Chapter 1
By Silvia Ryan Hale
My brother ran around me in joyful circles, making the grass dance. A slight breeze tickled the back of my ears almost as if mother nature’s hand was reaching out to say hello. Bees cheerfully bumbled around the maze of purple, pink, and blue wildflowers.
“Sissy! Look what I found!” Gabrien hollered, running toward me. He opened his slender fingers to reveal a greenish blob.
“Come closer, I can’t see it!” I squealed back to him.
He bound closer and closer and with every step he took, a beautiful emerald green leaf came into view. He gracefully fell forward into me ecstatic to show what he found.
“Are you ready?”
“Sure am!” I responded, peering inside his docile clutch.
The most beautiful clover lay in his hands, small meagre water droplets glistening in the sun.
“Can I hold it?”
“Okay, but be gentle,” he responded; I was already reaching out.
The hint of a grin climbed across his face and I squinted back at him to match his expression. I slowly lowered my eyes to take a look...
A more in-depth look at the clover revealed hundreds of layers of beautiful green fibres. The clover leaves were almost perfect heart shapes, one of a kind. I slowly counted the leaves while Gabrien stared at me beaming. 1… 2… 3… 4…
“Gabrien! Did you notice this?!”
“Of course, that’s why I picked it silly!”
“It is the most perfect clover I have ever laid my eyes upon,” I gasped. “Can we take it to mom? I would love to show her!”
Without saying a word Gabrien grabbed my free hand and pulled me off the ground. We grasped each other’s hands as if to never let go.
“Come on!” he cheered.
We ran through the streets of our beautiful town. All of the vintage little houses formed a mosaic of our lives. The peeling paint almost seemed to perk up as we ran by. We hollered hello in unison to anyone we passed.
“It’s around lunchtime, I think we should look for mama at a cafe!” Gabrien said, glancing slightly at me.
“That seems like a good idea to me, anyways it is closer than home is.”
After a couple of peaceful minutes skipping through the cobblestone streets, we arrived at the cosiest cafe on our block.
“Mama! Mamaaaa?” Gabrien yelled out, not minding the disturbance he was making.
“Hush! I don’t think she is here!” I hissed at him, “let people enjoy their calm lunches.”
We both glanced ahead at our apartment building and then looked back at each other, thinking the same thing. We were still clutching each other’s hands so we set off in a rush to find mama.
