On Thursday afternoon, when I got home from work, Tommy was in his backyard, on his hands and knees, his head at grass level. I watched a few moments as he slowly raked the fingers of one hand through the grass and watched the blades move. When he was done, he moved forward a couple of inches, and watched his fingers pass through the grass once more.
“Hi, Tommy.”
He didn’t look up, but I hear him respond, “Hi, Mr. William!” And he kept watching the grass, and then moving a couple of inches.
“What are you doing this time?”
He still didn’t look up. “I’m on a quest, Mr. William.”
“A quest?”
“Yep!”
I watched him drag his hand through the grass, and then move another couple of inches. “I thought a quest involved a journey?”
“Nah!” He kept examining the grass.
“Oh! You’re looking for something!”
“Bingo!” And he kept right on looking, he never looked up once. “Mom hid it real good!”
“What did you Mother hide from you?”
“I can’t tell you.” He moved forward another couple of inches.
“I promise I won’t look for it, it’ll be all yours.”
“Mom told me if I tell anyone what I’m looking for, she’ll make me stop looking, and send me to my room.” He kept slowly searching the grass, for whatever he was hunting. “She said she’d come get it, and then lock it in the safe, and I could never have it.” Then, he moved forward another couple of inches.
“Must be tiny, whatever it is.”
“And the same color as the grass.” His hand slowly passed through the grass, and he watched each blade. He paused, looked at the rest of his backyard. “This is gonna take days.”
I nodded. “That’s a heck of a lot of grass to search through.”
Tommy sighed, “Yep.”
“Is that why you said you’re on a quest?”
“Yep.” Tommy looked back at the ground, and started searching the grass again. “All quests are long, and hard, aren’t they.”
I nodded, “Yep, they sure are.”
I left him to his quest. And to this day, I still don’t know what he was looking for. But I hope he found it.
It’s April 21st, and I’m a still one day behind on the A to Z Challenge for 2016. I expect to catch up on Sunday. Only 9 more letters to write stories for this month.
Please, go explore the A to Z Challenge, and the sites of others who are participating in this adventure.
My Soul's Tears 
a lesson there to persevere
Now I wanna know what he’s looking for!!!!