Kite on the Wind

Prompt: Call Me Ishmael

All of this happened, more or less. I flew a kite on a windy day as a young child, and the wind picked me up and carried me away. I should have been scared, I suppose, but I was too young to understand that the wind doesn’t normally pick up young girls and blow them around. My string gripped between my fingers, I just assumed I’d come back down, like a leaf on the breeze. The thing I remember most vividly about it all is my bright red sneakers with the white laces I wore that day, as I looked down and saw them drifting above rooftops and treetops and tops of all kinds.

At one point, I floated up into a cloud. It was wet and chilly and little droplets of water formed on the ends of my hair. I remember licking my hair. I guess I must have been thirsty; I don’t know. I was a child, after all, and licking one’s hair doesn’t seem odd when there are no adults to tell you not to.

I came down, of course, later that afternoon. The world looked quite different as I descended, and I couldn’t put my finger on why. How observant is a young girl, anyhow?

I set down on the front lawn of a lovely arts & crafts style home, on a street with many similar sized homes, with colorful shutters and cozy front porches and the greenest of grasses. A woman came out of the house and asked, “Where have you been?”

I thought about not responding, because you’re not supposed to talk to strangers. She looked similar to the librarian lady though, who always knew where the best books were, so she was okay. “I’ve been up in the sky.” I told her, matter-of-factly.

“That’s no place for a little girl, is it?” She asked.

I shrugged. After all, I had been there, so the question seemed trivial.

“Well, come in and have a snack.” She quipped after waiting for my response.

So I did. And then I stayed for dinner, and for the rest of my life.

I sometimes wonder about my old family, and where they are or if they miss me. I’ve flown my kite dozens of times since then and never gotten picked up since, so I guess the wind knew this is where I was supposed to be.