I remember staring across the playground at the school I passionately loathed. I had no intentions of going to school that day. I remember thinking to myself, 'Who could possibly go to school on a day like today?'� The thought of sitting in a hot stuffy room while the sunbathing trees waved in the crosswinds just outside the window made my temperature rise on impulse. The thought of trying to listen to the teacher while my imagination ran rampant with fantasies of diving off the dock at the creek or swinging on the tire tied to a branch above the water made me restless as if I were in class already. I knew everyone in the room would be trying to stay cool with fans made of paper. And God help the kids whose mom made them wear jeans that day. Endure that for eight hours? 'Not me! Not today!'� I turned around and started for home.

I picked some strawberries in the strawberry field separating my home from the school. Some were to be eaten now and the others were to be saved for mom later. I shoved most of the strawberries in my pockets. Sitting under a huge tree on the outskirts of the field, I began eating my strawberries. A turtle crossed. A bird chirped. I tied a beetle to a string and let it walk across my forehead. I would have been nuts to have gone to school. A small stream and a fence covered with vines were all that separated the tree I was under from my yard. I crossed the stream jumping from rock to rock. It was only a few feet wide and a few inches deep, but I didn't want to give my mother another reason to yell at me. Climbing the fence, I could see her through the window above the kitchen sink. I jumped to the ground and started walking casually toward the house.

She wasn't the happiest person in the world when she saw me walking through the backyard. 'Mike, why are you home already?'� she yelled with a slight hint of anger.

'It was so hot today, they sent us home early.'� With the sound of her voice, I thought I might get away with a small lie.

Her voice had turned from slight anger to concern when she noted, 'Well, I didn't hear anything about that on the radio. They didn't call me from the school.'�

'Yeah, they just let us know. They told us to tell our parents when we got home.'�

'So, where's your brother then?'�

'I don't know. We go to different schools. Maybe his teacher didn't let him leave yet.'�

'Oh, O.K. Well, I'll start lunch.'� I had been caught. I could just tell from the tone of her voice. I was climbing the tree in the backyard as I heard her say, 'Hey Mike, don't fall out of that tree.'�

'Yes Ma'am.'� She had to be the coolest mom in the world. I knew she was going to try some kid therapy on me later, but for now she would let me have my way. I was a moody kid. I had dreamed up the perfect day and for her to interrupt the flow of that perfect day would ruin any chances of reasoning with me later about my behavior. However rare the need was, she knew I needed guidance from time to time. But, she always knew I had my act together also. Even at age eight, she knew I would be able to do anything, anywhere, and at anytime. I guess in her own way, she thought I was something special.

I was pretty high up in the tree as I caught a glimpse of her in the kitchen. She seemed to dance around as she joyfully made my lunch. She looked like Marilyn Monroe. I have a picture of her kneeling beside a cousin of mine. It is the only evidence I have showing the resemblance she had of the actress. With my blond hair and blue eyes, I took after my mother in looks. She always either referred to me as her 'Blond haired blue eyed angel'� or her 'Little toe-head.'� She called me a 'toe-head'� because of the way my hair bleached whiter than snow in the summer.

I was admiring how beautiful she was and making sure that she put nothing but good stuff in my lunch when I suddenly remembered the strawberries. I reached into my pocket and lost balance. I felt every branch on my way down to the ground. I even seemed to have hit a few branches on the other side of the tree as well. The earth rose so quickly, I didn't have any time to take a breath before smashing into it. I rolled over onto my back and tried to suck wind into my reluctant lungs. A sharp and grunted 'Uh!'� was the sound that voluntarily came out of my chest as I looked up to see branches of the tree extending upward away from me. I sat up against the tree. Mom came out onto the back porch. She walked over to where I was and knelt down in front of me. Brushing my hair off my forehead, she looked into my eyes and softly said, 'I told you not to fall.'� The smirk on her face changed to an expression of concern when she asked, 'Are you all right?'�

Simply enough I answered, 'I've never felt better.'� Holding my hands out, 'Here are some strawberries for my lunch.'� We both looked at my stained, wet, sticky hands and laughed.

She studied my eyes for a moment. 'Come on, lunch is ready.'� Peanut butter and grape jelly with bananas spread between two slices of bread was the one way to throw me off guard and move in for the kill with some child psychology. I knew it was coming; she always handled my wrong behavior with the same strategy. Knowing this, I allowed her the same space she had allowed me. All this picked up by an eight year old. What can I say? I was a slow learner.

Mom stroked my hair as she sat across from me at the picnic table. When she stopped stroking my hair, she looked straight into my eyes with a soft caring stare which seemed to warn I had better heed what she was about to say. Just as she started to breathe the words from her lips, Eric jumped the fence and walked across the yard with crayfish in his hands. Eric is my older brother. We have three years difference. He took after our father more with his brown hair, blue eyes, and tall, skinny physique. I had always looked up to him. One main reason was I could always count on him to get me out of a pickle. But, I was starting to lose hope just before he jumped over the fence.

'Eric, what are you doing home from school?'�

'It's too nice of a day to go to school today, mom! The other kids probably played hooky too.'�

Mom had left the picnic table and was walking toward the house reprimanding Eric every step of the way. I was thinking telling the truth should receive some kind of reward. 'Now Eric, you just can't decide on your own when you are and when you are not going to go to school. You better be lucky your father isn't home or he would have taken the belt to you by now and you know it!'� Mom lectured Eric for a few more minutes and I knew her words were meant for me as well. Eric had graciously accepted his role as my big brother. He loved being the one to take all the heat for something we both had done. Sometimes, when he could, he took the heat for things I had done alone.

As I was listening to mom rant on, Eric winked at me as he stole a chip from my plate. He whispered under his breath, 'Mike, there's a whole bunch of crayfish in the creek. What's say you and me go after I patch things up with mom?'� He tilted his head and gave a nod toward the kitchen where mom was making him some lunch.

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