*******Flashback*******
“I love the clouds in the sky,” seventeen year old, June Mclittle, exclaimed with a huge smile. Every one stared at her. “It reminds me that I don’t know everything in the world. That people are here, too, not just me. The sky and the clouds remind me that I am smaller then I think I am. They relax me to the point where I can’t think anymore.” June looked at her mother and grandma, who stared at her like she was crazy, “You know, it amazing what you notice when you slow down and watch.”
“Stop speaking nonsense June!” Her mother told June, annoyed with June’s logic. “I’ll have none of you fairytales. Go. Leave us in peace.”
June sighed. Of course they wouldn’t understand. She didn’t understand it until she had a little time to think about it.
June’s mother and grandma watched her leave the room. The young mother turned to the elder. “I don’t know what’s gotten into that girl lately, Mother. She’s always telling me the world needs to slow down. The world needs to stop technology. The world needs to appreciate the things it’s given. The world needs this and the world needs that. It’s like she’s a different person now,” the mother complained.
“Give her time, Amy. Poor June’s probably just confused. Teenagers are always doing something stupid.”
“Mother, she wants to be a photojournalist!”
“Kids want to be anything that their friends are going to be,” The grandmother explained, gently starting to cut the vegetables she had soaking in the sink.
The younger woman stood from her chair, grabbing a knife and started to help the other woman. “That’s what I thought when she said it when she was fourteen!” the mother exclaimed waving the knife wildly in a circle in front of her.
“She wanted to be a hairstylist when she was twelve.”
“She still does. She’s taking night classes.”
“June wanted to be a mother at the age nine.”
“She’s still looking for a good guy on that one.”
“What about when she wanted to be a ninja at age five.”
“She plays ninja with the little kids across the street.”
The wiser, older woman of the two poured the sliced vegetables into a pot of water, turning on the burner. “That doesn’t count. Children love to play games no mater what it is.”
“Mother!”
“Don’t ‘Mother’ me, Amy. Let her be. June’s just a child herself. Give her time.”
Amy slammed the knife down. “How much time does she need?! I’ve waited, and waited, and waited. How much longer until she grows up? Huh? June doesn’t have as long as she thinks she does! She’s seventeen! Before you know it she’ll be 20 then 25. She’ll be poor and alone. I can’t stand to see her live that kind of life.”
Outside the door, June stood hiding to the left of the door frame listening in. So her mother thinks she failed at life? A lazy loser who will die on the streets? I’ll show her, June thought angrily. I’ll leave home, I’ll leave and never come back until I’m famous.
*******End*******
June sighed and looked over at the picture propped up on her camera case. One of her mother all dressed up. The woman wore a pale blue Sunday dress that stopped mid-thigh. She had a straw hat held to her head by a blue ribbon that was tied under her delicate chin. Her mother was smiling holding up a small girl that looked to be four. June smiled a small smile.
I reached my goal mom, she told the picture mentally, but you left this world before I could come home. How ironic. You died the same day I skipped town. You weren’t supposed to leave. Now I have nothing to prove, nothing to live for, nothing left to live for.
