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SECOND PLACE
Yo-Yo
By K.I.M.
Burbank, California
There is only so much amusement one
can derive from playing with one’s fingers and
toes. And then, like it or not, it’s time to
move on. That’s the conclusion little Jenni came
to anyway.
The sun had been up for what seemed like a very long
time, but still the house was strangely quiet. Jenni
swung her little legs over the side of the bed, scooted
her butt to the edge and allowed herself to drop to
the floor with a soft thud. She tiptoed to the door
and opened it slowly.
Not a creature was stirring.
Jenni ran down the long hall just as fast as her little
legs would carry her. Toddle, toddle, toddle, toddle.
Without quite knowing why, she made a beeline for the
refrigerator, opened the door and looked in. It seemed
like the thing to do. That’s what big people
do.
She looked at all the boxes, bags, cartons and containers
of every shape and size for a few seconds. None of
it made any sense to her, so she closed the door. Let
the big people deal with it.
Jenni spotted a box of yummy crackers on the big table
and decided to do the necessary climbing to get them.
It was well worth the effort -- not to mention amusing
-- to watch the crackers shwoosh across the surface
of the table and drop over the edge onto the floor.
After eating her fill of crackers, she climbed down
off the table and wandered over to the TV. Jenni couldn’t
figure out how to get to the controls, so she decided
to abandon the project.
It was a beautiful day.
Sunlight streamed through the windows and made big,
bright patches on the floor. Jenni could feel the sunshine
beckoning to her. Who was she to deny? She went to
the front of the house, opened the door and looked
out. The yard and everything in it was resplendent
with morning dew.
Joy flooded Jenni’s soul.
She ran outside and tried to touch every beautiful
thing. It was too much for one little girl. Jenni noticed
that the neighbor’s yard was beautiful too. And
the next one. And the next. Jenni wandered in wonder
farther than she had ever gone before. How could she
resist such beckoning beauty?
Somehow she found herself in a backyard filled with
flowers. Jenni crawled under a flowering bush and found
herself in a different yard that was overgrown and
brown, but still somehow beautiful with dew. She picked
her way through the bushes and weeds toward an open
area.
There were some rusty lawn chairs, ash trays, bottles
and, beyond these, a gaping hole in the ground. Jenni
had almost decided to turn around and go back when
she spotted Yo-Yo on the ground by the big hole.
What was Yo-Yo doing here?
Yo-Yo was Jenni’s most-est, best-est, special-est,
favorite-est toy in the whole world. Big people called
him Pinocchio, but he would always be Yo-Yo to her.
He must, of course, be rescued.
Jenni picked Yo-Yo up and looked down into the hole.
She lost her breath & fear gripped her chest. It
was the most horrible scene she had ever seen.
The gaping hole was actually a swimming pool.
Empty, except for the pool of filthy black water at
the very bottom. And in the water were various toys
-- bicycle, tricycle, beach ball, etc. -- and various
other unidentifiable things. But most horrifying of
all, to Jenni at least, was the life-sized baby doll
floating face down in the water.
Jenni suddenly saw herself in that baby doll.
She saw herself standing by the edge of the pool. She
felt herself pitching face forward into empty space.
She imagined herself hitting the water face first.
She felt water ... the water ... the horrible black
water ... closing over her head. And she saw nothing
else.
Jenni felt herself swooning and realized that she was
clutching Yo-Yo to her chest. She wanted to cry, but
there was no one to wipe her tears. It suddenly occurred
to her how alone she was. Jenni backed away from the
hole of horror and ran back the way she had come.
She burst through the bushes into the backyard of beauty.
There was a woman putting birdseed in a box. Jenni
burst into tears. The woman couldn’t have been
more surprised.
“
Oh, my. Hello, little one. How did you get here? There,
there. Aren’t you Eva’s little girl? Just
sit here now while I call your mama.”
Jenni was so happy to see her mother’s big lavender
Pontiac that she didn’t really care that she
also seemed to be in trouble.
“
You’re going to get a spanking when we get home,
young lady.”
Jenni climbed into the passenger seat and looked at
her mother with big, round eyes.
“
I good, mommy. Promise.”
“
You’d better be good. You can’t just go
running around the neighborhood like that. You scared
mommy to death.”
“
I sorry.”
Eva looked down at Jenni clutching Yo-Yo to her chest.
She frowned. Something seemed wrong ... but it didn’t
click. Eva pulled the door closed. Thank God her baby
was safe.
A few weeks later, Eva and Jerry received an invitation
to a neighborhood pool party. It seemed like a good
idea, that is, until Jerry tried to introduce little
Jenni to the swimming pool. She burst into tears and
started screaming, “Black water! Black water!
Baby doll, no! Black water bad!”
No one could understand why Jenni would be so frightened,
especially since she had never seen a swimming pool
before. Jerry finally picked her up and carried her
to the pool.
“
See, the swimming pool is nice. Pretty water. It’s
not black. Look at it, honey. The water is pretty.”
Jenni was determined not to look at the pool, but she
accidentally got a glimpse of it as she was shaking
her head back and forth. It was pretty. She stopped
crying. Jenni was astonished. How could this be the
same pool? But, no matter how hard anyone tried, Jenni
could not be persuaded to go near the pool. She seemed
on the one hand to be fascinated by it, but then again
she kept her distance from it the entire day.
The next day, Jerry was back at work and Eva assumed
her usual station in front of the TV -- glued, not
to soap operas like the rest of her friends, but to
news reports of the Apollo space program. She liked
to watch and discuss the happenings with a like-minded
aunt over the telephone. Eva also kept half an eye
on Jenni while she played. All was domestic harmony
from day to day.
Except for this day.
There was a nagging ... something. Eva looked at Jenni
and frowned. What was it? Jenni squealed and ran across
the room, a Yo-Yo doll dangling from each hand. Eva
gasped and sat up straight.
Two Yo-Yos?
“
Are you all right, dear?” like-minded aunt asked
over the phone.
“
Oh, yes. I ... it’s nothing. I just thought something
was wrong with Jenni for a moment, but everything’s
fine.”
Eva sat back and let auntie do all the chattering for
once. Her mind was finally clicking ...
Jenni ran away that day. She was found up in that area.
In that area where the Fergusons live. The Fergusons
who just had the pool party. The Fergusons who recently
sent their baby girl to live with grandma. Or so they
say. Jenni was found up there with a Yo-Yo doll. A
fairly new Yo-Yo doll. Jenni’s Yo-Yo doll is
old. Jenni was afraid of the Ferguson’s swimming
pool, even though she’s never seen a swimming
pool before. Or has she?
“
Jenni, sweetheart, come here please. Let mommy see
Yo-Yo. No, not that one. The other one. Jenni, tell
mommy. Where did you get this Yo-Yo?”
“
Black water bad. Baby doll, no. Black water, mommy.”
“
Jenni, did you find this Yo-Yo by the black water?”
Jenni nodded her head gravely.
When Eva told Jerry that night, he said, “Call
the police.”
“
But, you don’t think ... ?”
“
I grew up with the Fergusons. They always ran with
a fast crowd. I don’t trust them. Fergie’s
wife just inherited that house and they just recently
fixed it up. That’s why they were showing it
off to everyone.”
“
And what kind of people would send their baby off to
live with grandma for no good reason? They just inherited
a house. They’re doing well.”
“
Right. Call the police.”
As it turned out, although the Fergusons were under
suspicion at first for murder, it was later ruled an
accidental death. There was, however, some unpleasantness
about their having buried the body in the flower garden.
Little Jenni -- grown-up Jennifer -- did eventually
get over her fear of swimming pools. And she fondly
considers this her very first case: The Case of the
Two Yo-Yos. And it’s an especially fond memory
for her ... now that she has her P.I. license.
Copyright (c) 2003 for the
author, all rights reserved. |
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