Playground War

Alexandria, her older brothers never helping her with the bully boys running around, had learned to defend herself verbally and physically when needed. She was determined to make Evander pay somehow for injuring one of her girlfriends.

"Come on, stop crying; that's what they want." Janine's knee had tiny stones stuck in the scrapes, and her skin was beginning to heal over them. Alexandria knew she had to get her friend home and clean that out. It was Friday, and the girls always did something together on the weekends. She didn't want stupid Evander's bullying to scare them away from the playground.

Mrs. Gataka, Alexandria's mother, listened to the girls' tale while gently cleaning Janine's knee with soap and water. The girl began to cry when the older woman used tweezers to pick the grit out of the scrapes.

"Shh, shh, I know it is painful, but we cannot let the skin close over this. Let me finish and put ointment on your scrape. Then we will have a snack and talk." Janine smiled, looking at Mrs. Gataka's deep mocha eyes gleaming beneath bushy arched brows.

"You say they have a fort with Boys Only on the front door, and you saw them digging tunnels?"

"Yes, Mama, I could see everything they were doing while swinging high. For days, I watched them build and dig, and then today Evander, tripped Janine. He's a bully and all the boys do everything he says."

The woman looked out the window, remembering events from her childhood in the projects. "Follow me." She led them to the garage and pulled down two paintbrushes and blue and pink paint. Writing down the wording she wanted, Alexandria's mother set a picnic for them in the yard and ran an errand. She returned with pots of pink and red Gerber daisies.

"All right. Phase One, are you ready?" The girls nodded at her. She drove them to the playground once the sun had set, knowing that all the kids were required to be home for dinner or face parental consequences. Holding a high lumens flashlight, she carried the plants to the fort, the girls following with the paint. "Janine, Alexandria, be sure the letters cover theirs and are bigger!" She kept watch while they painted. Then, they dug a ditch around the fort and planted the daisies.

Saturday morning, the girls were at the playground before breakfast. Those lazy boys showed up mid-morning, and spirits were high as they swung and swooshed down the slide.

Alexandria and Janine challenged each other to see who could get the swing the highest, wondering if it was possible to swing over the top and be injured. As they reached the arc, they giggled and pointed toward the fort.

The door's letters now read Boys Only Exist Due to Women in blue paint, outlined in pink. The Gerber daisies had opened to the morning sun and bobbled gently in a breeze.

Alexandria's mother had told her that it was Phase One and asked her what she thought Phase Two should be if it came to that.

"Papa is a fireman, so maybe he could get permission to hose out their tunnels." Her mother snorted out of her nose, laughing so hard.

finis, noun -Synonyms of finis: end, conclusion

Part 1 is here

Copyright © 12/11/2024 by Andrea O. Corwin

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