Chasing the Rainbow

A boy gets lost in the woods and follows a rainbow.

The rain sometimes never stops. Mommy won’t let me go outside until it does. The drops seem to be endless. I stare high into the grey cloud-filled sky and see only more drops waiting to drop the Earth below. They wash away my day. They wash away the fun. They are wicked, mean, selfish, drops of rain.

      There is nothing on television. I play and fiddle with the large clumps of aluminum foil loosely wrapped around the rabbit eared antenna. Through the snow filled screen I can faintly make out Captain Kangaroo. A tinge of excitement fills me, but as I turn up the volume I hear nothing but static.

      Dad says it has something to do with low cloud cover and that until the storm passes there is nothing to watch. Stupid rain! Stupid stupid rain! Even indoors I feel robbed!

      The air in the house is stale and glazed in a cloud of cigarette smoke. I cough and reluctantly make my way to my bedroom. My room is small. Dutchess is lying on my bed so I am forced to play with my Star Wars figures upon the floor. She is my dog. Everyone knows it.

      “That Sheppard looks after him like he is one of her pups!” my dad likes to say. I don’t know what that means, but it makes me feel good inside.

      I play on the floor for what seems like hours. Ben Kenobi and Luke Skywalker zoom back and forth across the floor on the land speeder. R2D2 keeps falling off. Unfortunately, C3PO now lives somewhere beneath the vent on my floor. Dad says he will get him out, but he never does.

      “Dutchess,” my mom calls out, “Dutchess, you want to go outside?”

      Dutchess bolts from my bed and down the narrow hall of the trailer house. I barrel after her, hoping that maybe, just maybe the raindrops have stopped their assault.

      “No, Eddy,” my mother stops me, “it is still too nasty out there.”

      “But it’s not raining no more!” I cry back to her.

      “Ah, let him go outside,” my dad interjects, “been cooped up in here for too long.”

      Mom stares at me with concern then reaches for my jacket, “You stay close though, no running off into the woods with Dutchess.”

      Our trailer sits just to the left of the middle of nowhere. It is surrounded by a forever amount of trees that contain mysteries and treasures galore. When I finally get my coat on and am out the door, I find that Dutchess has already disappeared into the woods.

      “Dutchess! Dutchess?!” I call out to her.

      Branches break, the brush moves, and animals flee from their places of hiding and Dutchess runs towards me. I reach down to pet her�"she licks my hand in return.

      The sun peeks from behind the clouds and its rays tear through the trees that blanket my back yard. Dutchess barks and I look up to see an array of colors floating across the sky. In some places the colors are bright and alive against the canvas of a cloud covered sky. Where the blue seeps through the colors slightly fade.

      “A rainbow!!” I scream out in glee. Without a moment’s thought I tear through the woods towards the rainbow’s end. Dutchess barks loudly as I run past tree after tree. The sun almost seems to show me the path. I swear the rainbow moves further away the more I run.

      Further and further, deeper and deeper I run into the forest, as fast as my tiny legs will move me along. Dutchess is no longer barking. The forest grows silent.  The light of the sun grows brighter and the clouds seem to almost disappear. The rainbow, which without mercy, seemed to tease me from above, slowly fades from my eye’s view.

      I look around and realize I am deeper and further into the woods than I ever have been before. The wind gently blows through the trees and I can hear creaks and cracks from the trees as they scold me for trespassing into their world.

       “Dutchess?” I cry out in a voice tinged with fear. Silence.

      I start running back the way I came�"I think, but my foot catches on the root of a tree and I tumble to the ground. Pain shoots through my hands as they are skinned from the dirt and rocks hidden beneath the leaves.

      I cry. I call for my mommy. I call for my daddy. I cry louder. The ground is once more saturated with drops of rain, but this time from my eyes.

      The brush breaks and cracks and I stop crying. I am so afraid. So, so, afraid.

“Mommy?” I ask in a whispering cry. It is not my mommy, but instead Dutchess who comes through the brush. I cry harder, a mixture of fear, joy, and regret. Dutchess licks the my tear-stained face and I tightly hug her warm furry body. She barks a loud bark which echoes through the woods.

She then nuzzles me, almost pushing me to my feet. I obey. I look to the sky and the rainbow is all but gone. The sun shines brightly above and I feel comforted by the warmth of its rays. I am still afraid, but it is not so bad now. Dutchess and I walk and walk and walk. It seems like forever, but somehow by seeing the sun still above I know it isn’t as long as it seems.

Just ahead I can see a break in the trees. I start running for the natural doorway ahead of me and Dutchess runs alongside me. She never lets me get too far ahead�"or behind.

Suddenly we find ourselves in a large open field. The forest retreats behind us and the doorway closes; almost as if to not allow me back in. Far off in the horizon I can see a farm. I think it’s the Schendel’s but cannot tell from where I stand. I no longer feel lost.

Dutchess barks loudly once more. Then again. And again. I try to hush her but she keeps barking louder and louder and I begin to once more feel fear overtake me. I cower down into the tall grasses and hope that whatever it is that Dutchess is barking at goes away. I begin to cry again. She licks my face and then, at a sprint, runs off. I cry out to her, “Dutchess!” She keeps running.

“Dutchess !!!!” I scream again overwhelmed with fear and loss. My emotions overcome me and I cry. I cry for my mommy. I cry for my daddy. I cry. I am alone. My eyes are weary and heavy and I am tired from the walking. I am tired from crying. I just want to go home. The grass offers me protection and I curl into a ball, my breathing heavy and breaking. I feel sleep’s embrace and doze off.

“Eddy!” my dad’s voice rips me from my sleep and I open my eyes to see his tear filled eyes staring down at me.

“Daddy!!” I screamed reaching out for him. I look around and see many unfamiliar faces staring back at me.

“We’ve been looking for you for hours!” his tone is more stern.

“I was trying to find the end of the rainbow….” I said, feeling silly.

“We’ll talk about that later,” he said, “for now let’s get you home.”

Dutchess barks and I now realize why she left me alone.

Reviews

[Holly O'Brien]

awww cute story :)) I enjoyed seeing it all from a child's perspective....It was simplistic and creative. ~good write~ :))