Coffee Break Read ~By Lola~

I have been wandering down this road, it is a lane, there are tall trees on either side all the way down as far as the eye can see, the sunlight filters through them making the edges almost glow with a soft ambiance, the leaves look like transparent gold and some of the light spills onto the path, spreading it’s gold dust further still.  I wake up there as though I have woken from a dream, I can hear voices in the distance and also the thud of loud music very far away, I hear children playing, letting out shrieks of delight, the sound of parents whooping together loudly, the sounds of teenagers in a playful argument, cussing each other and rolling around in the grass like young puppies.  The air is warm and almost soulful and I take a few steps, hearing the gravel crunch under my feet.  Curiously I stop and look through the trees at a clearing in the density, there I see a small child sitting, she is alone, her dark hair is pulled up on top of her head, she is sitting with her tiny legs crossed, surrounded in longish grass and meadow flowers, in her lap sits a small stuffed toy and as I approach I see she is playing with the ears, lifting them up and down and cocking her head from side to side as though copying the movements of the toy rabbit.

  A branch breaks under my foot and it seem the loudest thing in the world, the little girl is startled and she looks at my quickly, her eyes narrowing for a second, then she looks down at her toy rabbit and I hear her say ‘Bunny is sick’
 I wonder for a second whether to get closer, I carefully take two or three steps ‘Oh?’ I say in a soft voice, the girl nodded without looking at me, I stepped closer,
 ‘What is wrong with him?’ i ask... she looked at me quickly and pouted ‘Bunny is a girl’ she held her up to me ‘Look!’ snapped the tiny girl.

 The rabbit was indeed sick, she had a huge rip down the centre of her chest, as if someone had taken a knife and ragged it down and the stuffing was half pulled out. I grimaced at sucked in my breath for a moment and sighed ‘Oh dear...how did that happen?’ the little girl was quiet for a second as she carried on playing with the ears, twisting them around and pulling them from side to side with her little fingers, she hummed for a second or so the stopped, going very still as though choosing her words carefully, she looked at me again, her eyes squinting in the half light
 ‘Can you fix her?’ she said

  The words seem to echo in my mind for a second, as if it stirred something inside me, my stomach turned slightly and I furrowed my brow, not enjoying the odd feeling, the wind blew gently against my arm, making the hairs stand up on end and it travelled up to the nape of my neck, I shivered slightly.

  The girl was still looking at me, a questioning look in her eyes, I moved towards her and crouched down next to her, looking down at her tiny thin fingers and I sighed ‘Hunny, why are here alone? Where are your parents?'

’The girl replied almost immediately ‘I don’t have any Mom or Dad’

 We went silent for a second, not an awkward silence, just something in between sorrow and questioning, how was this girl all alone here? She was soft like an angel, her voice was quiet and almost sad, yet still child like...I felt that feeling again inside me, like a feeling of loss.

I sat down in the grass, the little girl looked at me and smiled, her eyes turning into tiny rainbow shapes, they looked up to my hair ‘You’re hair is really pretty’ she giggled ‘I wish I had my hair pink...I really like pink it’s my favourite’ her voice was all tinklely and sweet a she laughed at her own words, I couldn’t help smiling ‘Why thank you little Miss’ I said with a laugh ‘Maybe one day when you grow up- you can have it pink too! ..But I’ll tell ya a secret...’ I took my voice down to a half whisper ‘People sometimes may think you’re a little crazy’ a did a goofy stern face at her and laughed as she burst out laughing, her little laughs echoing around the quiet forest.

After a few minutes of quiet, the little girl asked me my name, ‘My name is Lola’ I replied with a smile and I was shocked to discover that we shared the same name ‘So I will have to call you little Lola’ I laughed ‘Otherwise it could get confusing’ we agreed on that and I shook her tiny little hand, she smiled broadly and nodded her little head....

To be continued...