Adventures in Swepan & Growing Up: Saturdays are the worst (optional & open)
Saturday Yuya’s mother is in charge of the play group. Six children have the run of the park while the woman chats with some man. He has a nice green aura, much better than Yuya’s father. Yuya’s father’s aura has a slimy black spot right where his stomach should be and it makes Taiki a little ill if he stares at it too long.
But Saturdays are the worst. While Taiki enjoys a break from the usual forced socialization, the lack of supervision often puts him at a disadvantage. He is not the youngest, nor the smallest, but for some reason Taiki seems to draw negative attention nearly every week. And despite his best efforts, today looks to be no different.
He’s only beginning to understand the red aura as it stalks towards him. Taiki runs through the rhyme his mother taught him last month and just a moment before he’s pushed over determines that Shuya is probably angry. His right hand scrapes the edge of the sidewalk and the hip of his trousers slides in mud. From his position on the ground Taiki stares up at the boy, utterly confused. He has no idea why he’s been shoved or why Shuya would be upset.
“Did you tell my sister she’s got a ghost stuck to her?”
Taiki just nods. He still doesn’t have a clue. Black eyes glance from Shuya to his younger sister, some feet back; the gray spirit with hollow eyes just grins at him. Taiki wonders if the ghost will still teach him how to fold a crane after all this…
Shuya growls and reaching down to wrench the bag from Taiki’s back. “My mother was right, you are weird!” With that the pack is heaved towards the lake, landing with a wet ‘splosh’ just off the muddy shore. “Don’t talk to me or my sister ever again!” The eight year old screams, face red. Shuya stalks off, back towards the group of now-staring children. Yuya’s mother is still deep in a conversation with her friend.
After another stunned moment, Taiki finally climbs to his feet. He doesn’t understand the sequence of events, doesn’t connect that telling Shuya’s sister that she has a deceased person clinging to her back made both the boy and the girl upset. To Taiki it is all very mysterious and he’s beginning to think that he’ll never understand people.
The six (and a half) year old wades out into the shallow edge of the lake to retrieve his backpack.
But Saturdays are the worst. While Taiki enjoys a break from the usual forced socialization, the lack of supervision often puts him at a disadvantage. He is not the youngest, nor the smallest, but for some reason Taiki seems to draw negative attention nearly every week. And despite his best efforts, today looks to be no different.
He’s only beginning to understand the red aura as it stalks towards him. Taiki runs through the rhyme his mother taught him last month and just a moment before he’s pushed over determines that Shuya is probably angry. His right hand scrapes the edge of the sidewalk and the hip of his trousers slides in mud. From his position on the ground Taiki stares up at the boy, utterly confused. He has no idea why he’s been shoved or why Shuya would be upset.
“Did you tell my sister she’s got a ghost stuck to her?”
Taiki just nods. He still doesn’t have a clue. Black eyes glance from Shuya to his younger sister, some feet back; the gray spirit with hollow eyes just grins at him. Taiki wonders if the ghost will still teach him how to fold a crane after all this…
Shuya growls and reaching down to wrench the bag from Taiki’s back. “My mother was right, you are weird!” With that the pack is heaved towards the lake, landing with a wet ‘splosh’ just off the muddy shore. “Don’t talk to me or my sister ever again!” The eight year old screams, face red. Shuya stalks off, back towards the group of now-staring children. Yuya’s mother is still deep in a conversation with her friend.
After another stunned moment, Taiki finally climbs to his feet. He doesn’t understand the sequence of events, doesn’t connect that telling Shuya’s sister that she has a deceased person clinging to her back made both the boy and the girl upset. To Taiki it is all very mysterious and he’s beginning to think that he’ll never understand people.
The six (and a half) year old wades out into the shallow edge of the lake to retrieve his backpack.