I had just gotten home from work.. it was probably shortly after 7:00p. The night before, Kar and Kim had planted their annual summer garden out back. Not a big one, but plenty of good bounty, to be sure... tomatoes, Cucumbers, and herbs galore. But I digress.
In digging up last year's plants, we had come across a small warrior. That is to say... He-man. An action destroyer... well... a doer of violent yet necessary deeds.. yes, that's probably the best way to go about describing him. He looked not unlike this:
He was just hanging out in our back yard. Well... the 'man doesn't really ever just 'hang out' does he? Probably reconnaissance.
So we planted him. The girls had just finished the last round of fertilizer, and everything was looking great. It was then that we realized that some small level of security was in order. These plants were young, and tender, and their future was bright. Luckily, 'the most powerful man in the universe' (according to Wikipedia), the skull-crusher himself, had just moments ago fallen directly into our hands.
We chose to place him from and centre... right there in front of the baby tomatoes, snugly tucked into the topsoil. With a healthy view of the entire property, he was ideally placed to protect the premises. As an extra precaution, we procured a staff (a twig) and placed it firmly in his right hand. Done deal.
So I had arrived home from work yesterday, and was grabbing a glass of water in the kitchen. And through the window above the sink, a strange sight befell my eyes. Two small boys... maybe 8 and 10 years of age... plump, but agile, had silently breached our lot line. Passing through the gate tucked away in the back corner, they were now hiding behind the recycle bins, presumably deciding on the appropriate next move. Undoubtedly, they had spotted their property from across the fence. They had come to collect.
There was a tension here. They were in enemy territory now... and they knew it. You remember that feeling. Things sound different in the neighbour's yard. There's a weird smell... perhaps the light plays differently on grass....
I was watching these events unfold with mild amusement. I had half a mind to race out the back door screaming, catching them in the act and forever altering their collective sense of self-worth...
And then, before I could act on my evil ambitions, the oldest was off like a flash!!
He ducked out from behind the bin so fast I hardly saw it happen. He was tearing across the back yard like a rabbit on a mine-field. Like when your parents would ask you to take the trash out to the barrel in the back field at 10:00pm... it wasn't a question of whether the bullets were coming... only whether you could outrun them.
And oh did he run! ... and then swooped down on "the vanquisher of all things unsavoury" with a reckless abandon. Such speed, and, yet... finesse. In one fluid motion, almost Jeter-esque as he pulled his prize from the dirt and turned back upstream.... Those last few steps to safety always were the longest, weren't they?
It was a rescue that lasted all of 4 seconds. And yet it meant the world. I saw the older of the two smiling deeply as he passed back through the gate, safely onto home soil. There was relief in those eyes... as though he had realized his potential, taken that next step towards becoming a man.
And little brother? All admiration. There are moments that tell you who you are, and then there are moments that tell you who you want to be...
J
2 comments:
Oh, the fear and trepidation that wracked my body when asked to take out the junk bowl late at night. I still remember the feeling of panick, searching through Dad's office for a weak, yet slightly working flashlight hoping against all odds that it would protect me from whatever was out there in the fence-row.
Lovin' the He-Man memory - didn't one of you boys dress up as him for halloween one year? I know for sure I was She-ra (his equally strong and buffed counter-part). Good memories....
This is stinkin' hilarious. I almost peed myself... thanks for that.
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