Contemporary story
On

High and Lifted Up

It was a windy day.

The mailman barely made it to the front door. When the door opened, Mrs. Pennington said, "hello", but, before she had a real chance to say "thank you", the mail blew out of the mailman's hands, into the house and the front door slammed in his face. Mrs. Pennington ran to pick up the mail.

"Oh my," she said.

Tommy was watching the shutters open and then shut, open and then shut.

"Mom," he said, "may I go outside?"

"Be careful," she said. "It's so windy today."

Tommy crawled down from the window-seat and ran to the door. He opened it with a bang. The wind blew fiercely and snatched the newly recovered mail from Mrs. Pennington's hands and blew it even further into the house.

"Oh my," she said again. Tommy ran outside and the door slammed shut.

Outside, yellow, gold, and red leaves were leaping from swaying trees, landing on the roof, jumping off the roof, and then chasing one another down the street in tiny whirlwinds of merriment.

Tommy watched in fascination.

"If I was a leaf, I would fly clear across the world," Tommy thought and then ran out into the yard among the swirl of colors.

Mrs. Pennington came to the front porch.

"Tommy, I have your jacket. Please put it on."

However, there was no Tommy in the front yard.

"Tommy?"

Tommy was a leaf. He was blowing down the street with the rest of his play-mates.

A maple leaf came close-by, touched him and moved ahead. Tommy met him shortly, brushed against him, and moved further ahead. They swirled around and around, hit cars and poles, flew up into the air and then down again.

"This is fun," Tommy thought.

The maple leaf blew in front of him. It was bright red with well-defined veins. The sun-light shone through it giving it a brilliance never before seen by a little boy's eyes.

"Where do you think we are going?" Tommy asked the leaf.

"Does it matter?" the leaf replied. "Have fun. Life is short."

"I beg to differ," an older leaf said suddenly coming beside them. "The journey may be short, but the end is the beginning."

Tommy pondered this the best a leaf could ponder.

"Where do we end up?"

←2

"If the wind blows you in that direction," the old leaf said, "you will end up in the city dump."

"I don't want that," Tommy said.

"If you are blown in that direction, you will fly high into the air and see things that no leaf has seen before."

"Follow me to the city dump," the maple leaf said. "Most of my friends are there."

The wind blew Tommy and the maple leaf along. Tommy thought of his choices. He wanted to continue to play.

"Okay," Tommy said, "I will go with you to the dump."

The winds shifted and Tommy and the leaf were blown in the direction of the city dump.

The old leaf didn't follow. He was blown further down the block and suddenly lifted up high into the air.

"Hey," he called out, "the sights up here. They are spectacular. Come and see."

Tommy and the maple leaf ignored him.

"I see something. I see the dump." The old leaf cried out. "I see smoke. Come up here. I see fire."

"I see nothing," the maple leaf said.

Tommy saw the fence that surrounded the city dump. He was happy to be with his friend. They would have fun in the dump.

Suddenly, a car pulled up. It was Tommy's mom. Mrs. Pennington wasn't about to let her little boy run into the city dump.

"Not so fast," she said getting out of the car. "You are not allowed to play in there. Don't you see the smoke?"

Tommy watched the maple leaf blow against the wall and struggle to get over. He ran over to get it but was unable to reach it.

Mrs. Pennington walked over and took the leaf. She put it in her pocket.

"There," she said, "it will be safe until we get home."

Tommy smiled, ran to the car and got in. He rolled down the back window and looked up into the sky. He wondered where the old leaf had gone. Perhaps one day he would see what the old leaf had seen - perhaps.

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Average: 5 (3 votes)

Comments

Submitted by admin on Mon, 02/06/2006 - 21:36

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I liked this story a lot. It was so sensitive and pure and inocent and deep, though. Congrats to the writer, AND THANKS A MILLION TO short-stories.co.uk FOR SHARING ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL STORIES. I´m really thankfull.

Submitted by admin on Sun, 04/23/2006 - 17:30

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A beautiful story. Disregard the commenters who
cant tolerate ambiguity or flights of fancy. Not a
didactic or cut-and-dried morality play -- just a lovely
description of childlike whimsy.

Submitted by admin on Sat, 05/20/2006 - 08:04

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I like it for its poetic quality: just when you do not notice. It is simple and not pretencious. It also has a message: for teenagers who are thinking about the attractions of the city dump

Submitted by admin on Tue, 09/26/2006 - 16:37

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Good metaphors and themes, sometimes when reading it I doubted that a child would pick up on them. Im a little confused at the end when the boy changes back to normal, maybe make it a little bit clearer.

Submitted by admin on Wed, 01/17/2007 - 15:10

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This story had so much potential. A boy magically turns into a leaf - what a great idea. Ive wondered myself what it would be like to be a leaf.

But, upon finishing the story, Im left with many questions.

1) How did Tommys mom know where to find him?
2) Was Tommy actually a leaf? His mom was able to spot him pretty easily.
3) How could Tommy and his friend choose where to go when leaves are completely subjected to the passions of the wind? They dont have any choices on where their path leads.
4) Why did Tommys mom save the leaf (his friend)? That seems very uncharacteristic of a mother trying to get her child back into the house when her child didnt even ask her to do it. Did she read his mind?

Overall, the story was dissatisfying. It ends a little cliched, as well. With the repetition of the word "perhaps."

Submitted by admin on Tue, 02/27/2007 - 14:51

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This story is terrific. People who read this and didnt understood sure dont have an imagination. Its a kids story, ofcourse imagination is everything!

This story seems like its very imaginative and creative. It seems to be about a boy who goes on a adventure of playing in the wind with his newly made friends "the leaves".

I loved it, keep up the good work.

Submitted by admin on Wed, 03/28/2007 - 09:06

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Great story! Im going to use it for an example in my Creative Writing class at college. Children experience wonder that adults are just too "serious" to enjoy. Thank you for letting an adult become a child again through your imagination.
A college professor

Submitted by admin on Tue, 04/10/2007 - 03:14

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A nice kids story - should have a higher overall rating that its showing. Easy to understand, and could even encourage children to write stories about what they might like to turn into if they could and what might they see? Keep writing! MGE Oregon

Submitted by admin on Wed, 04/18/2007 - 14:13

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cool

Submitted by admin on Wed, 04/18/2007 - 14:15

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i liked it

Submitted by admin on Sun, 06/24/2007 - 18:16

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I thought this was a nice story. My take is, nowhere was it said the little boy turned into a leaf, and, the reason his mother recognized him is because it was her little boy she saw, not, a leaf. The boy was using his imagination and the leaves were, at this time, his playmates. He was wandering around, following his playmates, he was not a leaf. I think the author has captured how imaginative children think and I liked the story.

Submitted by admin on Wed, 10/03/2007 - 19:03

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I think its a beautiful little story which will develop imagination of a young child. I think its really cool how Mike Krath transformed the reality in the way that the reader enters the world of the young childs imagination!
I thought the language of the story is so vivid that you can really see the colours, smell the leaves, the fire, and feel the wind! A magic story.

Submitted by admin on Mon, 10/29/2007 - 11:14

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It wasnt as good as it seemed it would be at first. It had great descriptions though. It had somewhat of a referance to the afterlife, which is great, but it didnt go further with it. You did a good job on hte beginning, though. It would be better if it had an ending that matched.

Submitted by admin on Wed, 10/31/2007 - 08:23

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When I first read this story it didnt twig (no pun intended) that it was written for a younger audience. I reread it and I love it as a good example of childrens writing. I do agree with others that it could be a little longer!

Submitted by admin on Fri, 01/18/2008 - 10:31

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Very imaginitive story. But it was unclear, to me, how Tommy turned into the leaf. There was no where in the story that "showed" him turning into the leaf, it just jumped from his mother calling for him, to "Tommy was a leaf". but it was a very nice story to help the children to dream. Stories like this one can help mewith my own story writing. Thank you!

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/01/2008 - 08:53

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My students loved this story. I thought they would be confused by Tommy "turning into a leaf", but as I read it to them I realized that they change into various forms during play and this story really captured their imagination. I asked a few comprehension questions throughout and they concluded he was never really a leaf, he was just caught up in a fantasy game.

Submitted by admin on Fri, 02/29/2008 - 17:53

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Its sad to see how many people lack the imagination to understand this story. I love its whimsical approach and how it can be an effective learning tool for kids. As an artist, I visualize it as an illustrated storybook... the storys creativity and playfulness are fantastic. Very magical!

Submitted by admin on Sun, 03/16/2008 - 06:03

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I loved this story, incredibly imaginative. I wasnt at all confused about Tommy turning into a leaf. He was clearly only imagining to be one as he was running down the sidewalk with the fallen leaves that were being blown toward the dump. Love your work!

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