Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: WEEKEND AWAY (short vacation) (07/23/15)
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TITLE: One Crazy Day | Previous Challenge Entry
By Grace Teoxon
07/28/15 -
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“Hey girls, rise and shine,” one piped out. The shine had to come from our faces as it was too early even for the birds to chirp. We all scrambled up alert and moving. Not the usual moves for us girls in the flat but it was not an ordinary morning. This was it - the day to go traipsing to a distant area of the big metropolis. All we know was its name and the big come-on – vegetable plots at the bank of a big river!
What gives? Nothing heart thumping, except that we, six girls all, were from the provinces and surprised to learn that river banks were being farmed. The bus driver dropped us off before the bridge and we all went down to the river. Indeed, vegetables lined the banks and unexpectedly, a carabao (a work animal in Asia), was there for a drink. One of us fancied to ride it and she did with the farmer’s consent, sporting a wide grin on her face
A muddied area is where you can easily dirty yourself and in that state, we proceeded to a big cemetery. There were only a few people around to witness our antics and the carabao rider lay down on a plot to measure her fit. Whoa, this lady was quite a strain to be with, opinionated and apt to be negative about most things and people. I guess the early morning air breezed through her fogged brain and loosened her up; so unlike her rushing routine to office on work days.
At the cemetery, we spied a long cemented fence down a shallow gully. We scrambled up and it turned out to be quite wide. Tall grasses lined the wall and as we walked its length, we tucked wild flowers to our hair that nodded along with us. We heard hurried rustling behind and a man turned up.
“Stop…wait…,” he called out with his hand raised, his forehead furrowed. “Where are you going? This is the boundary (named a prestigious university in the country) and I’m the caretaker. I saw you from there,“ pointing to where his hut must be.
We must have been a sight - walking single file on a cemented fence, seemingly, taking a stroll on an avenue. A caretaker will surely care; perhaps, we breached the security of the wall and his peace of mind. We told him all we wished was to reach the other side, that we’re harmless and out on a lark. We must have assured him that we’re not crazies and he allowed us to go on our walk. At the end, we scrambled down and scrambled up a hilly patch.
Voila, the school grounds; expectedly, no one was about. We sat down to rest under the trees. One was low enough to climb and I did. With the girls looking up, I recited a favorite Khalil Gibran lines “Your children are not your children. … For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.” Such profound thoughts but one we were not inclined to visualize at that time as no one commented. We stayed awhile … moments of plain enjoyment, just feeling free, untrammeled by any care.
A little way down to another boundary wall, we saw sunflowers amidst some trash. We picked some, went over the wall startling a guard standing idly by a subdivision’s gate. To his puzzled look, we just smiled and walked to the highway.
We flagged a bus, boarded and amidst stares, walked single file to the back seats with sunflowers tucked behind our ears. After a time, we saw the same tall blooms smiling their yellow heads by the highway. We decided to get fresh ones and got down the bus.
“It will burst into bloom; it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy. …” (Isaiah 35:2 NIV)
We had a thrill, stupid it may seem, seeing passengers gaped, heads turned to see ladies in mid- and-late twenties sitting in a row - on the sidewalk pavement with sunflowers on their hair.
I can assure you we no longer do these things. But once we did one crazy day – a long time ago.
“The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8 NLT)
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True
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Second, I really enjoyed this entire piece, it made me smile...great job.
God bless~
A minor point is to maintain your tenses - where you explained to the guard (past tense) that "we're not crazies" (present tense)