The Sun Shines Brightest in June (Completed) gxg

Thursday, August 14, 2008

I woke up in the morning to find Klara's bed empty. Her pajamas

were on the floor next to the bed. Her shoes were gone.

I headed down stairs where both of our families were finding

breakfast in the kitchen. My mother smiled when she saw me walk in.

"Where's Klara?" I asked.

"Oh, she's out for a walk this morning," my mother answered.

"She took Ringo to give him some excersise. Would you like me to make

you some breakfast?"

I shook my head.

"No thanks. I think I'm going to go see if I can catch up with

them."

My first spot was the woods. I walked back to our usual spot, but

Klara wasn't there, and I couldn't see any fresh footsteps from either her

or Ringo. I walked around somewhere, searching the surrounding area,

but after a while it seemed as though she wasn't in the woods at all.

There weren't many places she could go, and I knew she

wouldn't want to walk as far as town, so I decided to go check out the

beach next. I followed the little path that led down to the sandy shore

and, sure enough, she was sitting on a rock farther down. Her jeans were

rolled up to her knees and her bare feet were in the water. Ringo was

lying in the sand by her side.

"Klara!" I called out.

She looked up at me, seeminly startled.

"Sadie... what are you doing here?"

I walked over and took a spot on the rock with her.

"My mother said you took Ringo for a walk. I thought I would

come join you if that's alright."

"Yeah." She nodded slowly. "That's fine."

"How come you're out here all by yourself?" I asked.

She shrugged.

"I just wanted some time to myself I guess. I wanted to think."

"Is everything alright?"

She moved her feet through the water, her eyes focused on the

ripples they caused.

"Yeah. Everything's fine."

The time of her voice suggested that things weren't really fine,

but I dind't know if I should push her to tell me. Klara never pushed me

when I didn't want to talk about stuff. I thought it was only fair to tret her

with the sme respect.

"Do you want me to stay?" I asked, a little afraid that she would

actually say no.

She nodded slowly again.

"You can stay."

I sat quietly at her side. I didn't touch her. I didn't talk to her.

Instead I leaned over every now and then to give Ringo some attention.

For the most part, we were silent, but every now and then Klara would

point out the tiny fish that would group around her feet and then swim

away as fast as bullets. They always brought a smile to her face, and the

smile on her face always brought a sile to mine.

"My parents took me fishing when I was younger," she said as

the sun hit its peak hight in the sky. "It was before we started coming

here. I was only six years old. I remember being at this camp that one of

my uncles owned. The water was so shallow where we were that we

would climb right in with the fish. They didn't seem to have too big of a

problem coming up to us, at least the little ones didn't. I never did catch a

fish, but I did catch a pinecone."

I couldn't help but laugh.

"Sounds like it was fun."

She nodded.

"It was. Things were so much simpler back then."

"Yeah. Things aren't as simple now, are they?"

She shook her head.

"Some days I miss being a little kid. I miss being free of

responsibilities, homework being easy, getting invited to everyone's

birthday, because that's just how it worked at that age. I miss how

innocent everyone was, and how our biggest concerns were what we

wanted to play at recess."

"Yeah, I know what you mean.

She glanced over at me and then opened her moth as though she

wanted to say something more, but nothing came out. Instead she smiled

that faint smile again and simply nodded one more time. A short while

later our parents were calling for us, so we went back up to the house. I

never did figure out what exactly was bothering her.