Slices of Life by R K Smith

Author:R K Smith
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: personal growth, captivating, heartwarming stories, prevail, inspiring insightful
Publisher: R K Smith

A Serendipity Bush

As he chased the soccer ball down the gently sloped grass of the back yard, Peter Sanderson imagined a play-by-play announcer’s voice. “Rooney swings the ball wide to Sanderson, who’s streaking down the right side. He chests the ball to his feet, nudging it ahead but keeping up his incredible pace. Sergio Ramos is the only defender left who could possibly catch him but Sanderson quickly pulls into the clear. He cuts inside, then bends the ball towards the goal with a powerful kick.”

As he envisioned this last commentary, Peter unleashed a mighty boot towards the lawn chairs he had set at the foot of the yard to act as goal posts. The ball hit the top of the left one and bounced over the fence.

Great, Peter thought in dismay. Now that he had turned thirteen, his parents had finally decided to leave him alone while they went for groceries. He knew from overheard conversations on the school bus that this was a freedom his classmates had been experiencing for some time; however, they didn’t have his challenges.

He scratched his head. Now what?

He had never even spoken to the people next door since they moved to the village two months ago in March. Mom said she thought they came from the city because the week after they arrived, in Harrison’s General Store she had heard the man ask if they carried artichokes.

Every morning, Peter watched the old man walk to the end of the drive to pick up his newspaper. He had not seen the woman since they struggled up the laneway on the day they moved in from the vehicle with big blue letters spelling ‘Handivan’ on its side. She was in a wheelchair towing a wheeled tank while being pushed by the man, a clear plastic tube coming out the top of the tank attached to a mask over her nose.

“It’s oxygen,” Dad explained when Peter had asked. “There are many possible reasons why a person has to drag it around but I imagine that tank and tube must feel like a ball and chain after a while.” Then he added, “The new nameplate on their mailbox says ‘Smelty.”

Peter’s hyperactive mind wondered if the oxygen had the odor of rotten eggs, then jumped to Paul Stankowski at school, who everyone called ‘Stench’.

Normally, Peter didn’t speak to people unless circumstances absolutely demanded it, which was one of his difficulties. But that wasn’t the reason his parents had never before left him alone. In fact, once when he was little, he had overheard his mother say it was a blessing. “Don’t have to worry about him talking to strangers,” she told one of the other mothers at the playground beside the Community Centre.

Their biggest worry was that he would do something bizarre. It was not his harmless obsession with plants. He knew the names, both Latin and common everyday ones, for most everything that grew within a one kilometer radius, and that circle was expanding as his world did.

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