Hot Pop and a Pal

The engine of the motor vibrated the handle of the lawnmower as she pushed it along the lawn. The smell of freshly cut grass tickled her nose. She watched the swirl of grass coming from beneath the mower shoot out in a blizzard of bits-n-pieces. She stopped the mower near her picnic table and reached for her soda. She took a sip of the slightly warm fizz and swallowed. Still refreshing even though the sun had warmed it a bit. She pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of her head and ran her forearm across her sweaty brow.

She could hear Charlie playing in their clubhouse (the remnants of an old dog house, that had been cleaned up and painstakingly painted for Charlie by Valerie) with her friend, Patricia. When the mower had stopped they had run from the clubhouse to gather up some of the clumps of grass. They gathered the grass in some old pots and pans. They giggled as they threw clumps at each other before hurrying back to their game of house.

Watching them play, the smell of freshly cut grass and warm pop made her think back to the time when her world consisted of her best friend, her clubhouse and the world at her fingertips. . .


The mid morning sun beat down on Joy and Teddy as they collected twigs, stones, pieces of wood and other treasures. Joy bent over a piece of bark from a maple tree. She traced along the blunt edge of it and felt the roughness of the bark against her soft tip of her finger. This was an Indian spearhead. Not the first find in this region. Her and her partner had been summoned here to scout out this unchartered region. Shortly their team would be arriving so Joy wanted to make sure that she or her partner found most of the relics before the team arrived. What they found together was special.

"Teddy, c'mere," she called to her partner. The youthful lad dropped his shovel and hustled over to her spot. She held up the spearhead for his inspection. He cleaned the palms of his hand on his jeans before he carefully took the spearhead in his hands. He turned it over and examined it closely.

"Wow, rare find. In good condition. This will be good for the museum." He handed the spearhead back to Joy.

Joy proud of the praise smiled at her dear friend. She had to put this in their camp. While Teddy walked back to his spot she made her way to where they had set up camp.

Their camp consisted of an old building that had once been used during Christmas as the Nativity setting with an old torn sheet draped over to keep out the fierce animals in the night.

Joy opened up the sheet and went inside. She placed the spearhead on the shelf along with the other relics including bones, pottery, glass, skulls, daggers and precious stones. She gently picked up her favorite find. A precious stone probably worn by the daughter of an Indian chief. She held it up in the little ray of sunshine that beamed through a hole in the sheet. The precious stone was white with flecks of blue (a marble discarded probably from Valerie's collection). She placed it back on the shelf and picked up Teddy's favorite relic. It was a dagger with the inscription of a bear's paw on the handle. This had lasted for years buried in the ground.

He had explained to Joy that this dagger had been used to kill the enemies of the tribe. However the enemies had killed many and sickness had taken all the rest but one small warrior. He had been given this very dagger by his father just before he had passed onto the Great Hunting Ground. He had seen all of his people die one by one and now he was alone. One bright sunny day, just like today, he had held the dagger high over his head, chanting praises to the Gods and to his people who were no longer. Then in one swift action he had pierced the dagger given to him by his father through his heart.

She let out a little sigh for the warrior who had never known the love that a woman could give. He had died before he could hear his children sing praises of him. This made her sad. Sad for the little warrior who would never be a father.

She parted the sheet and looked out at her dear friend. She wondered if Teddy would ever find a bride. Would they still play together once he did? Maybe, just maybe she might be that bride. Yuck, like that will ever happen.

She put the dagger back on the shelf and left the camp. She wanted to find more treasures and more stories. . .


Joy took one more sip of the hot pop and slid the sunglasses back over her eyes.

As she reached down to start the mower she heard Charlie exclaim, "Patricia, quick, c'mere. Look at what I found!"