I
It was the midst of the sun season and the trees were greening, as they often were. They reached high above me until I couldn’t see where, trailing into a whipped honey sky. We sat on the grass, and we sat in a circle. There were four of us with the little red poppies tilting on our heads. I did not want to cover my eyes.
Catch a teddy by the collar.
If he hollers let him go,
I sang first. I held my knee, and the breeze played the wind-chime.
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe.
The backyard was the coverings of my consciousness as I hurried to and fro across the grass, there were occasional trees, speckled with dull grey. And stumbling across the paths where the yorkie-dogs run, I passed below the branch where the bumblebees had been the day before, and there were dandelions in the way and ground-coverings lining the flowerbeds.
Faint numbers could be heard rising, slow lady-words in ascent, accented as they grew near their end, seventeen eighteen, all in a streaming row. Jason hurried by me in search for a spot to hide. He smiled wide and laughed politely as he passed. I was behind the long white trees. Autumn, far on the other side of the trampoline, was counting quietly, but I scarcely heard then. Peka ran around at my ankles, barking joyfully. I told her, with soft air, to hush or she would give me away. I ducked below the strawberries, those in the grove on the left side of the yard facing the cherry tree. Briana was there too. I don’t think I meant it to be, but it was nice that way.
We whispered until the counting ended. We said small things, as those were all we knew. Long light hair framed her face, and a white dress made of summer down kept a thin layer between her legs and the grass. The lingering aroma of lavender across linens was fresh. For our immeasurable words, she was lulling. She leaned her arm against one of the polished trees surrounding us, and white powder stained her wrist. Laughing softly, she brushed it away. Hiding was easy, so we could sit with our knees in the grass and laugh without worry, while the scent of strawberry leaves swam in our noses.
She told me about the pretty glass pendant around her neck, how if you held it in the light it poured out rainbows. I asked her to show me and she said she would after hide and seek. The sun slipped in and out of clouds and filtered through the trees.
—Promise we’ll get married when we grow up? Briana’s lips were supple and pale as she smiled. Her voice was smooth and young so we wrapped our pinkies up the way of oath. We spoke some, then in unison. She hushed with one finger to her lips, the counting was over and the game had begun. I kissed her cheek then, our heads still hidden under the strawberries.
My eyes were over-exposed, but the sky was a lighter blue than anytime I had seen before. Longer I liked to linger on my sleeves and think about roseate nothings and birdhouses. She was still beside me, we shared a place; and I don’t know what she was thinking, but I knew she was beside me.
The grey quaky seeds fell on our heads and onto the corolla of our flowers, as we sat voiceless in the forgetful moment after words. We were found soon by Autumn, teasing in her coffee curls and laughing as she came from across the trampoline. She swung around the long white trees and, smiling so, saw us sitting there. We had lost, but lovely it was, to lose.
