General

The boys gathered around the putrid hole poking at it with sticks. The first one to load enough mud would chase the others with it. Between each laugh or cat-call every face had a wide grin. Were they not in old shirts they would have found their mothers descending on them in a fury. Their glee was so intoxicating that no-one noticed Samuel behind the little porch swing, a tangle of jutting limbs just small enough to be concealed. Only his well shined shoes could have given him away through the gap beneath it, but the wild action drew everyone's attention. In another hour the daylight waned to twilight and the warmth drained out of the air as fast as an extinguished camp fire. When Samuel's mother arrived she was greeted with surprise. "Why, Samuel never came today! You must be mistaken!" She had blanched and swayed on the spot. She had dropped him off herself four hours previously. Just when she might have fainted he came skidding out in his smart pressed shirt and white pants.

By Angela Abraham, @daisydescriptionari, December 15, 2014.