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The box looked like it should weigh more than it did. Johnny didn’t expect it to be heavy, but he never expected it to feel almost empty. Because he could see that it wasn’t empty. Who knew twelve perfect sticks of brand new chalk could be so light? Johnny lightly brushed his fingertips and marveled at the cool smoothness of them. He loved the light clinking sound when they made contact with each other as he moved them around to examine the various colors.

Even his light touch caused the some of color to rub off on his fingers. His exploration stirred up a bit of the chalk dust. A little cloud of it wafted into Johnny’s nostrils and when he sneezed, a stick fell to the ground and snapped in two. “It’s alright,” his mother comforted. “A piece works just as well as a stick. In fact you don’t need much at all to make something pretty.” To demonstrate, Johnny’s mother pressed the tip of her index finger into a small patch of the crumbled chalk and smeared it, in one smooth stroke across a square of the side walk. “See?”

“What is it?,” Johnny asked, examining the streak of color. “It depends on how you look at it, ” his mother answered after a thoughtful moment. “When things don’t turn out the way you hoped, sometimes you have to look at it from a different perspective.” And with that, Johnny’s mother left him to his chalk.

Johnny enjoyed drawing on the sidewalk with his new chalk. Today he drew a picture of the sun. The sun was beaming and smiling down on a group of people. The people in Johnny’s drawing were smiling, too. They were all very happy. Johnny drew his people with his favorite color, because the color made him happy. It was a very pretty picture and everyone walking by was very impressed.

Not long after Johnny completed his pretty chalk drawing on the side walk, a neighbor turned on the sprinkler. The neighbor only meant to water the lawn, but the spray, waving back and forth, came close enough to the side walk to throw a few drops of water onto Johnny’s pretty chalk drawing.

“Oh, no! My chalk drawing!” Johnny cried out. “If I’m not careful it could be ruined.” Quick thinker that he was, Johnny ran to the sprinkler and moved it to another part of the neighbor’s lawn, sparing his drawing of any more danger. Johnny examined his drawing. The drops from the sprinkler streamed across parts of the drawing, carrying color across the pavement. It made Johnny think of flags and banners waving. The happy people in his chalk drawing appeared to be having a celebration.

Johnny thought to himself that he should make sure than no more sprinklers fell onto his chalk drawing. Otherwise his celebration might be ruined. He stationed himself on the curb, keeping watch. But Johnny didn’t prepare the way he should and found himself to be a sitting target for his brother, Buster, and his water balloons. Buster was always a thorn in Johnny’s side.

Buster’s missiles hit Johnny on target, breaking open on impact Explosions of water splattered all around him. “I’ll get you next time,” Johnny shouted at Buster, who scampered away with glee. Puddles of liquefied colors formed on the chalk drawing. What was happening to Johnny’s celebration?

Soon after, a passerby noticed the colored splotches on Johnny’s drawing. “Your drawing has changed, Johnny.” Johnny explained to the man that the drawing had gotten wet. “Really?” the man responded. “I thought you decided to add fireworks. Every celebration needs fireworks.” Johnny realized the man was right. It does look like fireworks. All was not lost.

Johnny enjoyed the next day in the sun with his chalk drawing. He looked out for sprinklers and brothers, and made sure that nothing would harm his celebration. But the next day, a chill hit the air and the clouds began to roll in. Johnny ran to his father’s garage and returned with a sheet of plastic to lay over his pretty chalk drawing.

Just as the rain started, a breeze whipped down the sidewalk and blew the covering away from Johnny’s chalk drawing. The first few sprinkles smacked loudly on the concrete, like bullets attacking the drawing. Johnny managed to restore the cover, but not before more water puddled in the chalk. “It won’t blow away this time,” Johnny thought to himself as he used heavy rocks to anchor the corners of the plastic. But before Johnny knew what to do, wetness began to seep under the edges.

The rain grew harder and rivers of colors ran from under the plastic towards the storm drains. Johnny tried to divert the water and even tried to hold back the streams with his hands. But nothing seemed to work. The colors of his celebration slipped right through his fingers. He wasn’t able to catch his happiness in his hands.

Eventually the storm passed and the sun returned to dry everything. Johnny pulled back the plastic to see what was left of his chalk drawing. All that was left of his celebration was the color. Color that was all mixed together and forming a path down the side walk. “Why, what is that you’ve drawn?” asked another passerby.

Johnny looked at his chalk drawing and said, matter-of-fact, “I don’t know. It was going to be a celebration, but it didn’t turn out that way. Now I have to look at it from a different perspective.”

Tennessee lost it’s second game on Saturday, against Georgia. It was a cool, dreary day. Even though the rain stopped for the game, it just didn’t seem like it did. Because both losses by the Vols are conference games, there is no chance of getting to play for the Southeastern Conference Championship…a title the team was predicted to take this year. What happens for the Vols now? A good bowl bid is still a possibility. But, I don’t know. The picture has changed completely.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2005 at 1:02 am and is filed under football, stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.