An attempt at youth fiction?
_____________________________________________________
She felt free riding down the avenue. She imagined her hair blew her sweater blew even her small white socks somehow seemed to blow in the wind of the avenue.
She wanted to blow as well. To feel the wind pick up her face and her sore arms and tight legs and blow them first into little pieces and then blow them above them through the sky ahead.
“When you ride down the street somehow I hear you from all the way down the block,” David said looking up at her.
The sounds of the garbage trucks paused them, winding down the pavement almost meeting the sidewalk with each turn. A woman walked her dog down the street towards them. Another man stopped halfway down the block, looking into a small yard.
“We must know one another’s sounds by now,” Layla said.
“And now you’re going to move past me, and your jacket will make that sticky swoosh sound,” he walked past her waving his small arms energetically.
Layla smiled widely, one arm also went up large above her head.
Since the garbage truck had passed comfortably, now other cars were moving more quickly into their morning commute. Rushing past the side of the truck, they almost touched the truck—the green from the truck almost mixed into their shiny exteriors.
“Watch it!” David jumped over away to the other side of the sidewalk as Layla road down Ditmars.
Christmas decorations still slightly decorated the street. Some lights were strewn along the railing and some had already fallen off onto the lawn. The reindeer’s light still shown brightly and bounced off the glass of the home behind it.
Layla wondered when Ljubica would take down these decorations. She enjoyed seeing the light of the reindeer reflect off her scooter, liked to remember their christmas morning each time she came home– as if perhaps Santa may come back again this year.
David walked over to Layla’s scooter, his foot blocking her as she attempted to ride down farther.
“What if mom comes home soon? You’ll still be down the street!”
Layla pushed his foot away, his laces brushed against the snow- making a light swoosh as she pushed ahead into the street.
“Laayyyyyllllaaaaaaa——-”
Her name mixed with the snow, mixed with the garbage trucks, mixed with the snow carols from the old plastic snowman Ljubica left out since last christmas, and finally was outdone by the taco truck on the corner.
The groan of the taco truck was loud enough that Layla could sit alongside it and feel streets away. The groan was almost quieter for her than quiet.
“Layla?” David’s soft voice peeped in between groans of the engine. She turned around to see his small curls slightly bounce up as he spoke to her. She noticed one that slightly stood up happily amongst the rest.
David noticed her smiling eyes and put his hand on the curl, pushing it down for a moment but it wouldn’t obey.
They rode back up the street, snow squishing under the wheels.
“Look, Ljubica’s snow is melting so much the plastic snow man is falling over to one side!” David seemed to hiccup to her.
She kicked the snow, which seemed to be melting even more this afternoon.
Layla liked do-overs. She was a real believer in do-overs.
Lights in the Hand 