2. Imperative

Wake up and fill your young lungs with the morning air. You smell fresh flowers nearby and feel the cool grass under your body. You hear mother calling, you’ve slept in late again and everyone else has left. Answer mother quickly so she’ll stop calling you. Roll around a bit to wake up and find your mother. Thank her for breakfast before you eat it all. Ask her where to find your brothers and if you can go play. Run to your brothers, who are probably setting up a trap for you, through the meadow towards the woods, birds warn of your presence from the air.

Approach with care as the woods have an unnatural feeling. Calculate each step so you don’t make a sound, you don’t want to alert your brothers to your presence. Notice something dart behind a tree, maybe you can get the surprise on them. Creep slowly to the side of the tree. Prepare to pounce on your hidden brother. Take a slow deep breath. Jump out! Fall down; no one was waiting behind the tree. Feel embarrassment and get up quick. Scream in fright as something pushes you back to the ground. Roll over and face your brother. Laugh with him, everyone is laughing from your scream.

Run through the woods with your brothers. Chase them as they try to get away. Turn suddenly when they start to chase you. Collapse in a sunspot, your brothers fall beside you. Listen to everyone’s exasperated breaths. Delight in the theme created by the sounds of nature. Notice the sunbeam’s light no longer makes a sharp line on the ground. Get up, the day is late and it’s time to go home. Pretend to listen as your brother lectures you for waking up late.  Promise to wake up with the morning sun like everyone else.

Trudge out of the woods behind your brothers, its dinner time. Twitch your ears because you catch a faint sound. Study its harmonic patterns, tone, and pitch. Smell blood drifting though the air. Remember a small injured bird you once found with a similar sound. Imagine how jealous your brothers will be if you bring back a bird. Slow pace until you’re at a full stop and your brothers haven’t noticed you’re absence. Listen carefully; the sound is coming from the right. Notice a slight echo revealing that the sound is behind you. Creep up on the injured bird while staying low in the grass so it won’t see you.

Watch the small bird hobble around because its wing is broken. Get excited as a strong waft of blood fills your nostrils. Crouch with your head on your hands and your tail up keeping balance. Pounce on the helpless bird aiming for the neck. Shake it around like mother taught and you’ve practiced with your brothers so many times before. Wait for it to struggle again. Take it back to your mother. Revel in glory as your mother takes great joy in your catch. Laugh at your brothers who’ve never caught a thing in their lives.

© Chris Richards 2009