Stolen Moments at Cricket Lake

Stolen Moments at Cricket Lake
Written for a contest: Beyond the Waters Edge
WC: 650

      There is a place on Cricket Lake that is my favorite place on earth. It’s up near the old WINDMILL and it is like no other place in the world. It’s quiet and there is no one else around for miles.  It’s where I sneak off to, when life is treating me bad. Sometimes I lie on a blanket and write in my journal and other times I just sit up on that big rock just beyond the waters edge & try to figure out why some kids are born with birth defects and others aren’t. I mean, who decides something like that, God?

    I was born with a heart defect and the doctors say that one day, without any warning my heart will just stop beating. Which means my days are numbered, so I figure I’ve got to do and see all my favorite things as much and as often as I can. That’s why I sneak up here to the lake almost every day, now. I have to sneak because my parents would have a cow if they knew I came up here. This property belongs to Old Man Skeeter and folks around here say he’s crazy. I don’t think he’s crazy, I just think he’s a mean old grouch, that’s all.
         
    Today I brought my art supplies and a canvas so I could paint a sunflower for my mom. She loves sunflowers and the ones around here are bigger than a grown mans head. Sunday is Mothers’ Day and I wanted to give her something special. Being sick all the time, I’ve put her through so much. I’m sure when she decided to be a mom she didn’t expect to get stuck with a imperfect kid like me.

    After I threw down the dried bread crumbs I brought for  Draven, a black bird I befriended years ago. I set up my easel,  pulled out my supplies and started to paint. It was a beautiful day and I was just happy to be alive.

    I had just finished my painting and I must say, it was the best work I had ever done. The petals of the flower looked almost like velvet and the contrast of the brown, gold and green colors were just right. The only problem is I just heard Old Man Skeeter calling for his hunting dog Chester in the distance. I hurriedly started packing up my stuff when it occurred to me that my time may have just run out. A sharp pain shot through my chest and took my breath away. I dropped to the cool dark grass beneath the shade of the large oak tree where I had been painting.

    It seemed as though everything within my now tunneling vision had slowed with the beats of my heart. As I gasped in the fresh lake air in slow shallow breaths I realized, nobody even knows that I’m here. I am going to die today up here all alone. Then I heard a “Caw!…Caw!” and I looked up to see the crow that I feed every time I come here. He was perched on a branch just above me. As I smiled up at him my gratitude and final farewell I relaxed and closed my eyes.

    I felt something wet on my face and my eyes opened. Through two small slits I saw Chester licking my face. Then I saw a paramedic holding an oxygen mask over my face with one hand and with the other, he was pushing Chester away. Then they lifted me onto the gurney and slid me into the back of the ambulance. Just before the doors were shut I heard Old Man Skeeter ask “Did the boy die?” The paramedic just asked him to stand back.

    Although I’m sure he didn’t hear me as THE SIRENS SCREAMED, I did answer his question. I said, “Not today, Skeeter! Not today!”