I shall keep this thread PG rated...
Flowers, vintage and cuddles.
Ua tsaug in advance
“It’s raining petals, again,” gasped Vinny. Picking up a few from the ground, she rushed down Coxcomb Avenue and up the bushy mud trail hill where the painted sunflower color house residence laid.
“STOP—what do you have there in your hands?” asked boO walking towards the entrance of the porch. “Open them up, now.”
“But I have to put them in the water so they can disappear up,” replied Vinny.
“Stop playing games with me,” said boO. “I don’t want any more tiny baby frogs jumping at me, spilling chips all over the couch like last time.” Closing her novel, boO flipped Vinny’s hand open with nothing inside. “Go and get ready for a bath.”
Dinner that night was very enjoyable. There were no tiny amphibians around the living room. Only great sitcom shows, tasty un-spilled caramel popcorn and on top of it, Vinny was occupied quietly with her Barbie and playhouse up until she was forced to go to bed.
“I still want to play house,” whined Vinny fixing the latest fashion on Barbie.
“You have school tomorrow,” confirmed boO. “—and I’m tired.”
“Can’t I play for ten more min—“
“No!”
boO snatched Barbie and toss it on the bed, then shuffle quickly to get Vinny ready to brush her teeth. Picking up all the dirty clothes on the floor, she walked around the room locating all the places to put away the books and toys when suddenly her eye shifted to the picture frame above the bookshelf. It was a picture of her father, mother with the bump of Vinny, and herself. She traced her eyes along the blue collar shirt to the pink tie, then to the white dress contouring to where her mother’s golden bracelet settled just above their locked hands.
“I’m done,” said Vinny as she was getting into bed.
boO put away the books and seated herself on the bed with Vinny tucked in.
“Can I sleep with Barbie?” asked Vinny.
“No, but Barbie can sleep with you,” laughed boO as she grabbed Barbie from the end of the bed. She tucked Barbie in next to Vinny and left the room.
The following morning, boO got up and dressed quickly as she did not hear her alarm came on at all. She rushed quickly to wake Vinny to which her bedroom was empty. Then she heard children’s laughter from below the stairs. boO went down the stairs in haste to get Vinny and check up on the neighbor’s children who often comes over to play their Fifty Cent Lemonade Shop by the front yard window. When she finally reached below, there were no children.
A vast colorful flower field of lilacs, gladiolus, hyacinth, peony, sweet peas and so much more painted itself in their living room reaching each and every corner. boO steady herself following the laughter in the air. Everything felt so real in every dimension. The scent of every living bloom brought such delightful pleasure that boO had forgotten about being late. As she walked through the passage of Lily of the Valleys, the laughter came to clarity. Behind a wooden garden gate with a hanging bell, there was a small pond with four small hands tossing petals. boO walked over and opened the gate.
“boO! BOO!”
“Vinny?” asked boO.
“What took you so long,” asked Vinny.
“Uh…”
“We’ve been playing here waiting for you,” said Vinny turning to her friend in the violet dress as she nodded her head. Vinny ran over to boO and held her hand. “She’s my big sister. Now that there are three of us, he won’t be able to chase us with them slimy.”
“Who’s he?” asked boO.
Jumping out from the small waterwheel station was a boy in a white collar shirt and green shorts holding a toad. Without much hesitation, he started chasing the girls around.
“Hey—hey, drop the toad and stop chasing!” demanded boO. The boy stopped and set the toad nicely on the ground and it hopped away. “Vinny, why are you here and where or what is this place?”
“Remember,” said Vinny as she cupped some plucked flower petals in her hands. “...look...” Vinny dropped the petals in the pond and a few seconds it disappeared.
The girl in the violet dress had just plucked some fresh petals and carried them to boO. As she laid down the delicate leaves of flowers, boO recognizes the yellow ornament on her wrist and began to lose her focus when the garden bell dings. The last thing she remembered was the engraving of
Love Always.
boO woke up to the sound of her alarm with bright beam flashing through the window curtains. It was just a dream, boO thought. At least it wasn’t a nightmare. Feeling vaguely, boO slowly went down the stairs this time just to make sure it was real. All the furniture was in their place. She walked over to the kitchen to turn the coffee on when she heard children's laughter, then hurried to the front yard window topeeked out and saw the neighbor's children playing across the street. boO confirmed this was real. She hopped back up the stairs to which Vinny was already up walking into the bathroom.
“You woke up early,” said boO delightfully
.
“The bell—“ said Vinny tiredly brushing her bangs away from her face.
“Huh?”
“I had a dream that we were playing with my friends,” replied Vinny still tired and scratching the side of her leg.
“We?” asked boO.
Vinny nodded her head and turned on the faucet. boO walked back into her room and decided to open the drawer where she kept all the special belongings. She took out the black jewelry box and opened it. Inside was the plain and simple golden bracelet that belonged to grandma which was passed down to her mother. There was nothing on the front of the bracelet. Flipping the bracelet around, in little small prints carved on the back, read
❤ Mom & Dad.
“Are you gonna get ready?” a little voice spoke.
The side of boO’s lips curled, “I’m gonna call in sick.”
“Huh?” said Vinny confusingly as she's never heard this before from big sister.
“I said I’m going to call in sick and I’ll call your school as well. I think we should go out to stop by the toy shop today to see what Barbie has in store, then stop by the ice cream parlor, and maybe buy some flowers,” replied boO pleasantly.
Excitedly, Vinny's only reply was, “Okie…dokie…”
“Maybe you can show me how the petals disappear…up--” said boO rushing to tackle Vinny and crush her on the bed, tickled, and cuddle before the day beings.