Frictional Faith

Thursday, February 28, 2013

Divas - Epilogue posted at 10:22 PM

Daniel picked a fist full of ixora flowers and brought it to the table under the playground. All by himself, the 8 year old peeled the flowers petal by petal. Daniel adored Ixoras - they tend to come in yellow, red, pink and some even white. The ones near Daniel's house were mostly pink and these were his favorite. He also enjoyed the taste of the flower's nectar.

The 8 year old was the oldest of 3 siblings and the only son his parents bore. Daniel was not like the other boys. At family gatherings, he would wear Liverpool jerseys courtesy of his grandfather but not play soccer with the rest of his male cousins. Instead, he would watch his sisters and his female cousins play with their plastic toy kitchen and learn how to tie their hair. More than often, he would get taunted by his male cousins and scolded by his parents each time he played with his female cousins. Over time, Daniel has learnt to play in solitude.

"80 petals!" Daniel clapped his hands in glee and proceeded to put the petals in a bowl. Using a twig, he mashed the petals together with torn up dried leaves he found earlier. He looked to check if anyone was near him. He spitted into the bowl and continued to mash the pinkish-brownish concoction in the bowl.

A sharp sound of glass breaking sent Daniel into a shock, spilling the contents of his bowl. It was instantaneously followed by the sound a boy crying. Instinctively, he left the playground to find the source of the crying.

"Dzul, you weak boy! It's just a small vase and you have no strength to carry it?" Daniel found himself at his void deck. A boy, slightly taller than Daniel, had tears in his eyes and in front of him broken pieces of glass. Daniel had never seen the boy before. The man who was scolding the boy shook his head and lifted up two boxes.

The boy wiped away his tears and realized that Daniel had been looking at him. Daniel smiled in reciprocation.

Labels: Divas, shorts