writing prompt from Free Write Friday: http://networkedblogs.com/sa8I9

You are young. It’s springtime and you find yourself walking down a dirt road with a cut on your knee…

Momma said not to be running so fast down the road but I couldn’t help it. When my ball bounced past our fence and that old dog from next door started barking at me all I could think to do was start running as fast as I could the other way. I was so scared that I wasn’t even paying any attention to where I was running.

I ended up running through the raspberry bush at the edge of our yard and then down our long driveway and into the forest behind our house. Momma always told me not to go into the forest alone, but I was so scared, I forgot all about her warnings this time. I kept running deep into the forest. I was still so scared the dog might follow me in. Once I realized that he hadn’t, I slowed down to catch my breath.

I saw that the forest was alive! The birds were chirping and flying all around me exploring the treetops. The little bunnies were hopping about through the mossy ferns looking for some goodies to eat. Small snakes were slithering past me behind the rocks next to the stream by my feet.

But, at least there were no barking dogs chasing me, so already this seemed less scary then where I came from. I didn’t know why Momma was so worried about me being here by myself. Still, I knew I would get in trouble if she found out, so I slowly found my way out of the forest and said goodbye to all my forest friends and let them go on with their day. I wanted to stay forever in this new magical place, and knew I’d have to come back some day soon.

As I came out of the forest and started walking down the dirt road back to my house, I noticed my pants had ripped and my knee was bleeding. I must have cut it when I was running through the raspberry bush. Now I knew Momma would scold me for sure!

I saw some pretty yellow flowers along the way, and thought they matched her hair, and for sure they would cheer her up and make her smile. Maybe she might even forget that my pants were torn and that I’d gone running into the forest. It was worth a try.

Holding them tightly in my small hand I went sneaking up the back porch steps and in through the kitchen door where Momma was standing at the sink in her apron washing some potatoes for dinner. I quickly presented her the flowers, but it wasn’t quick enough.

“JOHN WILLIAM! Where have you been and what happened to your PANTS!?” she shouted as she dropped the potato into the sink and came running over to me, kneeling down and fussing with my torn pants. She noticed the blood on my knee and started wiping it with a wet cloth like mommas always do. Tearfully, I gave her the flowers I’d been holding and she took them from me and hugged me close and kissed my head.

“I didn’t know where you’d run off to. Don’t scare me like that again! Now lets get your knee cleaned up and get you changed for dinner,” and with that, she went back to fussing and my adventure in the forest was left as only a memory.