A summers day in the park

a short descriptive piece i wrote a few years afo

I was walking in my local park on a glorious day. The big sign above the entrance read “Welcome to Beehive Park”. I could smell the strong aroma of the flowers surrounding the sign. It made me sneeze. The bees were buzzing and the butterflies were fluttering around the flowers. The sun was beaming down and I could hear laughter and cheers all around me. I sat on a bench and looked out towards the lake. It was sparkling like millions of diamonds under the sunlight. It looked so beautiful. I saw three little boys nearby playing with their electronic boats; they had wide smiles on their faces. They’re boats engines made a roar sound that frightened the ducks, making them quack and flap about. A little girl screamed as the ducks flew past her. I walked on and noticed that the trees shaded some of my path from the sun. As the sun shone through, the leaves formed a pattern on the ground. I looked up and caught a glimpse of a grey squirrel running along a branch. I could hear the birds tweeting high up in the trees. I continued my walk along the arch shaped wooden bridge, I could smell the delicious food cooking in a nearby cafe. I stood and looked at the small, slow flowing stream, like the lake, it to looked as if there was millions of sparkling diamonds rolling around under the sunlight. The little insects were jumping about on top of the water as if they were trying to avoid the sharp edges of the moving diamonds. I smiled and walked over to the small family cafe. It was painted yellow all over with black doors and black framed windows, above the door said its name BEEHIVE and had a smiling bumble bee at the end.

 

Inside the cafe, it was nice and cool. There was a lot of noise. People were chattering and the waitresses were clanking the plates as they collected them from the tables. You could hear the sizzling of the food cooking and see the steam coming from the kitchen. “Table 2, egg and chips” shouted the woman behind the counter. A young blonde girl went and took the plate to the right table. I took a seat in the corner and looked at the menu. I look around; near me there is a mother and her baby. She was taking a bite of her sandwich and feeding the baby at the same time. The baby spat out the food, I overheard the mother laugh and say, “aren’t you a messy baby”, the baby chuckled as his mother cleaned him up. The waitress comes over carrying a notepad and pen. The tall, dark-skinned, brunette smiled and took my order. I saw a few beer bellied biker men enter the cafe in a tough style way, everybody in the cafe went quiet and looked at the bikers. The bikers come and sit on the table next to me. The noise began to pick up again. The bikers smelt of leather and stale tobacco. In their deep, husky voices each give the waitress their order. She pleasantly smiled at them, and walked quickly back to the kitchen. Not so long after she returned with my order. The smell of the home made pie made my stomach grumble. I cut the pie and steam billowed out. I took a bite and swallowed the warm, moist piece of pie. The taste reminded me of my late Grandmothers Sunday dinners. The vegetables. The meat. The potatoes. All soaked in a nice beef gravy, not too thick and not too thin. I am disrupted from my trip down memory lane by the biker men laughing out loud. I looked at them. They looked at me. I quickly finished my food and paid the bill.

 

Back outside, the heat shocked me. The sun had gotten hotter. There was a bit more people in the park now. The large, rectangular swimming pool was full. People were throwing colourful beach balls, splashing each other and sliding down the snake like slide. I could smell the chlorine. I decided to go and have a sit on the swings. Next to me was a father pushing his daughter on the little baby swing. The father said “wee, wee” and his daughter laughed. As I'm swinging I can feel the cool breeze against my skin and whipping through my hair. I tilted back and looked up to the sky. There were no clouds. Only a nice light blue colour. There was not even a black bird in the sky. I closed my eyes and took in the moment. I sighed and smiled as I sat back up. I jumped off the swing and walked back down to the lake. I went and got an ice cream from the candy coloured ice cream van. The worker had a great big grin on his face and his voice was very cheery. He was whistling a little tune. I handed him the money and he handed me the ice cream saying “Have a nice day”. I went and sat on the bright green grass to enjoy my cool vanilla ice cream. It was so warm, the ice cream was melting. It was dripping down the sides of the cornet and onto my hands. After I had finished I went to swill my sticky hands in the lake. I laid down on the grass with my feet in the lake. The water was cool and refreshing against my hot, burnt skin. I closed my eyes and begin to day dream. When I sat back up I could see a few fish swimming about near me. They were all different colours. Some orange. Some yellow and some blue. There was also a multi-coloured one. They swam around in circles. I pulled my feet out as I saw that they were swimming towards me. I put my flip flops back on. I began to walk back around the park; my feet were squelching with every step I made.

 

As I was walking around I noticed that the park was beginning to get a lot quieter. Parents were shouting for their children to come back and they were busy getting their things together. The birds began to start flying in the sky again, as it began to get a little cooler. The rubbish man had started going around picking up any litter off the ground. The owners of the cafe were putting their outside table and chairs away and putting up the closing sign. The ice cream man was shutting his van before driving away playing the ice cream tune. I got to the entrance to the park and the sun was beginning to set. It looked like a great big fire in the sky. I saw the last few bundles of families drive away and the park keeper came to lock up.