he focused on the target and emptied his thoughts. 5 arrows grouped themselves in the black portion. great.
he inhaled anew for another run and pulled the string back. he momentarily held back and released one arrow after another. one was below mark. hmmm, bad.
that girl disturbed him. what happened? it made him shiver. focus!
* * *
she sought help from somebody for her school project about the building and design of the church, but nobody was about until she got near the altar.
"hellllooo!" she called. were they eating lunch?
there was some movement at the back. what was that sound? delle wondered. she went around towards it.
there was an open buffer zone between the fence and the church. she saw there was somebody near the boundary-fence with the school.
"heelllloo!" she called out. the figure of a man did not notice.
* * *
noel adjusted the sight angle as he went back to 15-meter distance when he mastered the 10-meters.
although grouped in the upper right quartile, he was not satisfied. they were way off-mark.
he has released the second arrow when he heard the voice. was he dreaming? he has acquired target picture and was holding his breath ready to release his arrow when he heard that sing-song voice again.
what a distraction! he relaxed the string and returned the arrow to its quiver.
* * *
the boy was her age, delle thought. and she saw him holding a strange object. what was that?
she was that altar boy! funny, too that he was skinny... and burnt, like a forgotten scarecrow, she giggled!
* * *
boy oh boy! my sight is killing me, noel said to himself. i am seeing things. beautiful things, such as this!
then the stark realization hit him hard. it was the girl!! was she smiling at me? am i that funny? oh no, i am damned! why was she here? what will i do?
he was tongue-tied.
"hello! what are you doing, boy?"asked delle. she saw him fidgeting. was he blushing? she cannot fathom that because of his skintone. he looked awkward. she repeated the question. but it seemed he did not understand. she approached and saw that by his actions he was dumbfounded. she did not know why. she touched the strange thing the boy handled.
"what is this thing, boy?" she asked.
"ahh.. huhh.. duhh.." why cannot i speak? noel wondered why his heart raced. he swallowed hard before answering. "this is an archery bow, ma'am!"
"you are an archer?! that's nice! teach me how?" she was excited.
"i am sorry, ma'am! looks you may not get the bow-string back!" he found himself grinning. at least, he knew what he was talking about. "but, i will show you how!"
that's how his life begun anew.
