The sun was bright above the oaks I now lay under. A sprinkler could be heard in the distance as I closed my eyes and the hammock swayed gently like a mother cradling her baby. Summer afternoons had never felt this good.
My mind was blank to everything and everyone except for my surroundings. A blue jay fluttered over to the bird feeder just about three feet away.
“I wonder where Mom is. It seems too nice out here,” I mumbled in a dreamy voice remembering she always ruined it for me when I was completely relaxed.
In the far end of my mind, the one that was actually on this planet, voices could be heard echoing my name. I opened my eyes and regretted it before I could even focus on the little brats.
“No!” I grunted covering my head with my arms. “Why, oh why, dear God! Why now? Why today?”
My heart raced as I realized my five year old cousins still hadn’t spotted me. A door slammed shut. They were inside. My mom wouldn’t know where to tell them I was. I mean, I am never outside. So, they would thunder upstairs and into my room. They’d look around for any sign of life, but not find any. They would then slither down stairs grumbling a bunch of nonsense. Then, the door would slam aga-
“Slam!” There it was.
“Ha! Yes! I am still alive!” I laughed hold my tummy with one hand and the hammock with the other.” Whoa! I had never gotten away from them before. This really must be my lucky, lazy day,” I thought rolling onto my tummy.
Time seemed to be having trouble on whose side to be in. Sometimes, I would look at my watch, sigh, then check it again and only a few minutes would have gone by. Others, it would accelerate leaving me wondering if the sun had been there five seconds before.
“There is no point to this day…for anyone who is not me,” I mumbled dreamily as I pictured everyone inside dieing of boredom (well just not enjoying this day).
The red I had been enjoying so much behind my eyelids now went blank. The warmth of the sun diminished on my hot, pink face. My brows furrowed in confusion.
“What the…” I opened my eyes and froze as if I had witnessed a murder.
My mom stood above me, her lips pursed in anger. Her thin face was set into a menacing scowl that’d be frightening enough to scare away the devil. She was staring me down and I knew she had been looking for me for quite some time.
“Where on earth have you been! Do you have any idea what time it is? How worried I’ve been? I thought you had been upducted for crying out loud! Don’t you think of anyone else?” she bellowed, her neck veins popping out.
“There she blows,” I thought and then thanked the lord she wasn’t as good of a mind reader as a GPS system. “And where would she think I was now? Seriously, she’s seeing me “right here.”
She turned on her heels and walked furiously inside.
“Wow! She didn’t even wait for my response! She must have been really upset… Oh well, let my day, or rather, what’s left of it, continue.” I sighed as the sky began exploding with color as the sun began to set. “I can’t wait for tomorrow.”