NEVER POINT AT A RAINBOW

An ant circled the stick Riley poked his sandwich with, the twig breaking through to purple sticky stuff within. Carried to his first outside lunch-thing, the boy learned these were the pits. Mommy and Daddy lay in the grass like no biggie, and Brother and Sister looked at their phones.

     Wind blew, pushing the grass in a rustling noise, and Riley looked up to puffy white clouds and their flat gray bottoms, crawling a blue sky. He looked off his shoulder, over the green and yellow grasses bathing in the sun, to a pond sparkling pretty. On the back of the pond stood a dark green forest. And over all that, the weirdest thing ever. It sat on the sky as crayon stripes of many colors, drawing a half circle.

     “Mommy! Daddy! Look!”

     They stayed in the grass, watching those clouds.

     “Mommy! Daddy! Look!”

     Finally, Daddy sat up. “What?”

     “Look!” He pointed to the round stripe of so many colors.

     “Ahh, yes, Riley!” said Daddy. “It’s a rainbow! Michelle, look.”

     It excited the family, leaving Riley proud. Adam and Megan put their phones down, and Mommy sat up to look too. But soon after his big discovery, his parents returned to the grass. His brother and sister went back to their phones. Riley wanted to go to it.

Getting up and walking away was sneaky. He made sure Mommy and Daddy had their eyes on the clouds, and that Adam and Megan stayed on their phones.

     Riley crept into the taller grasses, surprised the rainbow did not come a little bit closer. The tall grass proved mighty-hard to walk in, and Riley risked a fall almost three times. But he knew in all his heart that rainbow was his. He was going to touch it. Even better, bring it back to Mommy!

     Many, many steps from the family, the rainbow never came closer! It really stumped him. Was it running away? And if it was leaving, why? Was it him or something he did wrong?

     Riley forgot all about one big biggie until his bright red shoes stepped onto wet sand. The pond was in the way! His heart sunk and he frowned, not seeing an end to the water both ways. The rainbow did not look very far across the water, and maybe it would stop for him if he were a little faster. There was one way to fix this: cross the pond fast like in the cartoons.

     At the edge of the water, he looked back at the weeds. One wave must have crept up, as cold water came in his shoe and touched his toes.

     “Wainbow!” he said. “Stay… put! Wainbow, you stay put!”

     He took another step for the pond and tripped, his knees and wrists plopping into the mud. A big old wave came up and smacked Riley right in the face! Pulling the breath from him, he had to cough before trying for another breath. But before he could, a second big old wave ran up and slapped him. It was in that moment, Riley closed his eyes tight to avoid getting slapped again. Or choked.

     Turning on all fours, he crawled back toward the grass. This time, the playful pond smacked him in the butt. It was funny. He wobbled to his soaked feet again and had a big laugh. This water was fun, and Riley knew it. He twirled back and thought the best way might be to walk up without falling first.

Riley marched into the water, shoes splashing and shins sloshing in the fun. Water to his knees, the next big wave reached his stomach and shoved him back. He felt himself losing balance, falling backwards, then his head going under the water. As he sat up, the next wave pounced and pulled on him. It dragged him back toward the middle of the pond!

     Another wave shoved him under the water, the pond pulling his feet once more. But when Riley opened his eyes underwater, he could see the warbled, beautiful rainbow above the water top. It watched over him, wanting him to visit it. He knew he was safe...