of a very large pine tree.
There was one problem. It was on the other side of the river. I decided to cut my losses and go back to the park to find my son. When I arrived, my son was ready to go home. He was so cold that he did not care about his lost kite, and a blanket of snow began to fall.