A Short Story

Before the story begins I want to say, I have no idea what to call this story so if any of you have any ideas then please post them in the comment section and I will make my favorite one its title!

A Short Story, 

What happens when you live in a small house in the suburbs?  Everyone has small yards, so you lose your ball from time to time.  

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“Molly!” Charlie said for the twelfth time.  

“Molly, Molly, Molly,” he whispered this time as he leaned his palms against her desk and sprang his legs into the air.  

“Molly, will you come outside with me?” 

“Alright, alright,” she raised her hands and stood up, forcing her chair back, and moved away from the desk.  

Just like every time she went outside with her brother, she felt the light, early summer breeze that mingled with the heat of the sun, and noted the awfully tall privacy fences that loomed on both sides of the yard.  Molly lives with her younger brother and her parents in a small neighborhood in a small house with a small yard.  The fences made Charlie feel closed in and Molly agreed but another part of her felt secure with the fences on either side of the house, always there protecting them.  

Charlie wanted to run, he loved to, he had to, he was always bouncing and always moving.  At times Molly thanked the monstrous fence, she imagined if it wasn’t there Charlie would jump right over into the neighbor’s yard.

Molly and Charlie passed the ball back and forth rhythmically and they hadn't dropped the ball once.  They followed the rules to the game.  Molly swiftly stepped side to side catching the ball and passing it on, on the other hand.  Charlie dashed back and forth diving or flinging himself in whichever direction the ball went—using much more energy than required.  Molly had decided it wasn’t a bad thing; however, it would help him sleep.  

The rules of the game were simple and repetitive, and possibly boring to anyone else: throw a ball back and forth and don’t drop it while trying to make it difficult for the other person to do so.  

Most of the time Molly went easy on her younger brother, mostly because when she didn’t he threw the red, bouncy ball down as hard as he could—and that was a lot harder than it might look—and threw a red, bouncy, tantrum along with it, only to feel sorry for losing the ball after.  

That is exactly what happened that day, the ball bounced off the ground, landed on the roof and rolled into the next-door neighbor’s yard.  Molly's mouth dropped into a wide O shape.  

“Charlie, those are the neighbors that we don’t know and haven’t met yet!”  

Charlie knew this already, of course.  His mouth had already formed a similar O shape and he stood with his arms hanging limp at his sides.  

After a few moments, Molly walked over to the tall privacy fence, reached her arms up, and tried to shuffle her legs up.  She was trying to force herself up the tall fence with nothing to hold on to, no grip.  Instead of seeing over the fence she now had scratches on her arms and knees.  

“Charlie, look what you did!  If I can’t see over, you definitely can’t.” 

Once again, Charlie knew that already.  It was as clear as the hot afternoon sun beating down on them.    

“I am sorry Molly, I didn’t mean to but you threw the ball so hard.”  He said the last part quietly as he crossed his arms and looked down.  

“Okay, okay don’t get into that now.  All we need to worry about now is getting the ball back,” Molly told him as she walked up to her younger brother and lifted his head up.  He swatted her away as upset younger brothers often do but she was doing her best to comfort him and bring him back to his normal self.  It didn’t take long, soon he was jumping all over the place and she imagined, if he could, he would bounce over the fence, snatch the ball and bounce back.  

“Okay Charlie, here’s what I think we should do.  We can’t even see over so jumping over is not an option.  Mom is at work so we most definitely can’t go up to their front door and ask.  We should just leave a note,” she said cheerfully.  

“Really? Do you think they will see it?”  Charlie asked as he tilted his head forward, gazing past the fence, and wrinkling his eyes in the sunlight.  

“Well, sure.  Eventually at least.”  With that, Molly marched inside to find some paper, and Charlie soon followed at her heels.  

Molly found a piece of paper and some tape and she told Charlie to find a pen.  After a few moments, they met in their living room.  They lay on their bellies over the rough wood plank flooring with their simple yet, as Molly saw it, efficient supplies laid out in front of them.  

“Okay,” Charlie was leaning on his elbows and he clapped his hands to start.  “What should we say?” 

“I was thinking,” Molly flipped her left hand over and began writing a message on it.  “Would you please throw our ball back?  We accidentally lost it in your yard.  Thanks, signed your neighbors.” She looked approvingly at the many black smudges on her hand and smiled up at Charlie.  

“Don’t you think it’s too long, Molly?  And we obviously lost our ball in their yard. Do you need to write that?” Charlie asked and used his pointer finger to make some swirls in the black mess on Molly’s hand.  

“Okay, I’ll shorten it.  How about ‘will you please throw our ball back? signed your neighbors.’ Does that work?”

“Okay,” Charlie said, clapping his hands again.  “Let's write it out!” 

Molly quickly scribbled out the simple note in large block letters on the paper.  

“Done!” She sat up on her knees and extended her arms out to look over her work.  

_____________________________________________

Will you please throw our ball back? 

Thank you

-Your neighbors- 

_____________________________________________

Molly and Charlie scrambled up off the floor, grabbed the sign, some green tape, and went outside.  They only had green tape but they thought that might help and anyway, it will be more noticeable.  Of course, Molly was the one who had to tape it up, or so they thought at first.  This fence was awfully tall even for a normal-sized ten-year-old.  After a while, they came up with a solution.  Charlie would have to sit on Molly's shoulders.  That is the only way they would be able to get the sign on the fence.  It went pretty well, not to mention the one moment Molly almost fell over and Charlie ran into the fence and got a scrape over his cheek and jaw.  It took only a moment to get the sign properly secured on the fence.  They put the tape on each edge of the paper and Charlie reached his little arm and pressed down on the fence the best he could.  

Molly lowered Charlie off her shoulders safely.  They decided to go inside and check later if the ball was back in its proper yard or not.  

Later the sky was enveloped in colors, light, and magnificence, from the sunset.  Blue, orange, yellow, navy, and many colors in between streaked across the sky.  Rays from the sinking sun shone through the many clouds and streaked against the sky and it made Molly feel like she was in the middle of Claude Monet’s impressionistic painting “Dusk in Venice”.  

She went outside and lay down in the soft spongy grass.  She felt the light breeze that cooled the humid air, the feeling only the evening and night could bring.  She smiled and rested her eyes as wisps from her fallen out ponytail floated across her face.  After a while, she opened her eyes and turned her head to the side.  

She sprang up as she noticed the red, bouncy ball back in its rightful place.  There is no reason Molly should have been surprised, except that she hadn’t noticed it when she came out at first.  She had come to the conclusion she just had not noticed it when she jumped off the grass and saw a hand from the unknown neighbors yard stretch over the fence and smooth a neat note scrawled over the fence.  She heard a door slam on the other side and she ran to get Charlie.  

“I can’t read it, Molly, the letters are too small and it’s too dark out here,” Charlie said.  Molly and Charlie were now standing together, gazing up at the note placed high on the fence.  Charlie jumped as far as he could but was only able to reach the corner of the tape.  

“I think I can,” Molly jumped and grabbed the paper. She pulled it down but ended up tearing it in half. The tape was stronger than expected.  She clutched the two wrinkled pieces and fitted the jagged rip back together.  

“It’s fine, it's fine,” Molly said.  “See!”  She grabbed a piece of tape still stuck on the fence and fitted it on the back of the paper.  She thrust the taped paper out to Charlie.  He shook his head but didn’t say anything about the rip.  

“C’mon, let’s go inside!” He clapped his hands and they ran through the door that they forgot to close. 

Here is what the note said:  

_____________________________________________

There you go!  I like your ball.  What’s your name? 

-your new neighbor- 

_____________________________________________

“We should write back!” Charlie clapped his hands and bounced in his seat.  

“Uh, okay, go get some paper.”  Molly shifted and scratched the skin on the back of her hand

“Why are you nervous?  Why are you doing that, that's what you do when you are nervous, I know!”  

“I am not nervous,” Molly said and then noticed Charlie cocking his head to the side.  “It’s just, we don’t really know him or her or... whoever that was.”  

“Molly, it’s summer and we haven’t seen anyone for two weeks!”  

“I know.  I know what we should do!” Molly said.  “Go get some paper,” she told him as she tied her hair into a ponytail.  For the second time that day she scrawled a quick note down, that was intended for a fence, as Charlie leaned over her shoulder.  

_____________________________________________

Thank you. You tell us first.

-your neighbors-

_____________________________________________

She tried to make her letters smaller and neater and she glanced over at their neighbors note for reference.  

Molly glanced up at Charlie when she finished, he nodded, clapped his hands and they dashed outside for the second time that day to leave a note.  

Have you ever felt like your day repeated? That you lived the same day two days in a row?  It doesn't happen very often but it did for Molly.  The only difference was the sky.  Today it was cloudy, and the morning and evening hours were covered in a dense layer of fog.  Molly liked fog, but all the same, it made her yard feel mysterious.  She liked to make up stories about what would happen if she saw a person staggering out of the thickest patch of fog, just coming into view.  However, the fog had already dissipated by the afternoon; the sun was high in the sky but still hidden by clouds, it looked like it was going to rain but it hadn't yet.

Molly went outside because she didn’t want to be trapped inside for the rest of the day.  She brought a book and a piece of toast with her.  She sat on a chair she had dragged out from the dining room and rested as the cool breeze flowed through her hair.  

Before she realized what was happening, she saw a hand reach over their fence, pound a note down to get it to stick, and then it was gone.  Molly sprang out of her chair and dropped the last bit of her toast on the spongy grass.  She sprinted to the door and yelled for Charlie to come quickly without realizing the mysterious person who left the note would still be on the other side.  Charlie bounded through the house and outside.  

They stood gazing up at the sign and then they heard some noise on the other side but didn’t think anything of it.  

“I guess we know it’s the same person because I still can’t read those small letters,” Charlie said

“I am pretty sure it says a name.  It looks like it starts with a C.” 

Just then, someone spoke.  “You’re right,” it said.  Two arms landed on the top of the fence.  A moment later a boy appeared, his arms fully extended pushing himself over the fence.  They barely had time to be surprised when he said,

“My name’s Cap, well my name is Casper but you can call me Cap.  I am your new neighbor!  But you already know that.”  Charlie and Molly had moved a bit back from the fence and Casper shifted so he was now sitting on the top of the fence.  His pale legs dangled over into Molly and Charlie’s yard.  

Charlie was ecstatic.  “I am Charlie!” He clapped his hands, then raised them in the air as he jumped over and over.  

Molly stood slightly behind Charlie.  He knew, without even looking that she was uncertain about talking to this strange neighbor. 

Casper laughed at Charlie's excitement, then he looked directly at Molly and she noticed how dark his eyes were compared to his pale cheeks.  

“What's your name?”  She stepped forward and brushed her hair behind her shoulders.  She answered like the word shy didn’t exist.  

“Nice to meet you, Molly.”  

“Hey, have you ever seen Casper the Friendly Ghost?” Charlie giggled. 

“Yeah,” Casper chuckled back, “No one said that one before. That’s the reason I tell everyone to call me Cap.” 

“So, uh, why did you move?  Molly asked.  

“I think my Mom was gonna bring you some cookies or something,” Molly told him. 

“Oh,” he looked at the grass for only a second, “My dad left my mom.” 

“Oh, I am sorry,”

“No, it’s good really, he was terrible.”

“Well, I am glad then.”  

“Don’t worry I would still love some cookies,” he said and raised his chin.  

“Do you wanna come off the fence?” Molly asked.  She knew she wanted to be friends.  

“Will your mom be okay with it?” she asked, on second thought before he jumped off.

“Oh, she's fine with it.  She told me to come over.”  He laughed, “she thought I was gonna use the door.”   

The three of them talked for a couple of minutes before it started to rain.  They learned Casper is nine, one year younger than Molly.  When it did start to rain, they moved under the sheltered patio and kept talking.  

“What do you like to do Casper?” Charlie asked.  Molly hated the questions people ask in the getting-to-know each other phase.  

“I like to draw,” he said and smiled with his chin tilted upwards.  He leaned over the concrete area on the patio and drew a spiral and then a face in the mud.  

No sooner had he stuck his finger in the dirt, then the back door, only feet away, opened and Molly and Charlie's mother stepped out.  

“Oh how wonderful,” she said a big smile spread over her face.  “I made some cookies, I didn’t know you would be here already though.” 

Just then a woman with big rosy cheeks stepped forward.  Molly couldn’t help but first notice the woman's big, round, stretched belly.  She leaned back and rested her hands on the small of her back and a small smile curved upwards on her lips. 

“Mamma!” Casper said and ran up to wrap his arms around her belly.  He introduced Molly and Charlie to his mother and they all went in to eat cookies.  

They kept talking with Casper; the next couple of days they wrote notes back and forth and pasted them on the fence with that vivid green tape.  They would talk about anything, many times they would how his mother was doing.  Sometimes Cap would catch them and jump over the fence and they would sit on the grass drawing pictures in the dirt for hours.  

Molly didn’t expect anything to happen from her and her brother asking for their ball back.  She knew their neighbor could have been a strange man or a friend.  That’s exactly who they are now, friends.  

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