A visit to the old library park sparks summer memories of long ago. A short, short story.  276 words  Fiction

I drove by the old park one day and spotted the wading pool. It was empty now, a few leaves kicking around it in the bright autumn sun. I marveled at how small it looked, years later: only a couple of feet deep.

Suddenly I am there again and my brother and I conduct splashy inner tube wars with neighborhood friends. As one kid sits in the inner tube, another pushes in the shallow water toward other kids similarly equipped. “Ramming speed!” someone yells, and three inner tubes converge in an explosion of water and giggles. The game goes on until all rival riders have been dumped off of their tubes into the pool.

Nearby, a little girl of maybe three watches and dangles her feet from the side as mom holds on. In the pool, kids continue to yell and splash, and run in and out of the concrete circle. From the pool, I push aside my wet hair and glance up. I see a middle-aged guy driving slowly by, a big smile on his face as if he’s remembering something pleasant, some summer day gone by.

Copyright 2011 Steve Dodge   All Rights Reserved

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