I am not a person

a sad story about a girl who who loved to fly her kite on sunny days

  

   
   The day was pleasant and the sky a nice, deep azure.  It was spotless save for a single kite blocking out part of the sun.  Normally the sky in this town was dull and the air heavily humid but not now.  Now, the park is incredibly bright.  When it is incredibly bright the kite flier comes out to fly her kite alongside the others in the park.  Such a day was very rare.  The others at the park knew where the kite flier would be; she never strayed from her course much like the kite she flew.  They didn't take note of her but two sisters did.
   "Last week, she sat exactly that way."

    "why?"

    "She likes it."

    "what about it?"

    "Everything."

    "How do you know?"
   
    "She smiles too much."

    The sisters just sat at the picnic after that.  The smaller one was strangely quiet, with the other turning cross with her as they lounged on their red blanket in the shining sun. They did so while watching the kite flier lounge under the shaded tree with her beloved kite.  Many children ran past their blanket and in front of the sisters with their doting parents reprimanding them softly but sternly.
      "Her mom will pick her up."
 
      "What makes you think she will?"

       "All the other kids got picked up and she doesn't have a big sister like I do."

      The older sister chuckled and ruffled her ginger hair.  She scrunched her small nose up and pushed the hand away and ran.  She stopped at the old oak tree.

       "When are your parents coming?"
 
   The kite flier glance up.
 
        "Why do you care?"" she asked.

        "It's getting cold."  the little girl said.

     The flier smiled at her strangely and she ran back t her sister.

        "She wouldn't say either," she tells her sister, "you both just smile.  You don't answer and I don't like that sis."

    Her sister doesn't speak just strokes her hair through her hair once again, up, down, up, down, and up once again.  She took her hand away and pulled sister into her lap.

           "Can I tell my sister?" she yells to the flier.

     The flier nodded her head and mouthed slowly yet clearly,
         
           "If you want to do that."

     She stopped and stared and stayed stopped.  She thought a little then nodded her head.

            "thank you."
   
       She started to gather their blanket into their white wicker basket.  She gently took her sister by the hand and walked her by the lake and farther away from the tree and the flier.  They were far enough were the flier couldn't hear them but they could still see her as a tiny speck sitting still and flying.

             "She's happy now."

             "She's always happy you told me."

             "Did I say that, are you sure?"

             "Well ... you said she smiled too much."

             "Don't you have to be happy to smile?"

              "No, Sarah, You don't, you really don't and I hope you never have to."

              "So, she's not happy, she just smiles?"

             "When you smile without a feeling is when you start to smile too much."
              
             " But sissy, you said she likes it here!"

             "I did, she only smiles when she's right under the tree."

             "Is that why her mommy and daddy let her stay so long?"
 
             "Her mom is why she is sad."

             "Because her mommy makes her leave too soon?"

             "No, because her momma left."
      
             "That was mean of her, does she have a mean momma?"

     She stopped shortly and looked down at Sarah.

             "Don't you ever call that woman mean!  You never insult her, do you hear me!"

              "Yes, sis."

    Her lip trembled.

               "She was a wonderful woman Sarah.  No one should ever doubt that."

                "Then why did she leave?"

               "She didn't leave at all.  She was taken."

               "Who took the nice mommy?"
   
               "No human could take that woman.  The lightning took her away."

                "Where did it take her?"

                 "She was such an amazing woman that the lightning struck and didn't want to let her go.  It took it back up with it to heaven."

                 "Is that why she smiles without a feeling?"

                 "It is." she said.

                 "Why is it real when she's under the tree then?"

                  "That tree is where her mother was taken."

                  "That doesn't make any sense!  Wouldn't the tree make her sad then?"

                   "She hopes if she comes the lightning will come back and take her with it."

                   "She never comes when its cloudy though.  You need clouds for lightning."

                   "The day her mother was taken it was a pretty day just like today."

                    "So, it isn't the kite that makes her happy?"

                    "No Sarah, it isn't."
  
                    "Then why does she fly it?"

                     "Her teacher told her Ben Franklin summoned lightning by flying a kite with a key attached."

                     "Has it ever worked?"

                     "She's still here, isn't she?"  
      
                     "I'll notice when she's gone."

                     "I know."

                     "The others don't notice her anymore."

                      "People are very fickle Sarah, remember that."

                      "I won't ever be, fickle that is.  If that's what a person is, then I don't ever want to be one."

        They came to the end of the pond.  The sun was gone and so was the kite flier.  With nothing left to be said the sister's walked home.  Many years later a seventeen year old Sarah would still say to those that would listen,

                      "I'm not a person, I'm a kite flier."

         Sarah went to visit the big oak tree every sunny day to watch the kite flier for at least an hour; they became friends.  She learned the kite flier had a name, Clara.  One day she went to visit their tree with a picnic for them to share.  That day she dropped her basket and its tender wood broke to pieces.  There was no one leaning against the tree on that sunny day and there never would be again.  After that every summer day there would be a new kite leaning up against the tree.  Sarah's sister would yell at her to stop.

                   "I'm not a person." was all she would say.






                          
        "

Reviews

[Akshay Rawal]

I see a good story intermingling the crave of a young girl to chase down the course of death to meet her mom( Hope, an emotion) with Benjamin Franklin 's Scientific experiment proving that lightening is because of charges of opposite nature between the clouds and the earth. I liked the combination. The kite flier's history is very well narrated, revealing the actual matter, and the conversation keeps the reader interested. Thanks.

[Coyote Poetry]

"I'm not a person, I'm a kite flier."
I enjoyed the story. You create a good character and a interesting situation. Thank you for sharing the excellent story. Kite fliers are a special people who find peace in the freedom of the kite.
Coyote

[chandlerl]

That was...that was interesting. The dialogue kept my attention, it was very...abstract and I'm pretty sure sure you meant it to be that way. I also think, as a little constructive criticism that you could expand on this a little. You can definitely keep it abstract while also adding a little more detail.