Читать книгу A Healing Legend: Wisdom from the Four Directions - Garry Flint - Страница 7

Kidd thought about the ‘what ifs’ as he wandered down the dusty trail towards the fort in the forest. After another difficult day in school he was glad to be away from everyone, especially Alfred. He kicked at a rock and watched it hop and roll down the trail ahead of him. He jumped a few giant steps to where it lay on the edge of the path and gave it a might blast with his foot. The rock zinged off the trail and Kidd heard it smack into a tree trunk deep in the forest.

He picked up a second rock and hucked it after the first. He heard it whack against a trunk with an echo that was satisfyingly loud. Then he whipped another rock, with all the force of his throwing arm behind it, and heard the sharp crack as it came in contact with a tree close by before ricocheting off into a thicket of brush.

“Hey!” a voice erupted from a bush at the base of the tree. “Who did that?”

Kidd wrinkled up his face, thinking that it was an adult yelling at him and he would be in trouble again. The voice did sound like an adult, too—a cross adult.

He thought about running away, but just as he turned to go the voice said, “Don’t you go running off now. Not after you woke me up so rudely.”

“Huh?” Kidd looked at the bush. It was a very small bush. How could an adult be sleeping under such a small bush? “Where are you?” he yelled, feeling a bit scared. What if this adult knew his parents and told them that he’d been rude? Another ‘what if.’

“Hey! Where are you?” Kidd yelled out louder. “I can’t see you.” He moved a bit closer to the bush and then leaned against the tree to peer down into the foliage. “Are you a kid or what?”

There was no answer. He was now really creeped out. He scrambled back over to the safety of the path as fast as he could go. Then he laughed at himself for feeling scared. Stupid bush. There was no one there. Stupid Alfred. Stupid school.

He walked down the trail the way he’d come, kicking rocks and thinking about all the stupid things that bugged him. Especially the ‘what ifs.’ What if that voice had been the monster of the deep? What if the monster in the refrigerator was waiting to get his mom? What if...?

Kidd ran all the way home and was relieved to see his mother in the kitchen when he got there. She was already starting to make dinner and was rooting about in the refrigerator. Her head, safely attached to the rest of her, emerged as she carried out a carton of eggs and some vegetables. What a relief !

“How was your day, Kidd?” she asked with a warm smile.

“Okay,” he replied as he always did.

“Are you hungry?”

He nodded.

“You can have three cookies.”

Kidd reached up to the cookie jar on the counter and selected three cookies. His mother was busy making dinner and didn’t watch as he picked out the three biggest ones. He always took the biggest ones first, though they all seemed pretty big.

“Are you going out to play?” his mother asked, smiling.

“Naw, going to my room.”

Kidd gave her a quick hug as he passed by.

“Okay,” his mother replied as she prepared dinner. “Thanks for the hug.”

Suddenly he whipped around and gave her another quick hug just to be sure she was fine before he climbed the stairs to his room.

Kidd felt good when he was in the kitchen beside his mother, but as soon as he sat down on the bed in his own room the ‘what ifs’ started in again.

“What if the monster really was in the fridge?”

He ran back down the stairs to check that his mom was okay and then opened the refrigerator door just to be sure there were no monsters inside.

“Kidd, what are you doing?” his mother said, her voice betraying a hint of annoyance that was softened with laughter.

“Looking for monsters,” Kidd replied.

“What a funny boy you can be,” she chuckled. “But I need you to get out from underfoot for a while. Please go look for monsters elsewhere while I’m cooking dinner. I’m sorry I’m so busy now but we can talk later, after dinner, if you want.”

“Okay,” Kidd replied with a sigh.

Walking out into the backyard, he started playing with his toy truck and excavator. He pushed the machines around, making roads in the soft earth, but he wasn’t paying much attention. He kept thinking about the ‘what ifs.’ How could he tell his mom about the ‘what ifs’? Did she ever have ‘what ifs’ when she was a kid? Somehow, Kidd had trouble imagining his mom or his dad ever being kids, they were so grown-up now and so occupied with grownup stuff. The ‘what ifs’ were Kidd’s problem, one he had to deal with himself.