A Yellow Egg and No Tootsie Roll for Me

    The sun was extra bright that day.  I was nine or ten, maybe.  My great aunt had dragged me to the church Easter egg hunt, an event I was clearly too old for or so I seemed to believe.  But my Aunt Edith was not a women to be argued with.  At the ripe old age of 84, she is still quite the force to be reckoned with.  These egg hunts had never interested me, not even when I was much younger then the age of nine or ten.  I remember being no older then five one year and simply being more fascinated with playing in a huge pile of dirt then hunting for useless eggs.  It could have been because every year the cheap plastic eggs from the local dollar general were filled to the brim with cheap dollar general tootsie rolls.  This was never any sort of real prize to me...a complete rip off.  I didn't even like tootsie rolls, in fact, I despise their very existence to this day.  But lo' and behold there I was stuck at the egg hunt once again that year.
     Now the question is did I hunt eggs? Well, I guess that would depend on what you consider "hunting."  Sure, I picked up a few motley colored eggs but without any real enthusiasm. Mostly I just walked around aimlessly swinging my very pink egg basket kicking rocks in my nice white sneakers.  Occasionally, some of the older boys would run past me and sneak a look into my basket.  Eventually, they realized that I was no real threat in the egg hunting department.  It seemed to that they treasured those sticky, repulsive tootsie rolls way more then I did.
      Somehow I made my way over to the church tennis courts.  I was standing nonchalantly with no real goal in mind only wondering how much longer the so called hunt would go on.  I always thought it was funny that the adults referred to this odd ritual as a "hunt" when in reality most of the eggs were simply strewed around on the ground with a little pine straw covering them.  After awhile I noticed something a few feet away from me.  It was a drainage pipe and upon further investigation I found that it held one yellow egg.
    As I've grown older my life preferences seemed to have varied very little.  As I said before I still hate tootsie rolls and just like my younger self my favorite color is still yellow.  Now, it should be little surprise that I immediately wanted this egg.  I didn't have any yellow eggs in my basket and I hadn't seen any at all during the ridiculous hunt.  I had some pink and light blue paint pens that would be perfect to decorate the cheap plastic yellow egg.  Oh yes, I had elaborate plans for this egg.
    The problem was that I had no desire what so ever to stick my arm up to my elbow into that pipe.  No way. It just wasn't going to happen.  So I stood there stuck with no way to get my egg.  Fortunately, I wasn't a child easily disappointed.  I simply thought "oh well little egg, guess you'll have to stay there."  I was already planning how to get my aunt to stop my the dollar general and buy a pack of plastic eggs for me.  There would surely be a couple yellow ones in there and my big plans for a decorate yellow egg would not be disrupted.
    Soon I noticed the older boys walking over to my side of the court.  Boy, they were all a pain in the butt those days and most of them still are now...once again my preferences remain the same.  The boys raced up the small hill hoping to divert any of my efforts to collect eggs.  Yes, they were pretty dense if they hadn't figured out by now that I was not interested in their stupid little egg hunt.  I simply stood by the hole that trapped that yellow egg with my arms crossed at my chest just waiting to give whichever one of them snatched it the most evil look I could muster.  I assumed it would be one of the snotty twins. Thorns in my side to say they least.  I never liked either of them after the really ugly one knocked my down at the zoo and the other ugly one laughed at my skinned knee.  They were about three years older then me and they were typically annoying little brats.  Of course this is only my youngster sentiments of them, but as I've said many times already it seems like I remain a lot like my young self. 
   Finally, one of the boys approached me.  I didn't know much about him.  He was quiet and never really teased me.  He noticed the hole I was guarding and looked into it curiously.
"There's an egg down there" He said, matter of factually like I wasn't already aware of this.
"Yeah I know."
"You want it?"

Shocked as I was by this I nodded my head slightly not to fall into any juvenile trap where he pretended he was going to give me my egg and instead walked away with it.  He reached his scrawny, white arm into the hole.  It engulfed him all the way to his elbow.  After it was out he handed my egg over to me and walked away.  Surprised at the turn of events, I opened it up to find it held a jolly rancher. No tootsie roll for me.  Hallelujah!


   

Summer, Completely Unforgettable

It catches your heart and makes you breathe deep.
Blistering hot sand snakes between bare toes,
These young summers are impossible to forget
Embedded in your memories to stay forever.
Jewels of water decorate your sun caressed skin.
An exhausted college student jumps back into teenage years with every summer.

Long nights, sweet, meant to be savored.
Rolling thunder dots the afternoon quiet,
A faraway storm, mysterious and alluring.
Falling into a slumber, breath in sync with pattering rain.
Cool winds blow through a partially opened window,
a rare relief from the greedy heat of a Southern summer.

Mornings graced with summer sweets
Not chocolate or cakes, but sugared peaches and damp strawberries.
Sunlight ventures through the curtains
dancing and playing in front of your closed eyelids
beckoning you to join in

Yes, these summers filled with
light ocean breezes and heavy, dark storms,
unbreakable heat, and savory fruits,
lazy mornings and hazy nights
are truly unforgettable.