the end of my rainbow

They bounced high off the trampoline into the air. Laughing screaming smiles stretched wide as mouths could reach. Acorns flipped summersaults in the air along with the two boys having fallen from the oak tree branches hanging above. Metal legs rumbled on the grass with each landing scooting the large circle a tiny bit here or there.

It was a beautiful day. Not as hot as the last few surface of the sun days by far. So when the kids asked if they could go outside and jump I said yes. I looked up at the cotton ball clouds watching them drift lazy-like in front of the crystalline perfect blue. Sometimes you forget how high the sky is. It really does go on forever up there.

I turned on the hose, squeezed the trigger letting the water fly. The soft spray sent a mist up high into the air above the netting around the trampoline. The kids shouted and yelled happy sounds. Warm at the start, the sun-heated liquid slowly went through the length of rubber tubing until the colder water from our underground well reached the end making their screams rise even higher in pitch.

“Oh my GOD!” He shouted. “This is SO great!” Skin on both of their legs, chest and backs covered in leaves and twigs. Once they got wet everything seemed to stick to them. But they didn’t care. Neither did I.

My fingers pulled the trigger in tighter, narrowing the opening at the end of the nozzle. The water shot out faster and harder. I aimed it at each boy one at a time. They jumped around trying to dodge the spray even though they really wanted to get hit. The three of us laughing together a beautiful trio not caring if any of the neighbors thought we were too damn loud.

“Hey Dad, Look! A rainbow!” I loosened my grip a bit widening the spray again to a round flat hush.

“Where?”

“Right there!” He pointed his finger down to a spot just above the surface of the trampoline. “How cool!”

“Yeah buddy. That is cool.”

Slightly out of focus. Redorangeyellowgreenbluepurple blurred together in a curved stripe about six inches wide. Colors sharp and vivid if I looked at them in the right angle. As soon as my head turned the most miniscule degree, it vanished until I looked back. I tried to follow the curvature upward but the netting around the tramp seemed to act as a border preventing it from reaching further up into the sky. It was here just for the three of us. We didn’t have to share it if we didn’t want to. And we didn’t. Our very own private rainbow.

“I wonder where it ends Dad.”

“At the pot o’ gold pal.”

“What’s the pot o’ gold?”

I looked back at the rainbow that disappeared right next to the four small feet leaping up and down.

“Right here kiddo. The rainbow ends right here.”

a.m.k.
Wednesday July 27, 2011

/>