Short Stories

An Uneventful Day

It was Sunday.  Not a day, but rather a gap between two other days, for it had felt like the most uneventful day in history.  There was no rain, no school, not even a particularly tasty meal prepared on this particular day for this particular boy.  He did not understand how a day could be so uneventful.  Wasn’t this the day after God’s day of rest?  It should be more exciting if it’s already after the rest, thought he.  And yet, there was no such excitement to be found.
    The boy sat up on his already made bed, and pondered how he might make the day more interesting.  A game, he thought.  He could play a game.  But what kind of game?  And with whom?  There was no one around to play such a game, for his father had been out for work, and his mother had been busy with her own hobbies.
    That’s it, he thought!  He would join his mother downstairs.  Were she to say no, he imagined it would be more interesting a day than nothing at all.  There was nothing to lose.  And so he went, venturing down the creaky wooden staircase, and into the arts room where his mother sat, hunched over a piece of cardstock, exacto-knife in hand.  She jumped as he announced himself, tossing the knife into the air.  Time slowed to a near halt as he watched the blade land perfectly into the cracks of the hardwood floor.  He thought it might wave around like an arrow in the cartoons, but there was nothing.  No movement.  It was as though even the knife should desire to be uneventful.
“Don’t scare me like that!” exclaimed the mother, clutching her chest.  She moved to stand up from her chair, and the boy quickly collected her knife, handing her the handle.  “I wanted to join you,” he said, still excited for anything to happen, “I’m sorry I scared you.”
“But of course,” she said, “I’ve got pencils and paper in that drawer over there.”
    The mother pointed to a small chest of drawers in the corner of the room.  As he made his way to materials, he could hear his mother continue carving the paper.  A good thing he did not hinder her own excitement today, he thought.