Birthright

Dry Prong was having its usual dry season, where everything and everyone screamed for water. Just this morning I looked at my front lawn and heaved a heavy sigh. “Shredded wheat.” That’s what my lawn looked like. All I needed was a little milk and my breakfast would be complete. “Hey, Charlese! Whatcha looking at?” Billy Beauford had just walked up and caught me starring at what once was a beautiful, green lawn. “Oh, hey yourself, what brings you out this way?” Now I’ve known Billy since I was knee high to a grasshopper and even then I didn’t like him much, but now that I’ve grown up I don’t kick him in the shines anymore, I’ve resisted those temptations. “I was on my way to the Five and Dime to get me a Coke. You want to come along?” “Why sure, just you mind yourself though. I’m hot and cantankerous, a force you do not want to mess with.” I was too. Gran, if she was still around, would stay clear away from me when I was in such a mood. “Oh, no, no, no . . . “and held

Out of the darkness they crept, slithering across floors cold and dusty. I am not alone. And one by one, in numbers great and small, they took the life from me. I was but the few. From their deeds, that took without greed, all that I had cherished. I feared great loss. But up from those, who took from me, their battle they have lost. I am but many. And now have claimed all that I am, and all that will ne’er be taken again. I have won . . .                   The battle done . . .                                            My life is my own to keep.