One Page #34

Are you praying for rain little girl? The old woman with the crinkled eyes leaned over the girl in the spotted browning dress. The girl was weeding in her garden of herbs but looking more at the sky than the dirt falling between her fingers. The clouds were filling in, diminishing the blue and darkening the earth. The girl looked up at the old woman with curiosity and a little bit of fear. She had never seen this old woman before, and she hadn’t heard her come up from behind. The woman still bent over the little girl, sending the girls blonde curls into the shade. The girl smiled and said yes, she was praying silently for rain so that she wouldn’t have to water her garden but could let God water it for her. The old woman smiled and said that that was what God did best, water little girls’ gardens. The girl looked confused at this statement, so she went back to her weeding with reinvigorated force flinging unwanted weeds into a pile that grew into a mound and then a small mountain. The old woman stood up straight and the blonde curls danced back into the sun again. The woman looked at the sky and prayed for sun to guide her way home. She was miles from home, and lost with no food or water for many hours. She looked back at the girl whose arms were now covered in dirt. She prayed that the girl would offer her water and she prayed that the girl would stand up and talk to her the way little girls were supposed to. The girl stopped weeding and stood up, but did not look at the old woman and did not offer the old woman water. Instead she brushed off her arms and hands and looked again at the sky. She saw a giraffe parading across the sky with a small mouse in tow, both eating from the trees that leaned in and blocked their path. The blue diminished and disappeared and small drops began to fall. The girl smiled as they plopped onto her cheeks and moistened her lips to a shiny red, washing away the dirt that had clouded her face. The drops came with greater and greater speed and the girl twirled around a few times before waving and running up the front path and inside her door. The old woman stood and watched the girl disappear. Then she knelt next to the pile of weeds and systematically replanted each and every unwanted green stalk until the garden looked as it had when the old woman first arrived behind the little girl. The woman patted down the dirt, got up and brushed her hands off, and continued on down the sidewalk, humming an old tune. Her belly was full and her lips were saturated. Around the corner she came to her home and inside she found rest and silence. The little girl heard thunder and saw great flashes of lightning. Her cat purred at her feet. Tomorrow she would plant tomatoes.