Say Something Saturday

Assignment via AMI. (A fictional story-go to Ami's blog to read the assignment.) I'm early but this will count as my Saturday blogging!!

The Mood Change

I decided that I just could not take it anymore. I needed to get away from my family even if it was only for a short walk around our little community. It was that wonderful time of day where everything is drawing to a close, crickets chirping all around. Fireflies are flickering, not in the full glory the way God intended just yet, as the dark is slowly taking over the daylight. This was my favorite time of day. All along the street, neighbors were sitting out on their porches watching their children play. Lawnmowers were being put away. Kids were getting just a few more minutes of bike riding time in before pedalling quickly home. Dusk- the very tip of the end of the day.

I was approaching my favorite house on our tree-lined street. It was the most recent addition. My children and I had watched it from the time they first broke ground until now-when even the lawn and landscaping were well-established. As they built it we tried to imagine what it would look like and who our new neighbors would be. It was such a large house, we imagined there would be alot of children living there, but we were mistaken. There was only one little girl, eight-year-old Liza. She was a bit of a tomboy, usually wearing rolled up overalls and no shoes. She practically lived in one of the many low-limbed oak trees in her yard. They were good climbing trees. My own children had climbed those trees often before the lot had been surveyed and then purchased by the McCloud family. We were sad to lose such a fun lot to play in-all the neighborhood was, but we had the excitement of the new construction and all our unanswered questions about its occupants to distract us.

Today was no different from usual, I could see Liza's legs dangling down from her roost. I wondered what on earth could make a child love being in a tree so much. She was holding a very large bouquet of flowers in her hand. They were the largest hydrangeas I had ever seen. She had at least 4 of the blue beauties. Somebody somewhere was not a happy camper to have their prize flowers so carelessly plucked away. From the looks of them, slightly wilted, she had been holding them in her hand a while.

My dark mood had passed almost as soon as I walked out the door of my house, smelling the wonderful freshly cut grass mingling with all the other sweet smells of summer. Seeing Liza in that tree with those flowers made me smile and I had to find out what on earth she was up to. As I got closer to the tree, I could see the very tip top of a blue robin egg poking out of her bib overall pocket.

"Hey Liza.", I said. "What are you doing up there with all of those flowers?"

"Just waiting for Mrs. Roberts to get home. Today is her birthday and I have two very special surprises for her. These flowers are one surprise, but I bet you will never ever guess the other one.", Liza answered.

I've never been one to be a surprise spoiler so I smiled and listened as she told me all about how she had found a robin egg that was completely hatched out but still almost completely whole too. It was a very rare find, I had to give her that!! I praised her for being so thoughtful and assured her that our neighbor would love them. Mrs. Roberts was one of the sweetest little old ladies ever. She was newly widowed, Mr. Roberts had passed away only 6 short months before. Everyone loved her and she was probably being treated to a night out to dinner by one of her many friends. Liza knew she would be home before dark and was waiting patiently to present her with the treasures.

Just then we saw lights turning onto our dead end street. Liza recognized the car immediately and hopped down ready to do some big-time surprising. I smiled as I made my way back to the road and headed back toward my own home. God had certainly blessed my walk tonight. It's really hard to be in a bad mood when you are surrounded by the beauty of neighborhood and nature. I couldn't wait to share the story of Liza's surprise with my family. We had taken scones to Mrs. Roberts this morning for her birthday. Mrs. Roberts loved sweets and we loved taking them to her any chance we got. We had seen lots of people come and go all day making her day that much brighter. It was nice to know we were not the only ones remembering such a sweet lady on her special day.