meander
\ mee-AN-der \ , verb;
1. to proceed by or take a winding or indirect course: The stream meandered through the valley.
2. to wander aimlessly; ramble: The talk meandered on.
3. Surveying. to define the margin of (a body of water) with a meander line.
1. Usually, meanders. turnings or windings; a winding path or course.
2. a circuitous movement or journey.
3. an intricate variety of fret or fretwork.
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Sunlight filtered through the trees of the light forest as a
light summer breeze bushed across the lush grass. Mary looked all around her with bright,
exited eyes, doing her best to take as much in as she could. She meandered through the trees with light,
airy steps. Her white dress fluttered
around her as she moved aimlessly through the forest. Nathan followed her with somewhat more
assured steps, his eyes glued to her to make sure she didn’t trip over any
exposed roots or step in anything unpleasant.
Her feet only had thin sandals to protect them, and he worried about his
sister’s well being.
“Isn’t
this amazing?” She asked lightly without
stopping.
“Uh,
sure, I guess.” He said, trying to
figure out what she was talking about.
“It
feels so good to be out here, you know?” She said, talking about the forest.
“Oh,
right. Yeah, it is a nice day out.” He said.
He had
to remind himself that this was her first time being out and about. From an early age she had been stuck in a
hospital bed with a supposedly incurable illness that sapped all her energy. And yet, only a few months ago, a cure was
discovered. Mary was one of the first
people the treatment had been tried on.
Now, only those who knew her would know she was anything other than an
energetic teenage girl.
“Uh
huh. Hold on, I want to do something.” She said.
She flopped down on the soft grass and started to slip her sandals off.
“Hey
now, are you sure you should be doing that?” Nathan asked.
“Why
shouldn’t I?”
“Well,
you don’t know what might be on the ground.
With the way you’ve been walking, you’re liable to step on deer
droppings or a nut or something.”
“Oh. But I still want to go barefoot.” She said, her face falling at the lost
opportunity. Nathan couldn’t leave it at
that. Otherwise he couldn’t call himself
a big brother.
“Hm,
tell you what. When we get home, you can
walk on the lawn barefoot. At least there we know that you won’t step in
anything unpleasant.”
Mary
stood up like she had been spring loaded; her disappointment vanishing like it
was never there. She rushed up over to
him and gave him a large sibling hug. Nathan had to keep himself from laughing
at her enthusiasm over something so simple.
“So,
what do you say…”
“SH!” She said suddenly, placing a finger over his
lips. Nathan kept silent and still as
Mary looked over his shoulder at something.
She let
go of him and crept as quietly as she could around him. Nathan turned to look at what had grabbed her
attention so quickly. There was a small
songbird hopping around and pecking the ground for food several yards
away. It was a common bird with dull
plumage. Ore of them were twittering
away in the trees as they had been walking.
The only difference Nathan could see was that this one was on the ground
instead of on a tree branch.
But, it
was the first one of its kind that Mary had seen outside of a book or
screen. She was apparently driven to
catch it, or at least get a closer look.
She got down on all fours and crawled quietly towards the bird. Her movement was just as winding and indirect
as her steps had been, but with a clear direction. Apparently she felt that moving like that
would lower her chances of the bird noticing her and flying away. It looked like she might actually succeed for
a moment as well. But the bird took
flight long before she reached it. She
stood up and sulked over to her brother.
“You
didn’t actually think you’d catch it, did you?”
He asked.
“No, but
I was hoping I’d have gotten closer at the very least.”
“You
know those things are everywhere, right?
We can just get a pair of good binoculars so you can get a good look
while still keep your distance so they don’t fly away like that.”
“You
mean it? Really?” She said, immediately perking up.
“Sure. I’m sure mom and dad won’t mind at all. We can ask once we get home.”
“Well
then, what are we waiting for? Let’s go!” She said happily. She took hold of his hand and pulled him
along with her. Nathan couldn’t help but
laugh at her joy as he let himself be pulled along.
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Yeah, I've got nothing to say right now. Just you know, enjoy the story and stuff. Maybe go outside afterwards if its a nice day and such.
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