By The Swing

When I noticed I woke up late, I quickly ate my breakfast and changed. I almost tripped down the stairs, going to my car. What I was late for was my mum’s birthday.
I bought a gift for her at the little store of ceramics. She would love one, I thought.
The party when I came was a little one. Only my siblings, my aunt and my uncle were there.
“Happy Birthday, mum!” I greeted her, “How are you?”
“Oh, thank you. I’m ok right now,” she said sweetly.
I handed her my gift, and as usual, she was delighted. She put it on a desk where there were other gifts.
“You just missed the moment she blew her candle, big brother!” said a voice. It was Ariel, my little sister, tugging me. She had a disappointed look on her face.
“Yeah, dude! You like, totally missed the whole thing!” complained my other sister and brother.
As you can see, I was the eldest and Ariel was the youngest.
“Ah, it doesn’t matter anymore,” my Mom affirmed, “Let’s just celebrate!”
My aunt brought some baked goods, as she would usually do when there was a special event. Today she brought (oh here it comes,) the much dreaded pecan pie! We didn’t really like pecan pie so much.

I went back home a different way. As for now because I was quite tired of carrying Ariel at my back.
I passed by some places I knew a bit too well. There was Fred, cleaning his ice cream parlor. I went there to sometimes chill or just peacefully read a book. And never getting bored of the strawberry sundae.
And then there was a playground inside the park. Maybe I should go there some time, I said thoughtfully. The playground was where my father used to bring me. He would push me when I was on the swing. And I would rock back and forth.
I saw a girl on one of the swings. I couldn’t really see her face. She seemed to be a teenager. I then changed my attention on my way home.

As I went up back my apartment I heard some noises. It was my friend playing the drums quite loudly with his band. He was preparing for an event tomorrow.
I jumped backwards towards my bed. I was suddenly sinking into it. My eyes couldn’t hold on any longer. It had to rest for now.
The next morning I woke up, on the floor. Unfortunately, my face was against the ground where there were some pizza stains.
I washed my face and stared at it on the mirror for one minute. While I was doing that I remembered the girl on the swing. I got a bit curious but then, I have better things to do.
I sat down on my favorite chair. In front of me was the T.V. I turned it on and saw a guy wearing a swim suit advertising a cold drink. He was dancing idiotically. Poor thing, I sighed.
‘Click’.
The next channel was a game show. You could see in the eyes of the contestant that she was desperate to get the grand prize. But she didn’t. And the rest is history.
‘Click’.
This time it was an advertising show. A man would tell a woman about his machine. A cooking machine, in particular. The he would do some actions of taking in the food and in seconds it would be out ready and good to go. She tasted it. Her expression was delighted but I felt a bit of a “gross” expression beneath it.
‘Click’
That moment I switched the channel once more, I wished I hadn’t. Because that moment was an interaction with a spokesperson. He pointed his big sausage-like finger at me with a big grin.
“Is life too normal for you nowadays?”
“Yes,” I muttered. Somehow I just wanted to know what the people in the movies felt like.
“Then maybe you should get out of that chair and go to Play Land! Where you can get all your outdoor needs!”
Heck, the computer nerds watching this are probably mad at this guy, I thought.
“And of course, playground items! Slides, seesaws, monkey bars, sand boxes, and swings.”
At the word ‘swings’, I remembered again the girl down at the park.
In the middle of my wondering, something interrupted me. It was my cell phone. I turned off the T.V. and hurried to get the phone.
“Use the force…I am your father.” A deep voice said me. The person on the other line was just an old fellow.
“Oh, its you, Mac,” I said.
“Craig-boy! What’s up man?”
“I’m fine. Just stop calling me that.”
“OK. Anyway, I need you to give me some advice. Man, because there is someone who I like, you know,”
“Well, I’m not really good in these things, my friend. Maybe you should ask somebody else. Now I just have to go. Bye-bye.”
I hung up the phone.
“Mac is going to kill me, I’m sure.”
I went around the room and saw my calendar on the wall.

I read:
Sunday- go to church…
Monday- clean up the room. It’s a mess…
Tuesday- go to the mall and get a music cd…
Wednesday- today is the release date of the Nintendo Wii…yay…
Thursday- meeting of the society. Don’t be late.
Friday- spend some time in silence.
Saturday- practice the elec-guitar…

Today was Tuesday, so I had to go to the records store. I felt the wind outside the window. This is one, cold morning, I thought to myself. I got my jersey jacket and put on my favorite chucks.
Once I got into my car, I remembered the schedule on Wednesday. I felt delighted that Nintendo would have another next-generation console. I had a DS and I loved it. So why wont the Wii be as great?
As my mind went going about the gadget, I didn’t notice that I almost hit a person biking on the side. He threw curses at me and almost tried to catch me. I would have said sorry, but being a good citizen isn’t always the best idea these days.
I reached the music store ten minutes later. I then parked my car on an open area. As, I got in the store, some of the cashiers greeted me. I was well-known among the people.
“Mornin’ Craig!” Jerry said. Jerry was the one who would help me out in finding me stuff.
“Morning.” I replied, slightly smiling.
“So, what’s it gonna be today? We’ve got new ones!”
“Oh? Well, I was sort of finding some albums of bands from the UK.”
“I see. Well, the most bought right now are the Arctic Monkeys; they’re one of the best!”
“Oh, yeah, them…I love those guys. But do you have any CD of Coldplay?”
“Hm. Lets see.”
He went around the store and in a few moments later he was back with the CD. I thanked him and bought it. I waved goodbye.