The sun’s beams bore down onto the grassy mountainside that towered over the river as it playfully wound its long course in front of their dominating presence. Several trees dotted the mountainside their protective leaves adding shelter from the intense sun. As if like in a nostalgic dream I sat under one of the trees as I watched the shapes of several children splash in the river’s foamy waters.
The sight along with the filtered light from the tree overhead put me deeper and deeper into a wayward longing that seemed to plunge into the very depths of my being. What I missed was my childhood and the wondrously brilliant curiosity that was correlated with the innocence you still carried then, that innocence which I had lost when I first became a teenager.
Laughter from the children rebounded all around me. How worry free they were, in their young and naïve presence. They live in a pure world of bliss and joy. Each and every one of them was still free from the common problems that plagued adolescent and adult life.
Free to wonder and dream. Their behaviors not too closely watched for stigmas let them be truly free from many things. Mostly it allowed them to be free from society’s rigid rules and stale traditions.
In an odd way I felt truly happy they still had this chance. For soon the horrid chains, modern life ties on you will become a cumbersome burden to them. Another part of me wanted to warn them and tell them to run from those strong chains. But where could they run?
I looked up and saw one of the figures starting to run to me. It seemed the hot sun gave him more energy and vigor to him than it did to people my age. Once you hit your teenage years the sun seems to start draining you of energy more than giving it to you. As the figure drew closer I recognized it as being my little brother. His smile widened revealing a gap in his teeth where he lost his first tooth.
“Why are you so serious?” he asked me sitting down next to me. I found his attempt to try and figure me out one of the basic essences of childhood. Always trying to figure out what was way beyond you.
"Something you can’t understand till you’re older” I replied.
“No fair,” he said in a whiny voice.
I couldn’t help but laugh at him. What he wanted to know might one day be something he didn’t want to know. With a light hearted sigh, that in a couple of years will sound more convincing, he ran off to join the other kids again.
A bird started singing and for some reason I felt my longing for the past leave. The void that was left by it was filled with an unusually tint of happiness and cheer. It was strong like the sun or this hot summer’s day. Maybe just maybe it was like what those kids felt. An emotion strong and bright radiated through me. Eventually something will happen to make this emotion pale or maybe even darker but the important thing is that I could feel it in my veins right now. I closed my eyes and bathed in this feeling as I let the bird’s melodic song and the children’s timely splashes wash over me.
Just in case you didn't figure it out, my color is yellow.
