Children's Moon

It was midday. Warm dry sun soaked straight through our swimmers as we rested beside the lake. The water lapped against my leg as it dangled over the grassy verge. The surface of the flat water reflected the clear blue from above. From far away came the shrieks and laughter of other people as they played in the heat.

We lay silent, not even moving for fear of disturbing the equilibrium we had achieved between the sun’s warmth and the lake’s cold. I swear the water in that lake was never warm. Not even that day last year when the news reporter had said that it was the hottest day recorded for ten years. Yeah, even then the water had felt like ice.

Dad used to tell us stories about it, he would say that there was an icy monster lurking in the depths and that if we swam out too far, he would catch us and take us far below the surface. And of course, when we were little, we believed him. I believed him so much that I didn’t learn to swim until I was ten! Even now I didn’t swim, just sort of paddled about and floated.

I could float for days. Just lying on my back, eyes closed, dreaming of whatever I wanted as my hair swirled around my head. Sometimes, I would be flying through the sky, twisting among the clouds as they danced with the wind. Other times I would be on the moon, bouncing my way across the cratered surface. But sometimes I would just lie there and stare right up at the blue sky. It changed colour every day. I don’t remember a single time when the sky was the same colour for two days straight. It’s like some kind of magic. Like, like, oh what’s it like?

Like nothing. Nothing could ever be like the sky. There’s only one of it. God, that used to get me when I was younger. I just couldn’t comprehend how the sky reached all the way around the world. I used to think it was some trick that the teachers were telling me.

Sometimes even now I don’t believe it.

Dad would laugh at me. “You’re eyes are so huge.” He would say and open his eyes real wide. “You tryin’ to fit the world in them again Little Sue?”

Little Sue. Only Dad called me that. Everyone else just said “Sue.” But I liked it better. Little Sue. There was just something about the way he said it, like it was some kind of secret between us, like it was something special.

“Time to go back in I think.” Rory stretched, his hand grazing against my back. “Eh, Sue?”

I shrugged only slightly, not really wanting to move. Rory stood and slipped into the water. He grinned at me like a little boy as he turned and struck out for deeper water. His brown mop of hair ducked under the water and came up a few metres further. He shook his head. The little droplets of water scattered across the lake, sending out hundreds of ripples.

The browned grass scratched my back as I turned slightly to watch him better. His feet kicked and splashed as he twisted about underneath the water. He loved swimming under the surface. Said he felt like a fish, sometimes a shark. He liked playing games like that. In the pool in the town over they had a public swimming pool. We didn’t have one here. Dad said there aren’t enough people for that. But that’s alright, we have the lake. Why would we need a pool?

But I learnt to swim in that pool. And that’s where I met Rory. He was swimming under the surface like he always is and he swam into me last year. First thing I saw of him was his smile. He had this crooked smile, only one side of his mouth moved up. He had a dimple on that side.

He waved, just keeping his head above the surface. I slithered into the water and turned onto my back like I always do. I stared hard up at the blueness above. It was there today. Some days it wouldn’t be there, but today it was.

“You see that up there?” Dad would ask as we sat together, staring up at the sky. “That’s what they call the Children’s Moon. You know why Little Sue? You don’t? Oh, well let me tell you.” He would lift me up and put me on his knee. “They call it that coz it’s the only time when children like yourself Little Sue get to see the moon.”

“But Dad, I see the moon at night too!” I would protest.

“Well, that’s coz you’re naughty and don’t go to bed when you’re told.” He would laugh and tap his great finger on my nose.

There it was, floating up there in the sky, looking down upon everything that was happening. Up there during the day with the sun.

“Suuue! Come out here!” Water splashed onto my face as Rory hit the lake with his hand. “Hey Sue! Come on! It won’t bite you!” He laughed loudly.

I stayed where I was. The water might not bite, but what about the icy lake monster? Even now, part of me still believed it.

“You know Little Sue, that’s where I’ll be.” Dad had said as we sat together on the steps. “That’s where I’ll be looking down on you and making sure you’re safe. Always.” He smiled, but there were tears in his eyes.

I had nodded, silent as Dad had set me back down on the steps of our house. Then the big men had grabbed his arms and taken him away. They put him in their car with the flashing lights and gone. Dad didn’t wave back like he usually did when he went away somewhere. But I just sat there, staring up at that big thing in the blue sky.

And now it smiled down on me as I floated in the lake. Dad never came back. Ma never said why. Children at school told me stories in their nasty little voices. They pointed and laughed. I sat in the corner and cried, waiting for the moon to come out and join the sun.

I smiled back, my cracked lips pulling. But I didn’t care.

You see that up there? That’s what they call the Children’s Moon.