Making Each Day Count

My niece posted this photo and said she sees it as a dog-shaped cloud. Her post inspired me to write about the time when I was young, when I could spend time gazing up on the sky and playing a game with my brother in looking for any sort of semblance with the clouds above.

I remember taking this game to heart that one night, during a blackout (we had a lot of this in the mid 80s), my neighbors and I were playing hide and seek when my mom beckoned me to the house with a hint of threat in her voice. Begrudgingly I approached her and she whispered that if I continue to stay out even though it’s already late at night the ghouls and monsters will get me. Feigning nonchalance, I asked for proof that ghouls exist. Mom pointed to the moon and told me to see for myself.

And there it was, the full moon eerily bigger than usual, and shadowing it was a form of a witch on a broomstick. I gasped and yelled to my neighbors who were still laughing and running around the garden nextdoor to rush back to their home, but no one listened to me. I begged my mom to give them a warning, as I peered out the window looking out for the witch in case she decides to swoop down and catch any of my pals. Fortunately she didn’t.

To this day I could remember the vision I saw that night. Looking back, I would shake my head at how the child version of me had such a wild imagination. That, and probably from watching too much cartoons. 😬