Sprinkler System

Stacey played with me in the sprinkler system. We threw our hands in the air, wagged our tongues and drank the water, spit it out and jumped as high as we could. We basically danced and twirled in circles while simultaneously laughing and singing whatever songs came to our heads. 

"You trying to piss off the whole neighborhood?" shouted my dad. 

We quieted down until he went back inside. 

"Hey, let's go look for worms," I told her. 

"Yes!"

We pulled up rocks and looked for worms. I found a slug! I melted it with some salt. My mom shouted at me and called me cruel and I apologized until I cried. 

Punished, I went to my room and sat on the floor with a towel around me. I was dripping water on the carpet. I looked at the bookshelf and pulled Huckleberry Finn down. I read this part: “Now, we’ll start this band of robbers and call it Tom Sawyer’s Gang. Everybody that wants to join has got to take an oath, and write his name in blood.”

I wanted to join Tom Sawyer's Gang. I'd run free and stand alongside my friends—no—my brothers. I wouldn't mind getting into trouble with my brothers. I peeked out my window through the blinds and saw my dog sitting there. Even though it was hot outside he was sitting directly in the sunlight, panting away. He was looking at the fenceline. It struck me that we had no right to keep him there. And that he was choosing to be in the sunlight rather than the shaded porch just to experience some freedom of choice in his life, even if it meant heat exhaustion. 

But of course he was just a dog and I was putting my own thoughts in his head. I laid on the ground and stared at the fan as it spun, wondering when I would get to play with Stacey in the sprinklers again.

I read one more line from my book:

“It’s lovely to live on a raft. We had the sky, up there, all speckled with stars, and we used to lay on our backs and look up at them, and discuss about whether they was made, or only just happened- Jim he allowed they was made, but I allowed they happened; I judged it would have took too long to make so many.”