Back in the fall of 09 I wrote this story for a friend of mine with a dear little boy. We had gotten into a discussion on how everything was so different when we were children, how open the world was, and how at some point we were taught that things had to be a certain way. For all those who remember the freedom of life without rules. For all those adults who are too busy with serious things. I hope you all find a yellow bucket and smile.
xo
Sandi
At one certain point in time, that no one can quite put their finger on, since no one can really put their finger on time anyway a very strange thing happened. But then when you think, strange happenings are going on every day aren’t they? Do we really know if that pilot light in the back of the oven is indeed named John, no we certainly do not know, we were not there upon his or her creation that is for sure. I say this because we all stumble thru life assuming a lot and overlooking far too much. But I digress. At this certain point in time when this strange thing happened, it seemingly went unnoticed, completely overlooked by everyone. Everyone that is except one small boy. This story could very well be just about the strange happenings, or it could be all about the little boy, or it could be about a hedgehog. The adults in the world went busily on their way overlooking all the things in the world that are so fantastic. Things such as the amazing way a worm can wiggle along with no legs and needs studying by a little boy. The way the grass feels under your feet when it’s raining and how it feels to catch a drop on your tongue. The feel of that same rain when it mixes to make mud being patted into cakes by little hands and how it feels to truly giggle from your toes up to your gut and out of your entire body. Adults are too worried with time, money, being clean and loads of other truly non important adult things. But this one very little observant boy being drug thru life as all little boys and girls are until they are trained to forget the special little things and worry about the grown up silly things so they can have what are called real problems had an eye for strange things. It wasn’t that his eyes were that special. Certainly it was never brought up, however it was quite clear his eyes were very special as they allowed him to look past all the doldrums of life and be able to love someone no matter their faults. It was more likely that it was his ability to perceive his surroundings and see “into” people that made his vision so spectacular. On the day of the incident in question, this aforementioned little boy was wondering about as little boys are prone to do. Not looking for trouble but sure to find it as little boys do. He had found his way to the garden and allocated a stick to swing about. As I recall hearing, the bucket was the culprit that started the entire incident, but from the buckets point of view it was clearly a matter of wrong time wrong place. From this point on I can only go on hear say, you see I was obviously not present for this escapade, but the rumors have flown quite wildly for sometime now and I would be remiss if I were to not inform you of the happenings. As you know there are 3 sides to every story, when possible I will share as many view points and those of any witnesses who are not afraid to speak.
As the little boy was wondering about madly swinging his stick as little boys do, a yellow bucket unfortunately came into the view of the little boy according to the sunflower who wishes to remain anonymous. The grass and weeds were just too easy of a target and the bucket had to go, as he hit the bucket the predictable “thwack” sound came out. Reports have the bucket flying as far as 4 feet but coming from the daisies that may be an exaggeration as daisies are prone to such exaggerations. As the bucket spun threw the air and landed a small yet detectable “what on earth” was heard by all in the garden…. The little boy immediately hid the stick behind his back as little boys do, and changed the expression his face from professional baseball player and master hunter to innocent child just as little boys do. He looked over the fence to see if the noisy neighbor was looking on. You see Mrs. McAllister lived next door with her 3 cats, well she claimed 3 cats but the entire neighborhood knew she had at least 6 cats, she was the type of woman you doubled everything she said. For example she would say, ” oh my I gained 10 lbs over the holidays”, that meant she gained 20. So it was obvious she had 6 cats and she smelled like it to. In general she played nice, offering candy all the time, but it was creepy candy, the sticky kind like out of her pockets and you could bet it had at least 1 piece of cat hair stuck on it somewhere. The kind of candy even a kid wont eat. You could tell she was board, and had a boring life, maybe she should swing a stick or dance in the rain, but grown ups don’t do that. Instead she had a pretty garden. The hedges thought it was probably her bucket since they were quite sure the little boy didn’t own a yellow bucket and Mrs. McAllister owned everything including some hedge clippers she often went wild with . But back to the little boy, he could not find any adult within ear shot, not Mrs. McAllister, no one, not over the fence, or across the street, or even in the windows. He then went to the bucket. He knew he had heard a voice quite clearly speak, and not being able to find anyone he dared to approach the bucket. Apparently the silly child thought maybe there was someone in the bucket. Only a child would think there could be a person in the bucket. All adults know no one is small enough to fit in a bucket. The crab grasses view on this part is the little boy gazed into the empty bucket, after inspecting and shaking it the little boy then placed his entire face into the poor yellow bucket and loudly yelled and echoing, ” HELLO” ! Apparently to the horror of the bucket, this was quite deafening, after the brutal and unwarranted beating it had just taken it could not hold its tongue or whatever a bucket has, being a grown up myself I am not sure, as I have never met a speaking bucket, yellow or any other color. The clovers get a bit iffy but their reports are all we have to go on here as the rest of the garden gets a bit mum. Apparently a conversation ensued whereas the bucket very politely yet firmly asked the little boy not to be so loud, at which point the little boy dropped the bucket out of shock. I am guessing that even a little boy with open eyes is not accustomed to talking yellow buckets. I can’t be sure but as I nor anyone I know has come across a conversational bucket this could be the cause of the dropping, and it could also be the cause of the running into the house to fetch his mom. Now don’t get confused here. The little boy was not fetching the buckets mom, but instead trying to fetch his own mom, however the attempt to fetch his mom was unsuccessful. It wasn’t that she was doing anything of great importance. Like splitting an atom, or curing cancer, she was watching TV, but apparently in the adult world that takes major precedence over a yellow talking bucket. It’s my humble opinion that she did not believe the little boy when he tried in earnest to explain to her that he had whacked the snot out of a bucket that screamed at him. Clearly she had had her vision drug out of her by the adults in her life or she could not have became an adult at some point. Because now TV was now more important. He went to find another adult but there were none he could convince that were not occupied or would believe him, he received a, ” yes that’s nice” , ” what a wonderful imagination”, “would you like some candy” and a “maybe later”.. but not even one ” what a talking yellow bucket ?????” which is the obvious correct response. Being the quick thinker he was he ran to Mrs. McAllister’s house and grabbed a cat, it was the orange one. Not because he particularly like that one, but because it was sleeping in the window and he could grab the lazy thing. The others saw him coming him and ran, and he definitely saw more than three, he knew Mrs. McAllister was a doubler. The color didn’t matter anyway he just needed a witness of the speaking yellow bucket. Upon returning to the garden with the lazy orange cat, the yellow bucket was gone. The cat looked lazily at the little boy and jumped from his arms. The little boy felt as if someone had pulled the plugs from his ankles and drained his vision from his life. Not one adult had wanted to see the strange happenings that day and hear the yellow bucket. He collapsed into the grass. He closed his eyes. It started to rain. He opened his mouth and caught a rain drop on his tongue, and the dandelion whispered, “we saw the whole thing”..