The start of a vacation

A stray golden curl sliding down his forehead, pale blue eyes, and a cherubic face gave Mark an angelic look. On any other day, he’d look innocent with neatly pressed shirt, and pants. Not today. His golden hair had already turned brown, the sand flying around him as he shook his head. His cream shirt, now buff was wrinkled, and untucked. The pants were probably brown to start with, so it’s hard to know the extent of the damage it suffered. Streaks of dirt graced his face along with a satisfied smile. The scrapes on his elbows showed signs of bleeding. He bore them with fortitude of a knight.

Nothing could mar his spirits. After all, it was vacation. If a boy can’t do what he wants during holidays, then what was their use? Two minutes. It was a record. Robbie took three and a half minutes, Tom five, and Jack didn’t even try. He had slid down the mound behind the park in two minutes. Babies slid down the park slides; bigger boys used the mound.

Mark sang as he walked towards home not bothered by the glances he got from the passersby. Even Jenny his five-year old sister playing in their garden couldn’t spoil his mood. Being dirty had its advantage. Jenny didn’t try to force him to play with her. In fact, she pulled back her dolls, afraid that he might touch them.

All this changed when he saw his mother standing on the doorstop. One look at her face told him her opinion about his jaunt. With his lips turned downwards, he showed her his hurt elbows. Her anger turned to worry as she came forward to inspect them. By then, two large tears had formed in his eyes, and were already spilling out. Crying might seem like a silly thing for a ten-year old boy, but his other option was getting grounded for the rest of the vacation.

*This piece was written as an assignment(Character building) during an online writing course.

Do let me know if you like it. Honest criticism is always welcome. 🙂