Working in the Park

Flash Fiction

Working in the Park

“Watch carefully,” no response…

Dad looked where Tim had been standing, he was gone. Taking a deep breath, he started walking back to where he saw him stop. From there he looked around trying to decide what distracted Tim this time. Ah ha! A cave on the hill, not very big, but to a five-year-old it probably looked huge. He walked over, calling Tim’s name.

“In here!” he got the callback, as he got closer.

“What did I tell you about not wandering off!” Dad said.

“I yelled to you!”

“If I didn’t hear you, it doesn’t count…”

“OK… Dad look at this!”

Dad looked. It was a small cave, actually. Tall enough, but it only went in far enough to get you out of the rain if it suddenly started raining. Looking at the back wall, however, someone had painted a picture on the back rock. It was illegal to paint on anything in the park, but this actually looked very professional.

It was of birds. The back ground showed many birds in flight, and then near the opening there were birds sitting on limbs. As Dad stepped in, Tim said, “Watch this!” excitedly. He put his hand on a spot, and a song started being sung, by the birds!

“Where did that come from?” Dad said in surprise.

“Alan Gates told me it was here,” he said, “He’s in my class.”

“In kindergarten…? How did he know?”

“His father made it! He paints!”

“Wow, I never saw it before!” Dad said.

“That’s because he just did it last week!”

“Last week?”

“And don’t tell anybody! It’s a surprise!”

The park people tried for years to find out who did the illegal painting. But it was so popular, they “apparently” never found out… And the boys never told either.