Side With the Fly

The crisp fall air coalesces with the smell of aging trees that fill every part of the playground while children laugh and sing; however, nothing great about the fall can defeat the heat and intensity of the argument between Mary and Jane. Atop the black top, Mary and Jane both stood in the number “1” square in a game of four-square. The lines painted red for, as Jane would attest, maximum visibility of the ball if it were to hit your own square. Mary could not and would not budge no matter what Jane said. She knew she wasn’t out and she wasn’t going to leave the square without being in a body bag. She would never make up a rule to save herself, she tells Jane. Jane doesn’t care what Mary says or believes, she is OUT! Jane wants to be queen for once. Jane feels something buzzing by her ear. She takes a couple of swings to get a fly away from her so she can continue yelling at Mary. Finally, the noise fades away. Just a few moments later, Mary yells for Jane to look at a bluebird flying just a few yards above her. Jane looks for the bird but soon hears Mary laughing as she runs away with the ball. Jane follows Mary in hot pursuit.

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The bluebird is ready to go on vacation. This year, she and the family will fly along the Rio Grande. The bluebird hasn’t seen the Rio Grande since she was very young. She is soaring over a playground filled with threatening children. As every bluebird is well aware, flying too low poses great danger when around children. She is lurking around for a snack. She zig zags around the whole playground flying gracefully over the swing sets and the seesaws and the slides and the black top and OH!— there’s a prize. She spies a fly rising up over two children who are screaming. She swoops in and nabs the fly. Time for the bluebird to continue to hunt elsewhere.

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A fly is drunk. Having just eaten some of the remnants of week-old apple found atop the blackened earth, the fly has little control of himself and is even unaware of his surroundings. The fly was initially cold, really cold, and the buzz felt so warming it had to eat all that he could. Now the minuscule fly is serpentining above the black top. He comes across the two girls and begins to grow tired. All he wants to do is take a nap somewhere to sleep off the alcohol. He wants peace and quiet, but, when he stumbles across Mary and Jane, he certainly isn’t going to sleep anytime soon. He begins to fly lazily around Jane. He weaves closely next to her ear so she will hopefully be so annoyed she runs away so he can finally get some peace and—- here comes a hand! He unskillfully dodges the hand and takes note of the yellow beacon in the sky. The fly knows there is nobody there to disturb him. He begins to fly to the heavens where he will

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Goodbye Mr. Fly.