With a smile of accomplishment Danny closed his window and climbed back into bed.
--

Lauren awoke to a small noise just outside her window. She rolled over to look at the clock; it was just before 8am on a brisk Saturday morning. She pulled her nest of covers up to her neck tightly and smiled as she listened.

--

Lauren had always been a nature girl. The smell of a fresh breeze enchanted her; the sight of a puffy cloud cleared her mind. She enjoyed all of it. Though, if she had to pick a favorite, it was definitely the sounds. Rustling of leaves, crickets chirping, birds singing, it amazed her in every way possible. It started at an early age for Lauren. The Favpart’s spent a lot of time camping. Dad always thought it good for Danny to experience “the real outdoors” as he would put it.

“I’ll teach you how to hook a worm today, Dan.” Dad said.

Hands grasped and fishing rods by their shoulders the boys headed towards the canoe. Lauren would get a different experience out of this though. Her mom took her by the hand and headed towards the trails. The worn out path was covered with packed dirt pounded with footprints. Roots were jutting out, some like small steps, others curled up like a shoelace pulled too loosely. The fallen branches along side the trail gave proof that the rangers didn’t spend much time regularly clearing it. But it was the small coves just off the trail that had the impact on Lauren.

“Follow me.” Mom said.

They ducked under some overhead brush and came to an opening just off the trail. About sixty feet down was a lake that beamed the sun off the top of small waves. The clouds seemed to float by seamlessly. Lauren and mom cleared the brush and stepped further out onto the over looking ledge. A small breeze swept by and Lauren’s hair drifted by her eyes. She closed them for a second and graced her hand across her face to place her hair behind her ear. That was the moment. Her mom reached down and gently touched her hand.

“Keep them closed” She said.

Lauren paused. She stood still with her hand still slightly behind her ear. At first there wasn’t much. A wave crashing on the rock some feet below, a small hum of an engine some miles away… Then it all slowly began to tune in. She could hear fresh stream water trickle down into the lake. The whistle of birds calling back and forth filled her now cupped ear. Lauren could piece together the exact image of the setting just by listening. She saw the water glistening down below and the birds flying over head. She opened her eyes, but she didn’t need to.


--

Her grasp on her covers loosened a bit, and a look of confusion filled her face. With her eyes still closed, Lauren began to cry. It was silent.

--


Danny was your typical thirteen year old boy. Always adventuring, always imagining, always running. His friends would all play war games with fake guns and pretend hand grenades. His mom didn’t like giving him toy guns, but even if she didn’t, he would just make them out of sticks or his fingers or whatever else he could find for that matter. But him wanting a BB gun was a big step up for her, she wasn’t exactly sure yet. Dad didn’t see any harm in it, he had one when he was Danny’s age. Dad told stories to Danny about how he used to hit dimes tied to strings from 100 yards with his old daisy gun.

When the long days of war games finally came to an end Danny would do something he loved even more than pretending to shoot Nazi’s. Sleep. Danny loved sleep. The only time Danny ever woke up early was for school, and even then he was late the majority of the time. He had a system that seemed to work pretty well. Hit the snooze three times, wait for mom to yell twice, then when the doorbell rang for his friends to pick him up to walk to the bus stop he would throw on some clothes and run out the door. On Saturdays and Sundays Danny would sleep until the kids came over to play war, which could be anywhere between two to three in the afternoon.

When Mom finally broke down and bought him a BB gun it could’ve quite possibly been the best day of Danny’s life. Dad was happy too. Mom gave him the speech. Don’t shoot animals, don’t shoot people, Danny didn’t hear the other half, he was too busy staring and taking in his new found power. It was a sleek pump rifle, complete with scope, stainless steel barrel and wooden stock. Danny picked it up; it almost felt natural in his arms.

After a long day of showing off his new toy, and shooting with Dad, Danny was bushed. He looked forward to sleeping in, and then shooting again tomorrow, he bought lots of plastic targets with the money he had been saving. It would be Saturday, which meant he could shoot all day as soon as he woke up, which hopefully for Danny, wouldn’t be until around 2pm.

--

Outside Lauren’s window a small wood pecker took perch on a nearby tree. Its crown rose up and the beady eyes looked over the fresh wood for some tasty insects. It wandered cautiously over to the bulk of the tree and began pecking away at the bark, desperately searching for something to eat. The woodpecker’s beak made a soft beating sound as it hammered away at the tree, like a small hammer driving in a nail. The woodpecker spread its wings to keep balance as it slammed its hard beak into the wood over and over again.

The bullet flew into the woodpecker’s breast. The force knocked the poor bird backward off its perched branch and sent it into a downward spiral off the tree as it died. A few feathers scattered as its body flopped onto the hard ground.

With a smile of accomplishment Danny closed his window and climbed back into bed. Finally he could sleep the rest of the morning in peace.


  posted by Darrell @ 3:14 AM