Rainbow

Josh bounced eagerly where he sat in his car seat, waiting impatiently for his parents to get back into the car. His parents decided to take Josh to the park since it was hot and his house didn’t have any air conditioning but didn’t know that they were low on gas until only minutes ago, so they had to stop at the nearest gas station before that happened. His mom was doing something in the store while his dad was pumping gas into the car, leaving the five year old in the car to suffer in the heat.

After what seemed like an eternity to Josh, his parents are both in the car and driving off to the park. When they get there, Josh’s mom helps him out of the car before giving him a couple items she bought while in the store. It’s a pack of Skittles and a bottle of water.

“Mommy and Daddy will be at that bench if you need us, okay?” Josh’s mom told him as she guided him towards the noisy, crowded park.

“Yes, Mommy,” Josh nodded with a toothy smile, which earned him a warm smile from his mother. She ruffled his hair before sending him off, sitting with her husband on said bench, the two of them finding something to do while their child played with the other children, and hopefully not getting into too much trouble.

Josh skipped toward the swings excitedly. He hadn’t been in the park in so long! He sat at one of the swings before placing his water at his feet, opening the bag of Skittles and eating a couple at a time.

Josh allowed his eyes to scan the park, deciding what to do after he eats his snack (he’s terrified of the swings so he’s not staying there). Just before he can make his decision, he noticed a young boy around his age, maybe a bit older, sitting at the slide. Josh frowned at the boy. He looked really sad. Josh never liked seeing sad people.

Josh recalled seeing a video once where there was a sad person, and the person was cheered up with a rainbow… or at least that’s how he remembered the video. Josh decided that if he could bring a rainbow to the sad boy, then he wouldn’t be so sad anymore, but where would he get a rainbow?

He brought another pair of Skittles to his lips as he contemplated. Josh glanced down at the pack of Skittles in his hands. Josh noticed the rainbow growing out of the ‘I’ in ‘Skittles’ and smiled as he got an idea.

He’d grow a rainbow.

He grabbed his water bottle before getting up, making his way to the brooding boy on the slide. The boy looked up at Josh with sad eyes when he heard him approach.

“Hey,” the boy greeted him with a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes.

“Hey,” Josh greeted back. “I’m Josh. What’s your name?”

“Oliver. People call me Oli, though.”

“My real name is Joshua, but people call me Josh.”

There was a silence following that until Josh spoke up again.

“Why are you so sad?” Josh asked him, finally. Oli sighed, looking away from Josh.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry about it.”

“Oh, okay. You don’t have to be sad anymore, I know what will make you feel better!”

Oli looked back up at the boy, who was now smiling from ear to ear.

“What will?”

“Come with me! We’re gonna grow a rainbow!” Josh chirped happily, holding his little hand out for Oli to take. Oli hesitated for a moment before grabbing onto it, pulling himself up with its support. Josh lead Oli to a patch of dirt a couple feet away from where they previously were before dropping onto his knees, motioning for Oli to do the same. Oli did so awkwardly. He knew that growing a rainbow was impossible, but what was the harm in playing along?

Josh searched his surroundings again for something to dig up the dirt with but found nothing. He decided that he’d use his finger instead. He dug up a reasonably deep hole before dropping a couple Skittles into it, filling the hole again with dirt before patting it down. Josh uncapped his water bottle and poured water over the Skittles.

“How long do you think it’ll take to grow?” Josh asked Oli as he took a sip of the water before capping it again. Oli shrugged.

“I don’t think you can grow a rainbow, Josh,” Oli smiled at him, but his smile faltered when Josh’s face fell.

“We can’t?” Josh asked disappointedly, staring at the wet patch of dirt that had the Skittles buried.

“No, sorry.”

“I just wanted to give you a rainbow so you wouldn’t be so sad.”

This touched Oli’s young heart. His parents never cared whenever he was sad. They never tried to even attempt to cheer him up. But this stranger cared enough to try to grow him a rainbow, and he thought that was sweet.

“How about you draw me a rainbow? I brought my bookbag, I have paper and crayons in it,” Oli suggested, and Josh nodded happily. Oli smiled again as he got up to bring his bag to Josh.

When Josh finished his rainbow, he gave it to Oli with a proud smile. Oli smiled down at the drawing. It was crooked and the colors weren’t in the right order, but Oli’s never loved a rainbow so much before.