The little girl in the blue dress sat with her legs spread out to the sides, little pink toes (all ten of them) wiggling, playing Jacks on the rickity old porch. One jack, two jack, never a third jack four... the little girl in the blue dress would snatch up the little pink round ball in her fist with the small silver jacks poking out from the webs of her fingers.
"I got em!" She would exclaim to too-many-kisses Mr. Cat who happened to be watching from the corner of her left heel. She would smile and set the little silver jacks to the side, her tongue poking out from the corner of her lips, before bouncing the little pink ball once again hoping it wouldn't get stuck in the creases and cracks of the rickity old porch. One jack, two jacks, never a third jack four.
"Where did ya get those." The little boy in the little black hat with a notebook on a string bounced up on the porch wielding his stick sword. The little girl with the blue dress had gotten used to him popping in and out that she never did wonder if he was there or not there. Her head tilted to the left, then to the right, wispy blonde waves shimmered in the light of the fat lazy sun that stretched over the never ending corn fields. The little pink ball lost itself on a tumble as the boy stomped his way over and bounced over her knobby knees, rolling its way to freedom before finding itself caught into a crack at the edge of the porch.
The little girl in the blue dress pursed her lips together, resembling much like a small kiss a little princess would give a toad, and scrunched her nose up before pushing herself up, jacks poking out of the webs of her fingers, to sneak the run away ball.
"Oh! Now see you done it." She put her hands on her hips and peered into the crack where the little pink ball only poked out so much that she was trying to figure out how to get her little fingers around it to pull it out. Bending over she peeked at the ball with one eye, then the other eye.
"I'm sorry." And the little boy was, he walked over and peeked at the little pink ball sticking out of the crack of the rickity old porch and wondered if he could poke it out with his stick sword. They both stared at it for a good long moment before she just plopped back down on the dusty porch, her little pink toes dirty as they always were and blew a loose strand of hair from her face as though she were whistling. "That's alright. It was just a gift."
The little boy with the little black hat and the notebook on a string was bound and determined to get the little pink ball out of the crack of the rickity porch though. He took his stick sword and started beating away at the little pink ball, all to the amazement of the little girl in the blue dress whose blue blue eyes grew larger in her round face and blinked once, twice, and never a third time. "I'll get it!" The little boy exclaimed proudly and bashed and bashed away. She scooted herself back with the heels of her feet and the edge of her bottom, so he wouldn't wack her a good one with the stick sword.
The little pink ball fell down the crack to the underbrush of the rickity old porch and the boy with the little black hat and the notebook on a string put his hands on his hips proudly puffing out his chest which heaved in and out with strong puffs of air. "Ah ha! I told you I would get it!" The girl in the little blue dress rolled her eyes and pursed her lips. "Well you sure did knock it a good one down there. Lotta good that'll do us."
"Well I got it out." He said smartly and stuck his tongue out at her. "Where did you get these things anyways. This isn't any proper toy." The little girl in the blue dress opened her pink fist that held the silver Jacks that poked out of her small fingers. "Well my new friend gave them to me. That's who! And you done lost the ball and how am I gonna play now the balls done gone missin under the porch." She stuck her tongue right back out at him and put the little silver Jack pieces in the pocket of her blue dress that hung limply on the side.
The little boy with the black hat and the notebook on a string stood scratching the small tuft of hair that poked out from behind his ear. Rightly confused, he was, and thought of whether or not he really wanted or intended to go scrambling on his hands and knees for a little pink ball that didn't make any good sense to him. "Well, don't he have another one?"
"I guess so." She said softly, and rubbed the back of her hand over her nose that twitched just a little. She wondered whether or not the boy with the wishes in his pockets was thinking about her. She brushed off the dust from her knobby knees and blinked once, twice, and never a third time before looking up at the boy with the little black hat and the notebook on a string.
"So why'd you come bouncing up anyways." She tilted her head to the side and looked at him. He seemed all bright and shiney in the light of the lazy fat sun that stretched out over the never ending corn. He smiled from ear to ear, just like the corn, and probably a crow would have eaten him if he didn't have a hat on she thought, all scarecrows have hats. "I found me a song bird!" And his chest puffed all out again, looking smart and big for a moment before his smile lapsed and he became pouty like he did from time to time when he couldn't think just right. "But I can't figure out how to catch it."
"Well I hope you don't go bashin it with a sword." She said and giggled to herself, but the boy with the little black hat with the notebook on a string didn't chuckle back and he slumped on down propping himself half up with the stick sword. "I was only kiddin. Maybe you can sing to the song bird and she will follow you home."
"No, I tried that."
"Maybe you could give it something to eat."
"No, I tried that too."
"Hm. Well does it even like you?"
"Well of course she likes me!" His face scrunched all up which made her almost start into gigglefits but she knew he was sad so she just looked down at her little pink toes and wiggled them thinking of ways to catch a song bird. "It's just that she just figured out how to fly and her parents won't let her go real far."
"Ohhhh." Said the girl in the little blue dress and she smiled real big, her blue blue eyes sparkling. "You can bash them with the stick sword!"
"Oh would you stop it!" He humphed at her and stood back up, looking at the stick sword as though that were a thought in his head and maybe it would work. He was lost in thought, staring once to the sword and then to the never ending corn fields. She knew he had some idea but just didn't want to say it. She tilted her head and blinked once, twice, and never a third time before pushing herself up, dusting off the ends of her little blue dress, and went to stand next to the boy with the little black hat and the notebook on a string.
"Does she sing a pretty song?"
"Yes, she has a beautiful song."
"Does she sing to you all the time?"
"Sometimes in the morning, and sometimes in the night, but she doesn't wake me up when I need to be sleeping."
"That's nice, that's a nice song bird."
"Yeah." He said softly, longingly, as though it were a hot day and all he wanted was an icecream cone. He looked at the stick sword, then at the never ending corn. The little girl in the blue dressed smiled, he'd been holding onto that thing since he got to the rickity old porch.
"You can take the sword. You can go show you can protect her."
"I can bring it back." He said and looked at her wondering if she could read his mind, and probably she could he thought... she was rather strange.
"It's okay. Maybe you can bring her to visit." The little girl in the blue dress thought long and hard for a moment, leaned up against the old railing of the rickity old porch and then looked at him with solumn blue eyes that all the sudden looked rather old in her little round face. "You think she would like to visit?"
He smiled, and ruffled her blonde hair and she pushed him down hard on his butt as he started laughing. "Course she'd like to visit, whiney pouty girl you are." The little girl in the blue dress stared indignately but the smile came back to her eyes, for which he was glad, he never did like her being sad.
She huffed and went back over to her Jacks, scooping them up by ones, twos, never threes, and then fours. "You gonna be okay?" He said, looking at the sword he once found to protect the fortress of the rickity old porch and the never ending cornfields beyond that found their way to the nevernever. He often times wondered what was out there beyond the corn fields but he knew it was no place he could go to, or come from, he was a picket fence boy.. or so the little girl in the blue dress told him. "Course I will." She said and stood up with the Jacks all poking out from the folds of the pockets of her little blue dress. And he knew she would be, it was summertime and he knew from her stories that summer was what made the roses bloom on her cheeks. He smiled. "Send me a balloon note if you need me. I am going to go save the song bird!" He exclaimed and hopped off the side of the porch in a swoop completely forgetting about the little pink ball that he bashed to the bottom depths of the underbrush. She giggled and ran over to the edge of the porch as he darted off towards the white shimmering picket fence that loomed over the edges of her world.
"Don't go bashin em in the head!" She yelled after him and smiled before walking over to the very far edge of the rickity porch where the little pink ball got itself bashed into the underbrush and scooting herself half on and half off the porch she peeked down under the porch to see if she could spy it.
"Watcha doin?" The little girl in the blue dress, startled, almost fell off the porch and scrambled back up with her blonde hair all tossled around her face. The boy with the wishes in his pockets laughed and laughed and came out from the corner of the porch where she must have missed him in the shadow. In his palm he held the little pink ball from her Jack set. She blew at the strands in her face and pushed it back with her palms, righting her little blue dress before sticking her tongue out at him. "I was tryin to find that. How'd you get it?"
He smiled, the mess of his curled hair poking here and there from out of a rubber band tied behind his neck. He was dusty everywhere from, she expected, him crawling under the rickity old porch and wondered how ever she didn't hear him down there in the first place or how he had gotten there. But he just smiled and handed her the little pink ball which she stuck in her pocket. "Well I wouldn't have had to if he didn't go bashing it down there. He has a strange way of fixing things."
She smiled and looked off at the white picket fence before turning back to the boy with the wishes in his pockets. "That's just cause he's a whiney pouty boy is all. You want to play?" The boy pushed himself up on the porch, his hair coming a bit more loose and it tangled around his ears, he didn't even bother brushing himself off and she didn't bother brushing herself off either as it just seemed natural to be all dusty and not so perfect around each other.
The fat sun stretched out across the never ending corn field and no breeze blew here nor there, the sad wind chimes resting in the summer afternoon. Somewhere on the other side of the white picket fence the boy with the little black hat and the notebook on a string was wielding his great stick sword (and hopefully not bashing anyone in the head) defending his song bird. And the little girl in the blue dress and the boy with the wishes in his pockets sat toe to toe on the rickity old porch, creating a circle around a pile of silver Jacks and watched the little pink ball bounce picking up one jack, two jack, never a third jack, four.